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Bellingham, Sehome place in top 10 to lead local schools at state swim meet

Bellingham's Grace Sorensen wins 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly, Blaine's Hailey Ferrell wins 500 freestyle

By Nick Zeller-Singh Sports Reporter

Bellingham girls swim placed fourth and Sehome finished seventh to lead local schools at the 1A/2A state swim meet Nov. 14–16 at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

No local 3A teams qualified any swimmers so the 1A/2A swim meet had all the action. Bellingham placed fourth with 170 points, Sehome was seventh with 91, Anacortes came in 15th with 47 and Blaine finished 20th with 34.

Sehome’s second-year coach Lauren Heath was named 1A/2A Coach of the Year.

The divers kicked off the state meet Thursday, Nov. 14. Sehome’s Laura Webb was the top local finisher, placing third with 239 points; Anacortes’ Joy Evans was fifth in 230.65; Anacortes’ MJ Anderson came in 11th in 193.45; Sehome’s Cora Burns was 12th with 189.30, Bellingham’s Madeline Fredette wound up 13th with 186.7 and Aviva Weinstein finished 14th with 180.75.

In the adaptive races, Sehome junior Lauren Wonger placed second in both the 50-yard freestyle (:53.53) and 50-yard backstroke (1:00.17). Junior teammate Anna Osterkamp placed third in the 50-yard freestyle (1:04.23) and fifth in the 50-yard backstroke (1:44.39).

In the 200-yard medley relay, Bellingham’s Addy Hayes, Peyton Acord, Grace Sorensen and June Wilson finished fourth in 1:58.49; Sehome’s Parnia Gharaei, Priyanka Costanzo, Ayla VanJaarsveld and Taylor Tellefson were 10th in 2:07.25; Anacortes’ Felix Duex, Silvia Ellis, Alli Claridge and MJ Anderson placed 18th in 2:10.48; and Squalicum’s Mars Molina, Aliyah Martin, Kate Truemper and Natalie Ravitsky finished 24th in 2:18.77.

Sorensen won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:51.95; Sehome’s Elsa Ethelbah came in fourth in 2:03.97; Bellingham’s Annika Holland was 11th in 2:08.02 and Anacortes’ Cora Myers placed 23rd in 2:16.62. 

Blaine’s Hailey Ferrell placed fifth in 2:17.39 in the 200-yard individual medley while Duez was 22nd in 2:37.32.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Bellingham’s Jasmine Garcia finished 19th in 26.94; Molina placed 23rd in 28.79 and Wilson was disqualified.


Sorensen won the 100-yard butterfly in 55.87, less than half of a second from All-American status and breaking the state record of 55.65.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Garcia placed 10th in 58.99, VanJaarveld was 17th in 1:00.36 and Wilson came in 24th.

The 500-yard freestyle was loaded with local talent. Ferrell won in 5:22.59; Acord came in second in 5:27.58; Ethelbah placed third in 5:32.91; Claridge was 10th in 5:46.56; Holland placed 12th in 5:53.72; Duez finished 15th in 5:55.58; Costanzo placed 17th in 6:01.19 and Myers was 22nd in 6:09.22. 

Blaine junior Hailey Ferrell swims in the 2A District 1 meet Nov. 9. Ferrell won the 500-yard freestyle and placed fifth in the 200-yard individual medley at state Friday, Nov. 15. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)

In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Bellingham’s Garcia, Madeline Nies, Hayes and Holland finished 11th in 1:50.58; Sehome’s Sage Maden, Brielle Hicks, Tellefson and Ethelbah placed 15th in 1:54.16 and Anacortes’ Anderson, Amelia Meyers, Cora Myers and Ellis came in 16th in 1:55.51.

In the 100-yard backstroke, Claridge placed 10th in 1:05.05 and Gharaei finished 20th in 1:09.56. 

Acord placed seventh in 1:13.99 in the 100-yard breaststroke and Costanzo placed 14th in 1:17.84.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Garcia, Acord, Sorensen and Holland finished second in 3:49.20; Ethelbah, Maden, Costanzo and VanJaarsveld were ninth in 4:05.73; Cora Myers, Amelia Myers, Ellis and Claridge placed 13th in 4:13.13; and Lynden’s Kaitlin Morris, Joci Hall, Claire Fleming-Butela and Ella Bredeson finished 18th in 4:19.64.

Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.

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