With state swim meet officials hosting the first class 2A-only state meet, leave it to the divers to make a big splash.

Both of Sequim’s divers made the medal stand at the state swimming finals in Federal Way Saturday, with sophomore Ezra Perkins finishing fifth and Max Flock, an exchange student from Germany, finishing eighth overall.

Sequim’s 200 medley relay team – Noe Calderon, Parker Steichen, Alex Skinner and Thomas Moores – knocked two seconds off their previous best and finished 14th in the preliminaries, out of final round consideration.

Neither of Sequim’s divers had tried diving until the season’s start.

Perkins posted 219.35 points while Flock racked up 205.80 points; Nic Hutchinson of Sehome won the overall state 2A title with 234.35 points.

"(Ezra) is excited for next year," Sequim diving coach Susan Craig said. "In diving, there’s a fear factor involved. If you can get over it (you can succeed). Definitely, I can see (Ezra) first or second in state as a senior."

Flock hadn’t tried diving before he got to the states earlier this school year, Craig said, but he wanted to try everything he could while he’s stateside.

"He’s a great kid; he’s just all-around athletic," Craig said of Flock. "His sport emphasis is in judo."

Of the 12 divers who started with Craig and head coach Linda Bingler, 11 were total beginners.

"We had a big learning curve," Craig said.

Of the eight athletes who stuck with diving until season’s end, all but one (Flock) were sophomores or freshmen.

Sequim’s dive coach expects that at about six of them will return for the 2009-2010 season.

Sequim gets postseason win … sort of

At a double-dual meet against North Kitsap and Kingston on Jan. 13, Sequim’s swimmers battled to a 52-point win against Kingston but dropped a 93-90 decision to North Kitsap.

But Bingler, Sequim’s head coach, recently was informed that a North Kitsap swimmer was found ineligible and when scores were recalculated, the Sequim team was declared the winner.

The win gives the Wolves a better than .500 record for the first time since 2004.

"This is much better than our past records," Bingler said. "It helps that the boys were enthusiastic and willing to put in the hard work in practice. We are very pleased with the team’s performance this season and we hope this year is the first of many that we will attend the state championships."

Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.