After the first day of the WIAA Boys State Swim and Dive Championships in Federal Way, several Mid-Columbia racers are locks to finish in the top eight.

Richland's Nick Connors and Andrew Blanchard, Moses Lake's Brenden Eslick, Walla Walla's Patrick Giedeman, Hanford's Will Wertz and Prosser's Will Burgett and Nolan Saam will climb onto the medal stand today in individual events.

The area's best hope for a diving medal is Hanford senior BJ Deatherage, who ended the day in sixth place.

Connors shot off to a blazing start Friday for the Bombers, taking second in the preliminaries of the 500 free and third in the 200 free. He also helped the Bombers claim the No. 5 seeds in the 200 medley and 400 free relays.

In the 500 free, Connors swam alongside Central Kitsap senior Brendan Weiner, who took the top seed for the A final with a time of 4 minutes, 40.17 seconds. Connors clocked 4:41.83.

"We were neck and neck the whole race, so I think the winner of the 500 free will be who wants it more (today)," Connors said.

In the 200 free, he said, "it's like a really long sprint, so you just go all out."

Wertz did just that in the 3A 200 free, grabbing the No. 4 seed with a time of 1:45.34. He and Liberty freshman Nick Klatt will be the only underclassmen in the A final.

In the 100 free, Wertz clocked 48.19 seconds, tying for the No. 7 seed with Noah Deiparine of Mercer Island. Deiparine, a sophomore, is the only other non-senior in today's final.

The experience level of the other competitors did not faze Wertz, swimming at his second state meet.

"I was totally focused, and I had everyone blocked out," Wertz said. "I was not worried about the size of the person next to me. I knew I had the ability to swim as fast as them."

Wertz also will compete for a relay title with Andrew Peacock, Cameron Sullivan and Cody Quinton in the 200 free. The Falcons were sixth in the preliminaries.

"I got to lead it out, and my goal was stay ahead of the crowd, which I was able to do," Wertz said.

His teammates "all did a great job staying out front, and we dropped time, too," he said.

Hanford/Richland coach Kathy Piper fretted that her teams might get off track after a snowstorm earlier this winter affected practice and meet schedules.

"Since all the bad weather a few weeks out," she said, "it's been kind of nervewracking, organizing practices and making sure they could peak at the right time."

That was not a problem for Blanchard, a Richland junior who took fifth in the 4A 100 butterfly. Nor was it a problem for other area swimmers.

Giedeman, a sophomore, was fourth in the 4A 500 free for Walla Walla. Eslick, a Moses Lake freshman, claimed the No. 7 seed in the 4A 200 free.

Prosser teammates Burgett and Saam will square off today for the 2A 100 breaststroke title. Burgett, a sophomore, grabbed the No. 5 seed with a 1:02.85, while Saam, a senior, took seventh at 1:03.31. They also will compete in the A finals of the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay with sophomore Tim Bowen and senior James Wildman.

Top finals qualifier and area finishers

(Top eight swimmers advance to today's A finals)

CLASS 4A

200-yard medley relay: 1, Stadium A (Logan Rysemus, Mateus Siquiera, Taylor Wright, Stefan Kubeja) 1:37.64; 5, Richland A (Ashton Pollick, Ryan Francis, Andrew Blanchard, Nick Connors) 1:41.38; 13, Walla Walla A (Patrick Giedeman, Jonathon Klem, Russell Skorina, Austin Garrett) 1:43.74. 200 freestyle: 1, Brendan Weiner (Central Kitsap) 1:43.07; 3, Connors (Rich) 1:43.57; 7, Brenden Eslick (Moses Lake) 1:46.22; 10, Giedeman (WW) 1:47.48; 21, Corey Bradshaw (Rich) 1:52.99. 200 individual medley: 1, Rysemus (Sta) 1:54.00; 9, Klem (WW) 2:02.79; 10, Pollick (Rich) 2:03.19; 18, Zach Johnston (ML) 2:07.65. 50 free: 1, Brian Ruggles (Issaquah) 21.58; 12, Garrett (WW) 22.52; 22, Taylor Armstrong (Rich) 23.82. 1-meter diving: 1, Max Levy (Skyline) 291.00; 22, Jacob Price (ML) 97.50; 24, Mitch Piper (Rich) 89.10. 100 butterfly: 1, Asahel Jenkins (Cascade) 52.33; 5, Blanchard (Rich) 53.01; 11, Eslick (ML) 54.20. 100 free: 1, Ruggles (Iss) 47.67; 12, Garrett (WW) 49.81; 18, Kaelan Connacher (ML) 51.23. 500 free: 1, Weiner (CK) 4:40.17; 2, Connors (Rich) 4:41.83; 4, Giedeman (WW) 4:46.23; 17, Johnston (ML) 5:04.00; Bradshaw (Rich) DFS. 200 free relay: 1, Issaquah A (Ruggles, William Matsuda, Gabe Florsheim, David Nam) 1:29.67; 9, Moses Lake A (Eslick, Ben Breaky, Johnston, Connacher) 1:33.51; 16, Richland A (Blanchard, Armstrong, Bradshaw, Harrison Ostler) 1:34.58. 100 back: 1, Edward Kim (Eastlake) 51.33 (All-America consideration); 11, Pollick (Rich) 55.58; 18, Connacher (ML) 57.71. 100 breast: 1, Zach Alleva (East) 58.29; 15, Klem (WW) 1:03.37. 400 free relay: 1, Kamiak A (John Stupey, Tyler Cheung, Kyle Kusuda, Trent Roberts) 3:16.69; 5, Richland A (Blanchard, Pollick, Bradshaw, Connors) 3:19.57; 14, Walla Walla A (Klem, Josh Bumgarner, Giedeman, Garrett) 3:25.80; 15, Moses Lake A (Eslick, Reid Jackson, Johnston, Connacher) 3:25.98.

