The Spartans left the Snohomish Aquatic Center as winners.
But on the bus ride back to Bainbridge last Saturday, they became Metro League Champions.
Bainbridge High took first and second place in the 500-yard freestyle at the 2015 Metro League Championship, first place in the 100-yard breaststroke, and second place in the 200-yard medley relay at last weekend’s Metro finals.
But with computer problems throwing a monkey wrench into the scoring for the event at its debut at the Snohomish Aquatic Center, the Spartans left the meet thinking they had taken second place.
Spartan Coach Kaycee Taylor recalled the confusion as the team scores were read out.
Computer snafus continued from the first day of the meet to the next, and when the final results were broadcast, it was Lakeside in third place, Bainbridge in second, and Roosevelt, first.
Roosevelt started whooping it up in celebration, and the Spartans made their way to the bus.
Some from the Bainbridge team were still scratching their heads over the calculations of the team score, however, and Bainbridge’s manager reran the numbers and suspected the Spartans had actually won.
But when she posted her proclamation online that the Spartans were indeed the Metro champs — on Facebook or Instagram or something, Taylor recalled — a few of the Spartan swimmers protested.
“The guys said, ‘No! No! You’re going to jinx it, take it off!’” Taylor said.
The coach got a phone call a few minutes later with the official word: The Spartans, indeed, had won the Metro crown.
Still, the celebration on the bus was short-lived.
“They hooped and hollered and then went back to playing video games,” Taylor laughed.
In the end, Bainbridge finished first with 707 total points.
Roosevelt was second with 658, and Lakeside, third, with 623.5.
Taylor was impressed with the team’s performance and many much-improved individual times.
“It was just a great feeling, even with all the weird scoring. Even if we came out of there fifth, the boys were so amazing with their times,” Taylor said. “Even guys who hadn’t qualified for state dropped huge amount of times.”
“Everybody was swimming fast, which made everybody else swim fast. It snowballed through the whole meet,” he said.
Bainbridge saw improved times for 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay, as well as new and improved state times for the Spartan qualifiers.
“I have a lot of pride in how the boys rose to the occasion. And to have that level of success throughout the season, then the capstone at Metros, that was a really great feeling,” Taylor said.
Jem Bullock took first in the 500-yard freestyle for the Spartans with a time of 4:56.46; teammate Sam Alpaugh was second in 4:57.95.
“Jem was on,” Taylor said, and noted his improved time in the event.
Parkey Bushey also qualified for state in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:49.25; he placed fifth.
CJ Waite had another standout performance for the Spartans, and won the 100-yard breaststroke in 59.64.
“That’s a huge thing, to go under a minute in the 100 breast and win the whole thing was phenomenal,” the coach said.
The Spartans now advance to the district competition this Friday and Saturday at Mary Wayte Pool on Mercer Island.
2015 Metro League Championship
Bainbridge Results
200-Yard Medley Relay
Second: Bainbridge A, 1:40.20
(Sam Alpaugh, CJ Waite, Jem Bullock, Andrew Yalung,)
26.21 26.70 24.47 22.82
200-Yard Freestyle
Fifth: Parker Bushey, Bainbridge, 1:49.25
24.74 27.64 28.30 28.57
Ninth: Henry Bacon, 10 Bainbridge, 1:56.65
26.82 29.59 30.73 29.51
11th: Will Thompson, 09 Bainbridge, 1:57.86
26.60 30.71 30.90 29.65
17th: Jack Riley, Bainbridge, 1:59.25
27.43 30.51 30.61 30.70
200-Yard IM
Fifth: David Jenkins, Bainbridge, 2:08.26
26.82 34.72 37.13 29.59
9 Adrien Chaussabel, Bainbridge, 2:15.26
29.11 35.91 39.06 31.18
15th: Jack Kapel, Bainbridge, 2:19.39
30.15 36.52 40.61 32.11
17th: Cade Taylor, Bainbridge, 2:21.86
30.35 35.74 41.34 34.43
50-Yard Freestyle
Eighth: CJ Waite, Bainbridge, 23.56
17th: Cole Sander, Bainbridge, 24.44
100-Yard Butterfly
Fifth: David Jenkins, Bainbridge, 56.28
26.18 30.10
Eighth: Will Thompson, Bainbridge, 1:00.03
27.98 32.05
13th: Arthur Bacon, Bainbridge, 1:01.89
28.49 33.40
100-Yard Freestyle
Fourth: Parker Bushey, Bainbridge, 49.72
23.93 25.79
12th: Andrew Yalung, Bainbridge, 54.14
25.62 28.52
500-Yard Freestyle
First: Jem Bullock, Bainbridge, 4:56.46
26.12 29.05 30.05 30.31
30.07 30.41 30.33 30.48
30.44 29.20
Second: Sam Alpaugh, Bainbridge, 4:57.95
26.09 29.43 30.20 30.87
30.48 30.44 30.74 30.87
30.30 28.53
Eighth: Henry Bacon, Bainbridge, 5:18.19
28.30 31.16 32.13 31.66
32.00 33.04 32.48 33.31
32.84 31.27
11th: Jack Riley, Bainbridge, 5:28.75
29.39 32.05 32.50 33.23
32.53 32.68 33.09 34.57
34.62 34.09
200-Yard Freestyle Relay
Fifth: Bainbridge A, 1:34.23
(Andrew Yalung, Will Thompson, Arthur Bacon, David Jenkins)
23.65 23.79 23.07 23.72
100-Yard Backstroke
Fourth: Sam Alpaugh, Bainbridge, 54.91
26.83 28.08
Sixth: Jem Bullock, Bainbridge, 56.65
27.29 29.36
14th: Arthur Bacon, Bainbridge, 1:05.29
31.97 33.32
100-Yard Breaststroke
Firth: CJ Waite, Bainbridge, 59.64
27.37 32.27
Ninth: Cole Sander, Bainbridge, 1:05.72
30.63 35.09
15th: Adrien Chaussabel, Bainbridge, 1:08.01
32.03 35.98
24th: Dominic Painter, Bainbridge, 1:11.04
33.34 37.70
400-Yard Freestyle Relay
Third: Bainbridge A, 3:21.56
(Parker Bushey, Jem Bullock, Sam Alpaugh, CJ Waite)
23.83 49.82 24.18 50.50
24.47 51.57 23.57 49.67
