Spartans take fourth at invite

Published 11:30 am Sunday, January 14, 2018

MUKILTEO – The Bainbridge Spartans raced to state qualifying times in seven events last weekend at the 2018 Kentridge Invitational.

Bainbridge won three races — the 200-yard individual medley, the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay — as the Spartans placed fourth overall in the talent-packed invitational.

Andrew Witty won the 200-yard IM for Bainbridge in 1:56.22.

The Spartans’ Kevin Houseman won the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing first in 56.40.

The BHS relay team of Andrew Witty, John Velisaris, Makai Ingalls and Jude Wenker won the 400-yard free relay, with a time of 3:10.65.

Bainbridge diver Kiernan Liberman also surpassed the points benchmark for the 3A state championships, with sixth place at Kentridge and a score of 353.75.

Other noteworthy performances include state times in the 50-yard free (Ingalls, second place, 21.90; Wenker, third place, 22.09) and the 500-yard free (Sam Chapman, fifth, 4:52.85; Ingalls, ninth, 4:57.05); the 100-yard backstroke (Wenker, third place, 53.15; Velisaris, seventh, 54.97).

In the 500-yard free relay, the Bainbridge team of Witty, Max Eyrich, Chapman and Houseman had a state time of 1:31.18, which earned the foursome eighth place in the event.

Mercer Island won the meet with a score of 698, followed by Issaquah (444) and Kamiak (424).

After Bainbridge in fourth, Wenatchee followed in fifth (371).

The rest of the top 10: Moses Lake (362), Lake Stevens (273.5), Glacier Peak (243), Shorewood High School (237) and Hanford (212).