Bellingham’s Miles Cratsenberg set two new district meet records and Whatcom County high school swimmers earned 32 entries to the 2A state meet following the 2A District 1 boys swim and dive championships Feb. 9–10 at Fidalgo Pool in Anacortes.
Cratsenberg, who won two individual state titles last season and reset the state meet’s 200-yard freestyle record, finished first in the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.17) and 500-yard freestyle (4:29.84). Both finishes were meet records, Fidalgo Pool records and All-American Consideration times.
Squalicum’s Dylan Fisk also won a pair of individual district titles in the 200-yard individual medley (1:57.00) and 100-yard butterfly (52 seconds), helping Squalicum to a third-place team finish.
The Storm finished one spot behind second-place Sehome, while Anacortes won the team title. Bellingham finished sixth as a team.
Sehome and Squalicum each earned 13 state entries, including wild cards (non-automatic qualifiers), while Bellingham had four and Mount Baker had one. Lauren Heath, Sehome’s head coach, was named 2A District 1 Coach of the Year.
For Sehome, depth is what carried it to a second-place finish. The Mariners had just one district champion in diver Jack Legan, but they had six other top-three finishes.
Squalicum won two of the three relay events in the 200-yard medley (1:47.04) and 400-yard freestyle (3:29.70), and those teams will both be top-five state seeds. The 200-yard medley relay team was comprised of Hayden Nelson, Michael Ciatti, Finn Smith and Fisk, and a swap of Ciatti for Mac Hofstedt made up the 400-yard freestyle relay team.
Storm head coach Randy Elsner said the 400-yard freestyle was a big win for the group, as they dropped eight seconds off their preliminary time in the finals to beat Anacortes by less than two-tenths of a second.
“The 400 free relay was a great race for us,” Elsner said. “We got out to a big lead and did our best to hold it. We held off Anacortes and just out-touched them for the win. Dylan, Finn, Michael, Mac and all of our guys who were in other events dropped a lot of time this weekend.”
Bellingham’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of Sloan Jorgensen, Gunner Drost-Kubitz, Cameron Pomerinke and Cratsenberg finished first with a time of 1:35.62, also earning a top-five relay seed at state.
Eight Whatcom County divers are headed to state as well, led by Sehome’s Legan. His teammate, Kaden Schmidt, finished second while Bellingham’s Miles Ludwig finished fifth.
Lynden, a much smaller team than any of the Bellingham schools, did not earn any state entries.
Ferndale competed at the larger 3A District 1 boys swim meet at the Snohomish Aquatic Center, but the Golden Eagles also did not secure any state entries.
Golden Eagles head coach Julia Landon said she was proud of her team’s 11th-place finish out of 14 teams with the meet’s smallest roster.
“Something to note that is very special about this group of swimmers is only Luke Mitchell swims year-round,” Landon said. “Everyone else is just that good from training for 12 weeks.”
Below is a full list of Whatcom County’s 2A state meet entries, by event and district meet placement. State meet psych sheets, with each qualifier’s state seeding, are available on the Washington Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association website.
200-yard medley relay
1st Place – Squalicum (Hayden Nelson, Dylan Fisk, Michael Ciatti, Finn Smith), 1:47.04
3rd Place – Sehome (Kai Arthur, Koen Mathey, Scotty Li, Jake Champagne), 1:50.56
200-yard freestyle
1st Place – Miles Cratsenberg, Bellingham, 1:39.17
200-yard individual medley
1st Place – Dylan Fisk, Squalicum, 1:57.00
50-yard freestyle
2nd Place – Jack Champagne, Sehome, :23.85
3rd Place – Hayden Nelson, Squalicum, :24.07
4th Place – Finn Smith, Squalicum, :24.24
1-meter dive
1st Place – Jack Legan, Sehome, 366.50
2nd Place – Kaden Schmidt, Sehome, 302.20
5th Place – Miles Ludwig, Bellingham, 219.10
6th Place – Nolan Witman, Squalicum, 212.70
7th Place – Thomas Knudsen, Squalicum, 198.05
8th Place – Kyan Misiolek, Squalicum, 197.90
9th Place – Gus Deluca, Sehome, 197.65
10th Place – Ben Lann, Squalicum, 152.55
100-yard butterfly
1st Place – Dylan Fisk, Squalicum, :52.00
3rd Place – Scotty Li, Sehome, 1:02.39
100-yard freestyle
4th Place – Finn Smith, Squalicum, :53.42
6th Place – Jake Champagne, Sehome, :54.19
500-yard freestyle
1st Place – Miles Cratsenberg, Bellingham, 4:29.84
4th Place – Liam Daheim, Sehome, 5:43.43
5th Place – Rocco Khan, Mount Baker, 5:46.23
200-yard freestyle relay
1st Place – Bellingham (Sloan Jorgensen, Gunner Drost-Kubitz, Cameron Pomerinke, Miles Cratsenberg), 1:35.62
3rd Place – Sehome (Jamison Schmidt, Jack Cain, Jackson Rogers, Koen Mathey), 1:38.54
4th Place – Squalicum (Matthew Aussem, Thomas Knudsen, Mac Hofstedt, Michael Ciatti), 1:42.57
100-yard backstroke
2nd Place – Hayden Nelson, Squalicum, :59.78
4th Place – Kai Arthur, Sehome, 1:05.52
100-yard breaststroke
3rd Place – Koen Mathey, Sehome, 1:08.82
400-yard freestyle relay
1st Place – Squalicum (Dylan Fisk, Finn Smith, Mac Hofstedt, Hayden Nelson), 3:29.70
4th Place – Sehome (Jake Champagne, Scotty Li, Jack Wrightson, Kai Arthur), 3:43.43
Adaptive 50-yard freestyle, 50-yard backstroke
Kai Borton, Sehome
Connor J. Benintendi is CDN’s sports editor; reach him at connorbenintendi@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
