Girls swimming primer: Teams, swimmers to watch
High school girls swimming primer
TEAM TO BEAT
In coach Mike Kelly’s past three trips with Gig Harbor to the King County Aquatic Center, the Tides left with three consecutive top-10 finishes in the 4A team standings at the state championships, including seventh last year after placing fifth in 2014 and third in 2013. Now the Tides are in Class 3A and return Ursula Andren (third in 100 breaststroke), Alana Ponce (11th in 100 backstroke) and Kirsten Vorpahl (13th divind).
SWIMMERS TO WATCH
NAME | SCHOOL | YEAR |
Ursula Andren | Gig Harbor | Senior |
Tides won 4A district title last year behind Andren’s first-place and PR in the breaststroke. Now GH is in 3A. | ||
Hannah Barker | Timberline | Senior |
Two-time state placer in the 4A state 500 free. Placed 20th in 200 back at USA Swimming Futures Championships at Stanford. | ||
Willow Lopez-Silvers | Curtis | Senior |
Broke the school record in the 100 backstroke last year (59.05), then won the 100 freestyle 4A state title (52.39). | ||
Mikaela Miele | Sumner | Junior |
Swam school-record time of 1:55.22 to place fifth in the 3A state 200 free finals. Sumner moved up to 4A. | ||
Kaycee Simpson | Stadium | Senior |
Back-to-back third-place finishes in 200 IM at 4A state meet. She’s the favorite to snag 3A state title this year. | ||
MARK THE DATE
Nov. 11-12: 4A, 3A, 2A state championships, at King County Aquatic Center
RETURNING INDIVIDUAL STATE SWIMMERS
CLASS 4A
200 IM—5. Kaycee Simpson, Stadium, sr. (2:08.03); 12. Shianne Lindh, Stadium, jr. (2:14.50)
50 free—6. Lindsey Hanger, Tahoma, sr. (24.85); 14. Julia Seibel, Kentridge, jr. (25.41)
Diving—9. Katherine Beliveau, Kentlake, sr. (308.65); 13. Kirsten Vorpahl, Gig Harbor, so. (293.55)
100 fly—6. Haley Childress, Kentridge, sr. (58.98); 8. Ally Norman, Olympia, sr. (1:00.61); 9. Kaycee Simpson, Stadium, sr. (57.95); 15. Leila Okazaki, Kent-Meridian, so. (1:01.58)
100 free —1. Willow Lopez-Silvers, Curtis, sr. (52.39); 3. Lindsey Hanger, Tahoma, sr. (53.34)
500 free—4. Hannah Barker, Timberline, jr. (5:08.31); 8. Meghann McLaughlin, Decatur, jr. (5:15.79); 11. Lacey Wright, Olympia, jr. (5:17.90)
100 back—4. Hannah Barker, Timberline, sr. (58.40); 11. Alana Ponce, Gig Harbor, sr. (1:00.35); 12. Kacey Kiuchi, Puyallup, jr. (1:00.40); 13. Willow Lopez-Silvers, Curtis, sr. (1:00.70)
100 breast—3. Ursula Andren, Gig Harbor, sr. (1:05.02); 7. Shianne Lindh, Stadium, jr. (1:07.01)
CLASS 3A
200 free—5. Mikaela Miele, Sumner, jr. (1:55.22); 21. Alexa Nooney, Capital, so. (2:18.71); 23. Kelly Tran, Wilson, sr. (2:27.98); 8. Miriam Smith, Lakes, sr. (24.83)
500 free—5. Mikaela Miele, Sumner, jr. (5:10.01)
100 back—11. Alexa Nooney, Capital, so. (1:01.11); 15. MichaelAnn Wilson, Sumner, sr. (1:03.12)
CLASS 2A
Diving— 4. Natalie Raschke, Steilacoom, sr. (321.95)
100 free—16. Rachel Forbes, Steilacoom, jr. (58.46)
TJ Cotterill: tcotterill@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Girls swimming primer: Teams, swimmers to watch."