Swimmers lose a close one to Prep

Seattle Prep won seven of eleven events to eke out an 86-84 win against the Bainbridge/Ingraham boys swim team on Friday at the Ray Williamson pool. The Prep girls won ten events and swept seven as they swamped the Ingraham girls 134-29.

Seattle Prep won seven of eleven events to eke out an 86-84 win against the Bainbridge/Ingraham boys swim team on Friday at the Ray Williamson pool. The Prep girls won ten events and swept seven as they swamped the Ingraham girls 134-29.

The Panthers opened the meet by building up a huge lead in the middle legs of the boys 200 medley relay, though Jacob Whitmore’s freestyle anchor leg made the race competitive.

Tristan Stringer’s 1:58.13 was good for the second in the 200 free.

Prep won the 200 IM, but Nick Rodda (2:14.53), Jake Christensen (2:14.67) and Matt Colley (2:24.40) went 2-3-4 to tie the team score at 23.

Jacob Whitmore notched the first Spartan win in the 50 free, clocking 24.15. Nate Rooks was second in 24.92 as the Spartans went ahead by six points.

But Prep came back with 1-2 finishes in the 100 fly and 1-3-4 in the 100 free to surge ahead by four points.

Prep’s J.T. Heffernan swam a state-qualifying 4:58.17 in the 500 free and a teammate was third to increase the Panthers’ lead to six points. Whitmore swam 5:10.75 for second.

Bainbridge got two back by winning the 200 yard free relay, as the team of Christensen, Rodda, Tristan Stringer and Nate Rooks won by nearly three seconds in 1:37.08.

But Prep went one-two in the 100 back to build up a 10-point lead with two events left. The versatile Stringer won the 100 breast (1:13.51) to cut into the margin by two, then the 400 free relay team of Christensen, Rooks, Chris Collier and Whitmore blasted a state qualifying 3:29.77 in the concluding event to narrow the final score.

Though pleased with their performance in the 400 relay, for many Spartans the highlight of the meet appeared to come during a JV heat of the 100 free.

Swimming by himself, Stuart Stringer enjoyed the support of more than a dozen teammates grouped at one of the pool who chanted “Go Big Stu!” as the sophomore finally nudged under the one-minute barrier. With a 28.32 opening 50, Stringer touched in 59.68.