(View two slideshows of the girls’ swim team in action here and here)
FEDERAL WAY – Tess Harpur said she was disappointed in not qualifying for the finals of her individual events last season.
She made up for it this season.
The junior came away with two silver medals in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 butterfly at the WIAA 3A girls’ state swim meet Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
As a team, Bainbridge took second with 220 points to Mercer Island’s 278. It’s the first time in two years they have taken a trophy home and the first time since 2006 that they finished in second place.
“I’m very happy about that,” head coach Greg Colby said. “I think everybody is very happy about that.”
Harpur’s silver medal time of 57.16 in the 100 fly broke the school record of 57.43 set by Isabel Williams at the 2006 state meet. She celebrated in the lane after seeing the time on the big board.
Harpur’s time of 1:06.04 in the 100 breast broke her own record of 1:06.63 which was set in the preliminary swims Friday night.
That prelim time broke Christina Swanson’s mark of 1:06.68 which was set back in 1999.
“It’s a huge step up,” she said of her performance. “I dropped a bunch of time and it was just really, really exciting. The breaststroke wasn’t quite as close, but (in the) fly, it was all about the finish and the touch. I was really excited about that.”
Harpur earned two more medals as she, Emily Sonnenfeld, Anna Peirano and Julia Griffiths took a bronze home in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:51.80. The 200 freestyle relay team of Harpur, Cameo Hlebasko, Griffiths and Geneva Levy also took third with a time of 1:40.25.
Colby said that Harpur has gained confidence over the last month and put it towards her performance. He also noted that she wanted to swim the 400 free relay, but Colby held her off so she wouldn’t overexert herself.
“It’s such a great thing for her to get those two school records,” he said. “She just performed awesome.”
Despite suffering a cut between her ring and pinky finger in the 200 individual medley, Sarah Grundman was third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:08.29. She also took fifth in the consolation finals of the 200 IM with a time of 2:15.86.
“Swimming is a mind game and I felt like I pulled through with both my swims,” she said.
Levy took third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:55.78. She also won the consolation finals of the 100 free with a time of 54.12.
The other top individual finisher was Shannon Engelbrecht with her fourth-place finish in diving with 340.30 points. She was third coming into the finals and scored 36.60 and 36 on her first two dives, but didn’t quite hit her last dive. Kennedy’s Paige Greely scored 40 on her last dive to get past Engelbrecht for third.
Engelbrecht said she had a little trouble on her last dive in both the preliminaries and the finals, but said she was very happy with where she finished in the standings.
“It was pretty intimidating,” she said of her first-ever competition at the KCAC. “But I just thought of it as another meet and I got through it. I felt a lot more comfortable in the finals.”
Colby said Engelbrecht is someone that has what it takes to win a state title before she graduates.
“She might have made the difference between us and Hanford,” he said of the 17-point difference between the Spartans and the Falcons for second place.
Other placers include Kay Sterner, who took eighth in the finals of the 500 free with a time of 5:19.71 and second in the consolation finals of the 200 free with a time of 1:59.18; Griffiths, who placed fifth in the consolation finals of the 50 free with a time of 25.54; Peirano, who was disqualified in the 200IM but rebounded to win the consolation finals of the 100 fly with a time of 1:00.23 and Hlebasko, who took fourth in the consolation finals of the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:04.25.
In the 400 free relay, despite dropping a second off their prelim time, the team of Levy, Hlebasko, Sterner and Grundman took sixth with a time of 3:42.72. They were only a few hundredths of a second from the eventual winners Shorewood, but faltered at the end.
Grundman said they just ran out of steam due to everyone swimming in several other events.
Despite missing out on a state title, Harpur said the team is very happy with their trophy.
Colby said it was the team’s dedication and believing they would succeed that led to its second place finish.
“We have an acronym – W.I.N. – that stands for ‘What’s Important Now,’” he said. “As soon as the race is over, focus on the next race or focus on the next thing – what’s the next important thing? Is it to cool down, is it to talk to coaches – what is it?
“I think that helped keep it together,” Colby continued. “We just got the ball rolling again and it’s a tribute to those kids and how they didn’t let adversity get to them.”
Next season Bainbridge loses just five seniors, but they also lose a trio of captains in Sonnenfeld, Claire Knox and Isabel Brofsky who were credited with turning the team around after a rough season and providing good leadership.
Colby is confident that Harpur and Hlebasko will fill those leadership roles next year.
Harpur said she’s excited for next season.
“We have another five or six (BISC) club swimmers who have trained year round and are going to be ready for it,” she said. “It’s going to be so great.”
