Area Sports

Crawling isn't the only way to get to the state 2A swim meet. You can fly, do the breaststroke or even go backward.

Just ask Sequim High's 200 medley squad, who churned the waters at the West Central District meet in Renton Feb. 12-13 to the tune of a second-place finish and spot at the state finals in Federal Way this weekend.

That, combined with rookie diver Connor Christianson's first place, record-breaking diving effort and a number of wildcard berths, means Sequim is sending 10 athletes to state.

In the 200 medley relay at districts, Sequim finished nine seconds back of champ Interlake at 1:57 but two seconds ahead of Klahowya for the automatic state berth. The team consists of Noe Calderon, Parker Steichen, Thomas Moores and Triston Cortani.

Needing top-two finishes for automatic state berths, Sequim diver Ezra Perkins and Sequim's 200 free relay of Calderon, Steichen, Moores and Kris Petersen just missed after placing third.

But the 200 free relay squad and Sequim's three other district divers - Perkins, Austin Clement and Zack Springer - earned state berths after wildcard placements were announced Sunday evening.

Christianson, a sophomore, tallied 234 points to top Sequim diver Max Flock's district-meet score of 219 points in 2009.

"This is a fantastic accomplishment for an athlete new to diving this year," said Sequim head coach Linda Moats.

Sequim finished third overall in the district-meet team standings out of six teams, behind champ Interlake and runner-up Steilacoom.

"It was a great day for us," Moats said.

Calderon, a sophomore, qualified for state earlier this season in the 100 breaststroke and is Sequim's lone individual swimmer at state.

The state 2A meet kicks off Thursday, Feb. 18, at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. Diving preliminaries begin at 3:30 p.m. Thursday while preliminary swims start at 10 a.m. Friday.