Tahoma swimmers take state team title, edging Curtis and capping a four-year quest
This outcome has been four years in the making for the Tahoma Bears.
The dreams of a 2018 freshman class culminated with the Bears holding the big trophy that will take its place in the school trophy case for the next 12 months, having won the program’s first-ever state team title, 315.5-224 over runner-up Curtis at King County Aquatic Center.
“We’ve been talking about this for four years now,” Tahoma senior Hailey Sears said. “Me and Hannah (Weismann), we’ve had this dream since freshman year. We were thinking about it then, with our old coach Dave (Wright).
“We knew we were going to have some of these freshmen coming up, that were going to step up, that were going to do their best.”
The scoring began immediately for Tahoma, which won the 200 yard medley relay in 1 minute, 45.26 seconds to begin the meet. Five hours earlier, Bainbridge had opened the 3A meet with a big win and rode that momentum to its first girls title since 2000 - 379-223 over second-place Lakeside of Seattle.
Tahoma similarly kept building on the early success. And Sears had a swim that exemplified the Bears overall mindset.
“The girls have been working toward this goal since their freshman year,” Tahoma coach Theresa Castaneda said. “When they first came to us about this, we told them to go ahead and try.”
Former Bears coach Dave Wright and assistant Castaneda, though, didn’t necessarily believe it.
“Everything just came to fruition this year,” Castaneda said. “The girls really did this as a team. There were not one or two superstars.”
The second-place finish for Curtis was one better than the initial psych sheets would have scored them into.
“The girls overcame so much this year,” Curtis coach Aaron Hughes said. “I could not be prouder. It was a special season.”
Sears didn’t win the 50 free on Saturday night. But she did come from the far outside in Lane 1, moving up from her seventh-place preliminary position to grab second in 24.19 seconds behind state champion Tu Gillian from Issaquah.
“I’m pretty much a finals swimmer, and it comes down to pretty much wanting to do this for my team,” said Sears, who gained five extra team points (17 instead of 12) with her drastic move up. “After the relay, I was just pumped and I’m like, I’m ready for this and we’re trying to get this state title and I am going to do everything in my power.”
Tahoma ended the streak of three consecutive championships won by Newport from 2017-2019. But Sears and her Bears teammates weren’t the only swimmers to enjoy the moment being back at the state meet for the first time in two years.
The 2020 state championships, of course, were erased by the Covid-19 pandemic. That left many thrilled just to be back in the building.
“I walked in today and looked around,” Issaquah coach Laura Colter said. “I realized I missed this place.”
Curtis senior Gabi Bellin enjoyed more than just looking around. Bellin finally stood atop a state championship podium, even if it was only figuratively, since the 2021 meet had no actual award ceremonies during the meet.
Bellin went 1:52.64 to out-touch one of those Tahoma freshmen, Elayne Chen (1:53.86) to win the first individual state title of her career in the 200 free. Later, Bellin improved on her sixth-place finish in the 100 free from 2019, placing third winner Michelle Chen of Redmond and Weissman in 52.97 seconds.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a relief,” Bellin said. “But I also just feel so honored to represent Curtis.”
On Saturday, another Viking representative was sophomore and Bellin sister, Gretta, who placed third in the 200 individual medley in 2:09.13.
“So fun,” Gabi Bellin said. “It’s being the ‘Bellin Sisters.’”