Freshman swimmers from Curtis, Olympia and Gig Harbor already breaking records, making waves
Curtis High School boys swimming coach Dennis Piccolotto remembers Evan Martinec well.
When Piccolotto was a high school swimmer at Curtis, the Vikings often went head-to-head with Wilson, where Martinec was a premier swimmer.
“He could swim everything. Definitely everybody knew the name,” Piccolotto said.
Martinec was a six-time individual state champion for the Rams — winning three titles apiece in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke — swam All-American times each of his four years of high school, and paced Wilson to three consecutive Class 4A team titles from 1998-2000.
And, before he became a nine-time NCAA All-American at LSU, he set a 4A West Central District record in the 100 fly, posting a time of 50.21 seconds in 1999.
That record stood for 20 years. Two weeks ago, Patrick Keough, a standout freshman who swims for Piccolotto’s Curtis team, broke it when he swam an All-American consideration time of 49.92 seconds at the district meet on Feb. 2.
“Curtis has been one of the top high school programs in the area for the past few years, and we’ve never seen anything like this,” said Piccolotto, now in his 16th year coaching the Vikings.
“There has been a lot of talent around our area as far as juniors or seniors, but as far as freshmen? We haven’t seen this in a long time.”
Keough is one of three freshmen in the South Sound who are projected to reach the podium multiple times at this weekend’s swimming and diving state championships at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
“It’s really promising, and I’m looking forward to the future,” Keough said. “Also, being younger, it’s nice to see these high school guys powering through, and taking a lot of lessons from them too.”
He enters the 4A meet as the top seed in the 200 free, and the No. 2 seed in the 100 fly behind defending state champion Skyler Younkin, a Purdue commit from Hanford. Meanwhile, Olympia freshman Tony Ponomarev is the No. 4 seed in the 200 individual medley and No. 6 seed in the 100 free.
And in 3A, Gig Harbor freshman Billy Oates is the No. 3 seed in both the 50 free and 100 fly.
All three of the freshman will also swim important legs of two of their team’s three relays this weekend.
“I think it’s really exciting for the area to have these three boys who are just freshmen, who have three years remaining of high school swimming (finding success),” Piccolotto said.
“From my experience with boys swimming, they keep getting bigger and stronger every year. So, to already have this base of where they’re starting from, I think it’s exciting to see where they can end up.”
Keough, a Bremerton native, returned to the South Sound after spending a portion of his childhood living in North Carolina. There, he found early success in organized swimming before returning to the Northwest as a seventh-grader.
“It’s been progressing since then,” he said.
He swims club for the University Place Aquatic Club out of Curtis, and has already competed on the national level, primarily as a butterfly swimmer.
“My shoulder muscles are strong enough that I can really put a lot of strength into that (stroke) and power through it,” Keough said.
“He muscles through that butterfly,” said Gig Harbor coach Mike Kelly, who is in his 18th year with the program. “He has great potential for being one of our areas dominating athletes.”
Keough’s mid-distance freestyle times are also impressive. At the 4A WCD meet, he also nearly tracked down a 200 free record set by former Olympian Nathan Adrian (1:41.23) set in 2006. Keough turned in a 1:41.8.
“I really wanted the 200 free, because Nathan Adrian (has that), and that’s always someone to look up to,” said Keough, who lived in the same neighborhood Adrian, the former Olympian, grew up in.
“Seeing all of these great swimmers make their way, I just hope to follow the lead.”
Keough said he is aiming to post an All-American automatic time in the 100 fly at the state meet after earning the consideration at districts.
“If I can get the automatic time, that’s my goal for this year,” he said. “If I can hold that all four years, that would be incredible.”
Ponomarev, who won both the 200 IM (1:56.53) and 100 free (47.84) at the 4A WCD meet, has swam with Keough in the past, both in 4A SPSL meets and outside of high school.
“We became quite good friends and still are,” Ponomarev said. “We raced in the 200 free at the league meet, and at our dual meet. That was fun.
“The first time he beat me, and the second time I got him. In a lot of races, we’re really close.”
It’s an enjoyable competition, said Ponomarev, who moved to Olympia from Pullman his seventh-grade year.
He started swimming recreationally there, was encouraged to join a team, and realized he had potential in the sport.
“It was something that I continued to enjoy,” he said. “My times kept going down, and kept going down.”
Ponomarev swims club for the Evergreen Swim Club in Olympia, and said he enjoys swimming for his high school as well because of the team environment it offers.
“He’s hard-working and has good attendance, and does what we ask,” longtime Olympia coach Mel Smith said.
“He’s really good at working out, he’s focused, but he’s also quite the teammate, and willing to interact with everybody from swimmers who are close to his skill level and ability, to swimmers who are walk-ons.”
In Gig Harbor, Oates has rapidly risen in the swimming ranks his first year of high school, despite battling some lingering injuries.
“He came in a veteran swimmer already, and has had a really successful season,” Kelly said. “He jumped right in.”
A California native from the Sacramento area, his family moved to the Northwest over the summer. He attends Bellarmine Prep, which doesn’t have a swimming program, and competes for the Tides. He also plays water polo in the South Sound, with Piccolotto as his coach.
“He’s a really strong polo player,” Piccolotto said. “I’m blown away with how well he’s swimming, too. … It’s effortless. He just moves in the water.”
“I think practice for water polo, being in the water (constantly) and never being able to touch the wall, has really helped my legs improve,” Oates said.
He said he enjoys sprinting events the most, and won both the 50 free (21.58) and 100 fly (51.05) at the 3A WCD meet earlier this month.
All three of the South Sound’s breakout freshman would have been on the podium, or just off of it, in each of their respective events last season based on timing results.
Their coaches agreed it’s rare to see so many young swimmers show this kind of dominance.
“It’s one of those things that comes up every several years,” Kelly said. “It’s not a common thing. It’s always exciting when it does happen.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2019 at 10:46 AM.
