Curtis freshman Patrick Keough wins first individual title, propels Vikings to runner-up team finish

If Saturday was any indication, Curtis High School freshman Patrick Keough has plenty of Class 4A state swimming medals in his future.

He won one event and finished second in another in his first trip to the state championships at the King County Aquatics Center, and anchored two relay teams which placed in the top five, helping propel the Vikings to a second-place finish in the team race.

“It definitely is kind of inspiring for the future,” Keough said. “It’s a great thing to happen, and I’m just thinking about how I can push faster and further as the years go on.”

Keough won his first title of his high school career in the first individual event of the meet, the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in one minute, 41.03 seconds.

He followed that with a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly, finishing with an All-American consideration time of 49.29 seconds, and was just short of chasing down defending champion Skyler Younkin of Hanford (49.18).

“It’s really impressive being able to go that fast,” Keough said of Younkin, a Purdue commit.

Curtis also finished fifth in the 200 free relay (1:27.12) and second in the 400 free relay (3:10.58), with Keough anchoring both races.

The Vikings finished with 251 points in the team race, just behind champion Skyline, which tallied 271.

“It’s huge for the program,” Curtis coach Dennis Piccolotto said. “We’ve had a swim team for 43 years now, and I think this is only our ninth time bringing home hardware, so we’re super excited about that.”

Curtis brought 26 swimmers to the state meet, 19 of whom qualified to swim in Saturday’s finals. That depth is what gave the Vikings an opportunity to go after the title.

But, there is no question the Vikings’ star was Keough.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Patrick,” Piccolotto said. “He just had an outstanding rookie year. He definitely exceeded all of our expectations, both as a swimmer and as a leader.”

Elsewhere in 4A, Tahoma junior Nathan Ainsworth won the title in the 50 free with a time of 20.97. Ainsworth edged Moses Lake’s Zach Washburn (20.98), who was even with him throughout the race.

Auburn Riverside junior Andrew Adam overtook Issaquah freshman Robert Gref in the finals to win the 4A 1-meter diving championship, finishing with a score of 470.70.

In 3A, Gig Harbor freshman Billy Oates wanted to improve on his performance in Friday’s preliminaries entering the finals.

He did that and then some.

Oates entered the meet ranked third in the 50 free and qualified fifth on Friday, but he swam a personal-best time of 20.88 on Saturday, good enough for All-American consideration — but more importantly a state championship.

“I really don’t think I was expecting that big of a drop (in time) in any of my events,” Oates said. “I definitely think that my team being there for me and my coach being there for me really helped.”

Oates wasn’t done after nabbing his sprinting title.

He also improved on his prelims time in the 100 fly. After qualifying third, Oates moved up one spot for a second-place finish in the finals with All-American consideration time of 49.93.

Led by his big points in the two individual races, the Tides finished fifth as a team with 123 points.

As a freshman, Oates may not have expected to win a championship this year, but he was well aware that it can mean big things for his future.

“I think it opens up a lot of doors,” Oates said. “I’m pretty excited for what will happen next year and the years to come.

In 2A, Fife senior David Zadnivprovskiy finished as the runner-up in the diving finals. His score of 293.00 was second only to Bellingham sophomore Elijah Drew, who finished at 305.80.

This story was originally published February 17, 2019 at 1:10 AM.