2021 WIAA 4A Girls State Swim & Dive Champs
- November 13-14, 2021
- King County Aquatic Center, Federal Way, Wash.
- Short Course Yards
- Results
Tahoma was able to secure the WIAA 4A State Championship title this season after finishing in sixth place during the last championships in 2019.
Tahoma led in team scoring right from the jump, winning the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:45.26. The team of Hannah Weissman, Makenna Portmann, Rowan Gaul and Hailey Sears took an early lead and never looked back, getting well under the All American Consideration time of 1:46.21.
- Hanna Weissman – 25.81
- Makenna Portmann – 29.37
- Rowan Gaul – 26.13
- Hailey Sears – 23.95
- Final Time – 1:45.26
Curtis High School would make a push during the 200 freestyle, with senior Gabi Bellin claiming the win in a time of 1:52.64 over Tahoma freshman Elayne Chen (1:53.86).
Catherine Yu dominated the 200 IM with a time of 2:03.13 to win the event by 5.8 seconds. Her time was slightly slower than that of her preliminary swim, but was able to drop 1.5 seconds off her time from the previous year’s championship meet.
Junior Gillian Tu took the win in the 50 freestyle by two tenths over Tahoma’s Hailey Sears –24.00 to 24.19. Tu was just a hair slower than that of her preliminary time of 23.84. The Junior dropped .36 from her time at the 2019 championships that earned her fifth place.
1-meter diving was dominated by the seniors, with Kaitlyn Holt of Mount Si and Jade Fontenelle of Skyline improving their preliminary scores to claim the top two spots. Holt scored 352.8 points to beat Fontenelle by 20.5 points to win the event.
After the diving break, Claire Smith and Joy Li raced the 100 fly and finished first and second, respectively. Li took a narrow lead over Smith at the 50, splitting 26.81 to Smiths 26.86, but ultimately faded toward the end of the race, finishing second with a time of 57.95 to Smith’s 57.10.
As a sophomore, Smith was not at the previous championship after the 2020 meet was canceled due to the pandemic. Her time would have placed sixth in the 2019 final.
- Claire Smith – 26.86/30.24 (57.10)
- Joy Li – 26.81/31.14 (57.95)
Junior Michelle Chen took the win in the 100 freestyle with a blistering 51.01, narrowly dropping under the All-American Consideration time of 51.05 and winning by eight tenths over Tahoma’s Hanna Weissman (51.88).
- Michelle Chen – 24.60/26.41 (51.01)
- Hannah Weissman – 24.69/27.19 (51.88)
Senior Maya Clise put up a best time in the 500 freestyle in 5:01.87. Clise dropped 1.3 seconds from her preliminary time, and won the race by nearly six seconds over Bryn McGinnis, who finished in a time of 5:07.47. Elayne Chen rounded out the top three in 5:08.66.
Curtis High School claimed the victory in the 200 free relay, finishing in a time of 1:38.22 over Tahoma who had their lead cut to just 34 points after the event.
The Curtis team was made up of Alexa Proctor (24.80), Trinity Link (24.62), Athea Caritativo (25.15) and Gabi Bellin (23.65). Tahoma had a slight edge with the final swimmers diving in, but Gabi Bellin ripped a 23.6 split on the last leg to overtake the field and secure the win for Curtis in 1:38.22.
Redmond’s Chen was able to drop from her preliminary swim in the 100 back, dropping from 55.78 to 55.17 to win and mark the only sub-56 swim in the field.
Chen and Weissman (56.02) battled it out through the first 50, flipping with just a tenth of a second difference between them 26.77 and 26.85 respectively, but Chen had more gas left in the tank on the back half of the race that gave her the win.
Gillian Tu took an early lead in the 100 breaststroke, which was the closest race of the afternoon, splitting 28.45. However, it looked like Catherine Yu had a second gear left in the tank on the second 50, roaring home in a 32.32 to out touch Tu and secure the win, 1:01.38 to 1:01.50.
To this point in the meet, Tahoma had built up a 90-point lead over Curtis to secure the State Championship, with only the 400 free relay left. Although the Championship was out of reach, that did not stop Redmond from battling it out with Tahoma for the top spot in the final event.
The relays went back and forth, battling from start to finish. Michell Chen helped Redmond take the early lead with the fastest split of any swimmer in 51.67, followed by Tahoma’s Hannah Weissman (52.09).
After Tahoma maintained a one-second lead through the final exchange, Redmond’s Catherine Yu dropped a 51.79 anchor to secure the victory in 3:32.54 to Tahoma’s 3:33.18.
TOP 5 TEAM SCORES
- Tahoma, 315.5
- Curtis, 224.0
- Redmond, 214.0
- Newport, 194.0
- Issaquah, 151.0
GO BEARS