By Brenda Sexton | The Courier-Herald
The season is young, but the Sumner High girls swim team will be sending Taylor Ditty to state in November.
Ditty sprinted to a state-qualifying time of 1 minute, 02.78 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke during the Spartans’ 119-4 win over Clover Park Sept. 22. Her personal-best 26.03 time in the 50 freestyle was shy of state. Her time does qualify her for the district meet, as did teammate Sami Hendricks’ 26.45 for second place.
Against Clover Park, the Spartans were short a number of swimmers due to illness, but the Warriors are a small team.
Getting closer to diving at the varsity level, McKenna Roberts scored a 46.9 in that event.
The Spartans’ 200 medley relay won with a district time of 2:02.15. Kallan Gustafson won the 200 freestyle in 2:23.98. She later won the 500 freestyle with a district time of 6:15.92.
Hendricks and Emma Thompson went 1-2 in the 100 butterfly with district times of 1:06.27 and 1:09.82.
Ashley Huyhn and Lizzie Kressler went 1-2 in the 100 freestyle with times of 1:05.75 and 1:06.66, respectively. Huyhn also won the 100 breaskstroke with a district time of 1:21.31.
The 400 freestyle relay won with a district time of 4:12.85.
The Spartans suffered a 92-78 nonleague loss to North Thurston Thursday.
Highlights included the district-qualifying 100 breaststroke, where Huyhn led the entire race only to be out-touched at the wall by North Thurston’s Bre Schwarz, 1:19.12 to 1:19.18.
The 200 medley relay of Ditty, Huyhn, Thompson and Hendricks won with a district time of 2:01.98.
Kressler just missed a district time in the 200 freestyle with a second-place time of 2:19.57.
Sami Hendricks won the 200 individual medley with a district time of 2:26.93. Ditty won the 50 freestyle with a 26.11.
Hendricks and Thompson finished first and third respectively in the 100 butterfly with district-qualifying times of 1:05.11 and 1:07.79
Ditty’s 100 freestyle time of 57.14 was nearly a state-qualifying mark.
Gustafson and Kressler finished second and third in the 500 freestyle. Gustafson posted a time of 5:59.97; Kressler, 6:09.43, both district times.
The 200 freestyle relay finished second. The 400 freestyle relay won with a district time of 4:05.41.
The Spartans host Enumclaw at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
