Curtis’ Willow Lopez-Silvers wins 4A 100 freestyle state swimming title; Skyline wins 4A team title

Music soothes the soul, so they say.

Well, that’s exactly what it did for Curtis High School junior Willow Lopez-Silvers during the state final 100-yard freestyle Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center. She won the race, becoming the 4A state champion by finishing in 52.39 seconds and edging Newport of Bellevue’s Elisa Fang.

Lopez-Silvers entered the race a little nervous — until her jam came on. “Cake By The Ocean” by DNCE rang throughout the arena, bringing a smile to Lopez-Silvers’ face. It was on.

Lopez-Silvers maintained the lead throughout the race. Fang closed in during the last 50 meters, but Lopez-Silvers kicked it into another gear and finished strong with Fang taking second in 52.93 seconds. Tahoma’s Lindsey Hanger finishing third in 53.60.

“I pride myself on finishing,” Lopez-Silvers said. “I saw the lane next to me creeping up and I picked it up.”

Skyline took the 4A team title with 293 points to Newport of Bellevue’s 257. Gig Harbor placed seventh, Stadium 10th and Puyallup 11th.

Willow-Lopez’s strong finish helped Curtis take 17th.

“She is a fierce competitor,” Curtis coach Holly Arasim said. “She prefers the chase; she has to be going against someone that is going to challenge her, that is when she is at her best.”

Earlier in the season Lopez-Silvers broke a 100-yard backstroke record for Curtis that had been held since 1994.

Puyallup’s senior Mackenzie Mergel landed in fifth place during a closely contested 200 freestyle race, finishing in 1:55.47 — with the third-sixth place finishers all clocking within a second of each other. Mergel continued into the 100 breaststroke, where she placed fourth with a time of 1:05.40.

Vikings senior Lindsey Muiznieks took fifth place in the 100 yard butterfly in 58.11. She battled sixth-place finisher Haley Childress of Kentridge the entire race but edged ahead during the final 25 meters.

Gig Harbor’s Ursula Andren placed third in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.02 and was also the second leg in the 200 medley relay, which took fifth place with a final time of 1:50.71.

The Tides took fourth place during the 200 freestyle relay finishing in 1 minute, 40.42 seconds.

Stadium junior Kaycee Simpson finished in fifth place in the 200 IM in 2:08.03, and was just a tenth of a second away from fourth-place finisher Emma Frey from Mount Vernon.

Timberline’s Hannah Barker took fourth in the 500 freestyle in 5:08.31 and was also fourth in the 100 backstroke in 58.40 seconds.

CLASS 3A

Madeleine Dodge and Maya Lawson-Rivera of North Thurston competed against each other during the 3A state 200 IM finals. Friday during prelims their times were separated by .03 seconds; Saturday the times were remained close — but there was a different second-place finisher.

Dodge capped off her first event with a second-place medal, finishing in 2:08.93, edging out third-place finisher Lawson-Rivera by .13 seconds.

“(Lawson-Rivera) always beats me in the breaststroke, so I knew I had to really pull it in the 50 fly and the 50 back to get back at her,” said Dodge.

“It really came down to the last two strokes,” Lawson-Rivera said. “She got the best of me today.”

In a 100 freestyle race that included the top four swimmers finishing within a second of each other, Dodge faced the defending state champion in Garfield senior Marley Cross, who won the race for the third time in her career; winning it once in 4A and twice in 3A. She finished this year with a time of 51.65 seconds. Dodge took fourth place, finishing with a time of 52.90 seconds.

Wilson took seventh in the 400 freestyle relay, as Dodge, Kelly Tran, Carmen Parra and Karli Stevenson finished in 3:47.29 seconds.

Sumner’s Mikaela Miele took on a stacked 200-yard freestyle lineup. Miele, a sophomore, swam strong and took fifth place, finishing with a time of 1:55.22. Miele also placed fifth in the 500 freestyle race in which she finished in 5:10.01 seconds.

Lakeside of Seattle took the state title for the second consecutive season, scoring 297 points and edging the previous four-time defending champ Mercer Island, which scored 266 points. Bainbridge placed third with 264.5 points.

CLASS 2A

Steilacoom senior Sarah Burlingame and junior Natalie Raschke each finished in the top five in the 2A state diving championships.

Burlingame took home a second-place medal for the Sentinels, scoring 376.75 points — finishing ahead of Archbishop Murphy’s Reilly Krueger.

Raschke took fourth place, scoring 321.95 points as Steilacoom finished in 15th place with 39 points.

Liberty of Issaquah won the team title with 310 points to Squalicum’s 283.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 11:40 PM with the headline "Curtis’ Willow Lopez-Silvers wins 4A 100 freestyle state swimming title; Skyline wins 4A team title."