Diver Olson golden at State

Hallett scores top five finishes in his events, while Clark places fifth in diving.

FEDERAL WAY – Olaf Olson is a state champion.

But to hear him talk, one would think he finished in the lower half of the standings.

“I think I could have done better,” the Spartan diver said. “I think I just overworked it. I know I’m capable of higher scores. But I was happy with how it turned out.”

The junior came out on top with 435.90 points to win his first state title at the 2A/3A boys swim and dive state championships at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way last weekend.

Olson, who finished second to Jonathan Wilcox of Bellevue last year as a sophomore and sixth as a freshman in 2004, held off freshman Beau Riebe from Mercer Island to capture the title.

His last three dives were scored at 30.75 points or higher.

Teammate Cheyne Clark placed fifth with 305.95 points, five hundredths of a point behind fourth place finisher Nick Marvik of Peninsula. His highest dive on the second day was scored at 32.20 points.

“I’ll come back next year and get that last half point,” he said. “I’m happy with what I did, but I always want to do better.”

Austin Hallett bettered last year, finishing second to Kennedy’s Kevin Munsch in the 200 individual medley in 1:56.75.

It’s not only good enough for consideration for All-American status, but it’s over a second faster than his state qualifying time of 1:56.75. He tried to keep up with Munsch and was doing well, but lost in the breaststroke.

The sophomore also finished fourth in the 100 free with a time of 47.77, thirty-eight hundredths of a second faster than his state qualifying time of 48.15.

He acknowledged he was nervous, but still excited about his performance.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “State is nerve wracking as heck, but I tried to relax and I did a pretty good job of that.”

Hallett knows firsthand how tough Munsch is, as he was named the WISCA swimmer of the meet.

“I raced him in club before,” he said. “It’s always competition between me and him. He always beats me, but it’s fun to race him.”

The 200 free relay of Hallett, Clif McKenzie, Tomas Torok and Jon Swanson came in sixth at 1:31.56, shaving two seconds off their fastest previous time.

“That was fantastic,” said McKenzie. “Regardless of the place, I’ve never seen a relay (team) swim that well. It was amazing.”

McKenzie, Clark, Hallett and Swanson took second in the 200 medley relay consolation final with a time of 1:44.26.

As a team, Bainbridge finished eighth overall with 106 points, a point ahead of Liberty.

Head coach Kaycee Taylor is happy with his team’s performance.

“We have a state diving champion and we had great swims by our relays and Austin,” he said.

They’ll lose McKenzie and Swanson to graduation, but they’re already thinking about next year.

Hallett said he wants to try the 100 backstroke and Taylor is excited about the incoming freshman.

“There’s a lot of guys already talking about, ‘How can we come back here next year? How are we gonna get here?’

“It’s exciting to see.”

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