Peninsula boys swim remains undefeated

The Peninsula High boys swim and dive team is looking strong heading into the final stretch of the season, posting an undefeated 5-0 record in dual meets in the Class 3A South Puget Sound League.

The Seahawks have a big showdown looming with undefeated Enumclaw on the road Jan. 26 to decide the league title.

Sophomore freestyle swimmer Austin Small thinks the Seahawks have the pieces in place to knock off the Hornets for the crown.

“I think it’s in reach,” Small said.

The Seahawks have a young but talented roster.

“Hard work in practice has been the key,” Small said. “Lots of hard work.”

Longtime coach Craig Brown said the team is deeper than last year’s team. He also noted that the league has dipped a bit this season, allowing the Seahawks to dominate the dual-meet portion of the season. But the swimmers have their eyes on Enumclaw now.

“Enumclaw has pretty much been dominating everybody,” Brown said. “We’re swimming well with the guys we have.”

Small is hoping to qualify for state in the 500-yard freestyle event. He also wants to knock off his father Cory’s 1995 200-yard freestyle relay team, which still stands on the school’s record board — 1 minute, 42.87 seconds.

“I hope I can do that,” Small said. “That’d be really cool for him to see my name up there, replacing his.”

Brown said the relay team, which also includes sophomore Chase Michalke and juniors Jacob Huffer and Jonathan Brewster, is still a ways off legitimately knocking the time off the board, which was the 3A state-championship time that year.

“That would be a nice goal,” Brown said. “We’ll see what happens. That’s a fast relay. That was the best time in the state that year. They held the state record for a long time. So we’ll see.”

Small is about five seconds off qualifying for state in the 500-yard freestyle event. Peninsula figures to be a force at the West Central District III meet on the weekend of Saturday, Jan. 30.

“We’ll see at the district meet when they shave (their body hair) down,” Brown said. “We’ll see where they’re at.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2016 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Peninsula boys swim remains undefeated."