Skyline sunk by Newport in first meet after weather delays
January 12, 2009
By Christopher Huber
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Skyline’s Ashton Powell swims in the 200-yard freestyle. He finished fourth in the event with a time of 2:15.34. Photo by Christopher HuberThe Skyline and Newport high schools boys swim and dive teams had just an hour and a half to get through their entire meet Jan. 8 at Boehm Pool in Issaquah.
With 99 swimmers competing between the two schools, there was no time to dillydally between heats. Pool managers reminded officials of the 5 p.m. open swim start.
They managed to finish on time, but Skyline came out on the losing end. Newport (3-1), which had 65 boys on the junior varsity and varsity, beat the Spartans 119-66. Skyline is now 2-1 on the season. “It was a loss, but our guys, for the most part, swam really well,” said Skyline coach Susan Simpkins.
It was the second meet of the week for Newport and the first one for Skyline since the extra-long winter break. Both Simpkins and Newport coach Eric Bartleson said they were happy to have their boys back in the pool after practices and meets were cancelled due to snow.
Newport placed first in 12 of the 15 events Jan. 8, but Skyline had a strong showing of finishers in the top five spots in each race.
But due to its strong depth in all events, Newport swept the top three places in the 200-yard freestyle, 50-yard butterfly, 50-yard breaststroke and 50-yard backstroke.
“They’re really well-rounded,” Simpkins said.
Senior Nic Kosenkranius won the diving portion of the meet with a score of 159.4 points. The Spartans seemed to perform well in the relay events. Skyline’s Mitchel Corson, Alex Marber, David Jett and Connor Lawhead took second in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1 minute, 52.9 seconds. Skyline also placed second and third in the 200 freestyle relay — 1:41.96 and 1:43.91, respectively — and third in the 400-freestyle relay with a time of 4:10.62.
“There weren’t any really, really over-the-top swims, but they all really tried hard,” Simpkins said. “It was a really good team effort for our guys.”
In addition to diving, Skyline won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle events. Freshman standout David Jett qualified for the district meet in the 50 free with a time of 23.74 seconds. Teammate Mitch Kim came in second in 24.66 seconds.
Jett also set a district time when he won the 100 free in 53.94 seconds.
Skyline freshman Marber placed third in the 100 butterfly, about a second behind the district time. He finished in 1:06.35. Newport’s Dehlan Gwo won in 1:00.01.
Skyline swimmers took second and fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Marber posted a district time (1:12.53) and Jonathan Hong swam it in 1:21.43.
For a relatively inexperienced team, Simpkins said she is impressed with the freshman class and solid leadership from the seniors this year.
“We’re doing really, really well. It’s an incredibly strong freshman team. Our seniors are great leaders,” Simpkins said. “It’s pretty much where we thought we would be at.”
“There weren’t any really, really over-the-top swims, but they all really tried hard. It was a really good team effort for our guys.”
— Susan Simpkins
Spartans boys swim coach
Reach Reporter Christopher Huber at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.issaquahpress.com.
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