Southridge wins first 3A district swim title
The Southridge Suns won their first district 3A District 4/5 Swimming Championships title Saturday at Kelso High School.
“That was a big moment for those girls,” Southridge coach Randy Willis said. “There were a lot of tears flowing. They had never been in this situation before.”
The Suns got their picture taken with the trophy, but they did not get to bring their prize home.
“It is a traveling trophy,” Willis said. “But unless you are from Southwest Washington, you don’t get to take it home. We will have to get our own. We will make sure those girls get a trophy of their own, and a banner in the gym.”
Southridge beat Mid-Columbia Conference rival Kamiakin by two points to win the title.
“We did not take the lead until the breaststroke,” Willis said. “We led by six points going into the 400 free relay, and we had to get fourth or better and have Mt. View win, which happened. Kamiakin finished second.”
Junior Hilary Petersen won the 50 freestyle (24.77 seconds) and the 100 freestyle (54.59) events to help the Suns to victory.
Karma Johnson won the 500 free (5:30.89) and was second in the 100 breaststroke, while the Suns won the 200 free relay (Cleo Tolman, Johnson, Ellison Opdahl, Petersen).
For Kamiakin, Lillian Thurber won the 200 IM and was second in the 100 backstroke, and Abby Winstead and Piper Polanik finished 1-2 in the diving.
Complete 3A results were not available.
In the 4A meet, Hanford won the district title while Walla Walla, which was second, set school, pool and meet records in two events.
The Blue Devils set records in the 200 free relay (Laurel Skorina, Hannah Gardner, Hannah Gordon, Paige Gardner) and the 400 free relay (Laurel Skorina, Hally Ruff, Kyra Hartley, Paige Gardner).
In the 200 relay, Wa-Hi turned in a time of 1:41.64, beating its own meet record of 1:42.54, set last year.
The 400 relay clocked a 3:40.21, shattering Columbia River’s pool record of 3:43.92 set in 2010, and Richland’s meet record of 3:46.72 set last year.
Richland set a meet and pool record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:52.98. The former pool and meet records (1:53.08) belonged to Camas.
Mid-Columbia 4A State Qualifiers
Team scores: Hanford 279, Walla Walla 232, Richland 226, Camas 197, Union 144, Skyview 126, Chiawana 52, Battle Ground 41, Heritage 28, Pasco 12; 200 medley relay: 1, Richland (Marcia Kim, Claire Schaef, Neomi Mennentrot, Chloe Smart), 1:52.98. 2, Walla Walla (Kyra Hartley, Hannah Gardner, Hannah Gordon, Hally Ruff), 1:54.06; 200 freestyle: 1, Claire Schaef (Rich), 1:54.01. 2, Laurel Skorina (WW), 1:56.96. 3, Regan Geldmacher (Hanf), 1:58.12; 200 individual medley: 3, Marcia Kim (Rich), 2:15.87; 50 freestyle: 1, Paige Gardner (WW), 24.30. 2, Hally Ruff (WW), 24.83. 3, Neomi Mennentrot (Rich), 25.04; Diving: 3, Alyssa Whittington (Rich), 352.65; 100 butterfly: 2, Neomi Mennetrot (Rich), 1:01.26. 3, Mary Workman (Rich), 1:01.98; 100 freestyle: 1, Paige Gardner (WW), 54.02. 2, Hally Ruff (WW), 54.48. 3, Samantha Schmidt (Chi), 55.53; 500 freestyle: 1, Claire Schaef (Rich), 5:07.57. 2, Laurel Skorina (WW), 5:12.92. 3, Regan Geldmacher (Hanf), 5:14.98; 200 freestyle relay: 1, Walla Walla (Laurel Skorina, Hannah Gardner, Hannah Gordon, Paige Gardner), 1:41.64. 3, Hanford (Kayla Burck, Kodi Younkin, Regan Geldmacher, Maddie Elliott), 1:43.57; 100 backstroke: 1, Marcia Kim (Rich), 1:00.79. 3, Kyra Hartley (WW), 1:01.80; 400 freestyle relay: 1, Walla Walla (Laurel Skorina, Hally Ruff, Kyra Hartley, Paige Gardner), 3:40.21. 2, Richland (Neomi Mennetrot, Mandi Wilson, Marcia Kim, Claire Schaef), 3:42.82.
This story was originally published November 4, 2017 at 8:52 PM with the headline "Southridge wins first 3A district swim title."