CLASS 3A

200 medley relay: 1, Mercer Island A (Andrew Weiss, Noah Deiparine, Quinn Markwith, Brandt Waesche) 1:37.88; 10, Hanford A (Will Wertz, Andrew Peacock, Jake Douglas, Cody Quinton) 1:41.40. 200 free: 1, Thane Maudslien (Kennedy Catholic) 1:42.60; 4, Wertz (Han) 1:45.34. 200 IM: 1, Logan Briggs (Liberty) 1:53.86; 24, Keith Meline (Han) 2:10.62. 50 free: 1, Zach Wagner (Lakeside) 21.36. 1-meter diving: 1, Eddie Young (Shorewood) 300.80; 6, BJ Deatherage (Han) 226.55. 100 fly: 1, Maudslien (KC) 51.41; 12, Douglas (Han) 54.69; 19, Jeevan Philip (Han) 55.84. 100 free: 1, Wagner (Lake) 46.52; T7, Wertz (Han) and Deiparine (MI) 48.19. 500 free: 1, Andrew McCarthy (Bainbridge) 4:37.08. 200 free relay: 1, Mercer Island A (Kendrick Trowbridge, Waesche, Karl MacLane, Markwith) 1:29.23; 6, Hanford A (Wertz, Peacock, Cameron Sullivan, Quinton) 1:30.72. 100 back:1, Weiss (MI) 52.44. 100 breast: 1, Raymond Ha (Lib) 57.95 (All-America consideration); 18, Peacock (Han) 1:03.59; 24, Collins (Han) 1:07.15. 400 free relay: 1, Mercer Island A (Daniel Simons, Waesche, Marco Signorelli, Weiss) 3:12.65; 19, Hanford A (Sullivan, Meline, Philip, Douglas) 3:32.54.

CLASS 2A

200 medley relay: 1, Sehome A (Cole Avery, Patrick Gregory, Andy Small, Allen Cui) 1:40.75; 7, Prosser A (Tim Bowen, Nolan Saam, Will Burgett, James Wildman) 1:47.23. 200 free: 1, Steve Sholdra (Renton) 1:41.39. 200 IM: 1, Avery (Seh) 2:00.09. 50 free: 1, Braden Mitchell (Mark Morris) 21.89 (meet record); 15, Burgett (Pro) 23.32. 1-meter diving: 1, Austin Fahrenholtz (Port Angeles) 297.05. 100 fly: 1, Alec Barnard (Archbishop Murphy) 52.97. 100 free: 1, Mitchell (MM) 48.05 (meet record). 500 free: 1, Sholdra (Ren) 4:28.18 (automatic All-America). 200 free relay: 1, Sehome A (Gregory, Isaiah Grambo, Cui, Casey Klipsch) 1:30.49; 8, Prosser A (Wildman, Bowen, Saam, Burgett) 1:34.69. 100 back: Results not available. 100 breast: 1, Connor Powers-Hubbard (Sumner) 1:00.28; 5, Will Burgett (Pro) 1:02.85; 7, Saam (Pro) 1:03.31. 400 free relay: 1, Sehome A (Avery, Curran Wilbour, Small, Casey Klipsch) 3:19.26.