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If one thing became abundantly clear at this year’s Class 2A state girls swimming championships, it’s Whatcom County definitely knows how to produce quality divers.

For the second consecutive season, four out of the top eight placers in the diving event—led by Sehome sophomore Martina Klecka—hailed from local high schools.

Klecka, the fourth-place finisher, was joined on the winner’s podium by the Bellingham trio of Makenna Pittman (fifth), Carley Preator (seventh) and Mei Personius (eighth), marking the second straight year all four divers placed at state.

Half of the top eight placers in the 2A state diving championships were from Whatcom County high schools.

In addition to the strong diving performances, the state championship meet, which took place at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way on November 15-16, saw Lynden’s Sara Jones medal twice, Sehome’s Ana Zurcher notch a top 8 placing in the 100 breaststroke and Sehome post top 10 finishes in all three relay races.

Liberty won the girls 2A state title by edging Sammamish, 268-264. Anacortes was third with 166 points. Defending state champion North Kitsap (159) and Aberdeen (139) rounded out the top five.

Sehome was the top local 2A placer, finishing 11th overall with 120 points. Bellingham (41) and Lynden were 16th and 17th, respectively.

Sehome finished 11th overall as a team, the highest placing among all local high schools.

Klecka, who was fifth last year as a freshman, posted a final score of 306.95 in diving.

Junior Pittman, last year’s state runner-up in the event, was fifth, finishing with 306.60 points—a shade less than the 310.60 she put in during last year’s second-place performance.

Fife senior Taylor Bloedorn successfully defended her state diving title, finishing with 340.70, while Liberty senior Eleanor Brecht (338.15) was second and Sammamish junior Lilje Stratton (316.20) was third.

Pittman’s teammates had solid showings with junior Carley Preator (281.50) finishing seventh and junior Mei Personius (263.75) grabbing eighth place.

Lynden’s Sara Jones was the only local swimmer to medal twice at the state meet. She finished fifth in the 100 butterfly and seventh in the 100 free.

Lynden’s Jones capped her junior season by grabbing a pair of medals. She finished fifth in the 100 butterfly and seventh in the 100 free. Making the accomplishment that much more impressive was the fact that the events ran back-to-back, giving Jones little downtime in between races.

In addition to Klecka, Sehome also had senior Emily Gaven and sophomore Virginia Arthur advance to the finals. The two Mariner divers failed to advance past the semifinal round, finishing 12th and 14th, respectively.

She stopped the clock in the 100 butterfly in 1:01.10. Aberdeen’s Annika Eisele won the race for a second straight year (57.65).

Jones had no time to celebrate her performance in the butterfly as 20 minutes or so later she was right back in the water competing in the 100 free. Jones had to settle for seventh place following a thrilling finish. Fife freshman Lindsay Campbell was fifth in 55.49, while Liberty freshman Savanna Taylor was sixth in 55.50. Jones was up next with a time of 55.55.

Sehome received two top 10 finishes from sophomore Ana Zurcher and a fourth-place finish from Martina Klecka in the diving event.

Zurcher, a sophomore, was eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:11.04) and ninth in the 200 IM (2:16.44). Zurcher’s time in the consolation final would have placed her sixth in the event. However, the day before in the preliminaries she finished ninth with a time of 2:17.45, just missing making the cut into the championship round.

Zurcher also helped Sehome’s 200 medley relay team to a fifth-place finish (1:55.60) and its 200 free relay team to a sixth (1:45.27). 

Zurcher joined Joyce Kim, Emily Welsh and Sarah Leung on the 200 medley relay team. Sammamish won the race, stopping the clock in 1:50.82. Defending champion Aberdeen was second (1:53.29), while Liberty was third (1:53.55).

Sehome High School placed in the top 10 in all team relay races at the 2A state swimming championships.

Bellingham’s team of Jacqueline Fabian, Ella Bathum, Nyla O’Brien and Tatyanna Sparks and Lynden’s squad of Jones, Megan Rouse, Olivia Libolt, Jones and Paige Corkill both advanced to state in the 200 medley relay, but each failed to qualify for the finals.

Zurcher later teamed up with Welsh, Leung and Mia Case in the 200 free relay.

Welsh, Kim, Leung and Jaeli Tilley closed out the meet for Sehome by posting a ninth in the 400 free relay.

Sehome also had Welsh, Kim and Leung compete in individual state events with Kim participating in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke, and fellow seniors Welsh and Leung completing in the 50 free.

Additional local swimmers participating at the 2A state championships included Lynden sophomore Paige Corkill (200 free) and Bellingham sophomore Nyla O’Brien (100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke).

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