“The girls swim team put business before pleasure at Saturday’s Spartan Relays. Their business was to win the 16th annual event, which they did by winning six of the 10 varsity events and amassing 60 points to defeat Gig Harbor (47), Sehome (40) and Port Angeles (38).That done, they turned their attention to the pleasure of the innertube relay, six girls each paddling a length of the Ray Williamson Pool. As each one neared the wall, lying on her back in the tube and paddling furiously, two teammates would grasp the wrists of the next swimmer and suspend her over the edge. As the tube hit the wall, the current paddler would jackknife down through the tube and out from under it as her successor was dropped in. Showing that they’d spent some time practicing, the Spartans handily won the event as meet announcer John DeMeyer announced a new world record time of 2:08.78 for the team of Helen Silver, Joy Miller, Tara McNulty, Julia Sullivan, Elizabeth Wiggs and Emily Silver.While the swimmers didn’t set any world records in the other events, they did establish a new meet mark in the 400 IM relay and Emily Silver broke an 11-year-old pool record in the 100 free with a 51.78 clocking. The sophomore also unofficially set a new Spartan standard in the 200 free. Coach Greg Colby was pleased, both with his team’s performance and the overall success of the meet.As soon as we started, it ran smoothly, he said. The other coaches said that they liked having a fun meet at the beginning of the season, and then being able to focus on their dual meets.And the kids swam fast and they all had a good time.The Spartans easily won the opening event, the 200 medley relay, as Helen Silver, Meredith Blumenthal, Melissa Clune and Elizabeth Wiggs clocked a state qualifying 1:57.27.Emily Silver provided on eye-popping anchor league in the 800 free relay as Candace Rodda, Meghan Lockwood and Wiggs gave her about a four-body-length lead over Gig Harbor. Silver rocketed to a win of nearly one and a half pool lengths as her 1:53.98 was nearly a second under Megan Reha’s existing school record in the 200. Coming as the anchor leg of a relay, however, it wouldn’t count. Melissa Clune overcame a slight Sehome lead in the anchor leg of the 200 fly relay for an overall 1:57.74 clocking in the third varsity event. Other team members were Joy Miller, Erin Clune and Lisa Weigle.Following thirds in the 200 breaststroke relay and diving and second in the 200 free relay, Helen Silver boomed out to a two-thirds of a pool length head start in the 400 IM relay as she split at 1:00.18. Weigle and Clune added to the lead, and Emily Silver came home nearly as fast as her sister to clock 4:13.06 for a new meet record as the Spartans lapped the entire field.The next event, the JV 400 IM relay, provided perhaps the best race as Brooke Hallett, Gretchen Pedersen and Erin Clune battled virtually stroke for stroke with Gig Harbor for 12 pool lengths. But Rokeda Brownell picked up a slight lead on the fly portion, extended it to three lengths during the backstroke and romped home to a nearly half-pool-length win.Following the team’s second place in the 400 medley relay, Helen Silver’s anchor leg in the 200 backstroke relay broke open a tight race against Sehome as she extended a half-second edge into a four-and-a-half-second triumph in the course of 50 yards for a 2:02.03 win.Because Emily Silver led off the meet’s concluding 400 free relay, her 51.78 clocking was eligible for pool record honors. Rodda, Melissa Clune and Helen Silver finished the job, lapping two of the three other teams in a 3:41.02 win.The Silvers spent the summer swimming with the Irvine (CA) Nova Aquatics team and then competed in Nationals. The work clearly seems to be paying off.I’ve never gone 51 in this pool, Emily Silver said. I had no idea I could go this fast today. And she’s certainly not resting on her laurels. The defending state champion in the 50 free, she’s looking toward time goals of 1:50 in the 200 and 49-50 in the 100.Of the latter, she said that It would be so amazing if I could do that. But I’ll just keep working hard in practice and cheering the team on.The Spartans host Mercer Island this Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. “