The Spartan swimmers eye gold at the state meet

this weekend.

In the 22 years since a 3A state swimming meet was created, Bainbridge has made it there 20 times.

This weekend, make it 21.

The Spartans send six to this year’s meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, and head coach Greg Colby thinks they’ll have a good chance to come home with some gold.

“All of them are juniors and sophomores,” Colby said. “They’ve all swam at state since their freshman year, so they have plenty of experience in handling the meet and the pressure.”

Keziah Beall, India Wade, Julie Pendleton, Tessa Griffin, Kristine Valdez and Isabel Williams are the main swimmers for Bainbridge, while co-captains April Isa and Maren Swanson, along with Gabby Arens and Margaret Huisinga, are going as the alternates.

Griffin said she and her teammates are prepared.

“We know what we have to do this weekend,” she said. “We’re excited for it.”

The junior is seeded sixth in the 50 freestyle and 16th in the 100 butterfly.

Beall is seeded fourth in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.

Wade is 12th in the 200 freestyle and ninth in the 100 freestyle while Pendleton is 10th in the 200 IM and 11th in the 100 breaststroke.

Valdez is 15th in the 100 backstroke, while Williams is seeded first in the 100 butterfly and second in the 100 backstroke.

All three relay teams are seeded in the top five, with the 400 freestyle relay team in first after their thrilling victory last week against Bellevue at the district meet.

But Colby didn’t know if they would make it this far.

“They came into the season more out of shape than they did in the past,” he said. “But they’ve trained hard and stayed focused. Even when the training was hard and there were some breakdowns, they’ve jelled.”

Griffin admitted they didn’t come in prepared as they usually do during the off-season.

“A lot of us hadn’t been swimming club as much,” she said, “but we’ve worked our butts off to get to the point where we needed to be.”

It all cumulated at the district meet last weekend, where Williams and the 400 freestyle relay team came home with district titles, several others missed medals by mere hundredths of seconds, and everyone had a state qualifying time.

“They swam beyond my expectations,” Colby said. “I figure they swim the same speed in the big pool that’s a couple of 10s, and I’ll take that. I just hope they swim at the same level at state.”

Griffin said the Spartans feel ready thanks to their performance at the district meet.

“As Greg likes to say we ‘swam out of our minds,’” she said. “We felt really good out there and we’re excited for it.”

She also said the support from their teammates is incalculable.

“Our whole team has our backs,” Griffin said. “The whole team comes to every meet and they’re so supportive.

“They were on their feet for every race at districts, which is amazing. It’s amazing to have that kind of team that sits there and supports you that much.”

But she also knows they’ll have some nerves on the big day.

“I still feel a lot of pressure,” she said. “There’s going to be a lot of pressure on us. I’m not going to lie.”

Whether the competition is Holy Names, Mercer Island, Bellevue, Camas or Kennedy, Griffin said the Spartans have one specific title in mind.

“We’ve all been talking a lot about the relays,” she said. “We want the relays. We want it so badly. Obviously we want individual achievements, but relays are so much bigger to us because we have so much fun behind the blocks and we’re cheering for each other.

“We have to win those relays.”