Despite losing the meet, Bonney Lake swim coach Jay Paulson was very pleased with how his team performed Thursday against visiting Steilacoom.
“We had a great meet with some awesome races, but just couldn’t match Steilacoom’s depth with our injury-depleted team,” he said in an email.
But despite several best times and district qualifying times, including an intense meet-ending 400 freestyle relay race, the Sentinals proved too much for Bonney Lake, who fell 106-80.
There were highlights for the Panther,s including Cameron Gehrke, who qualified for districts in the 100 butterfly, his second district qualifying time of the season. Gehrke also led a Panther sweep of the 200 individual medley, with Ryan Engledow finishing second and Josh weaver coming in third.
Dom Leiggi also qualified for his second district event with a second-place finish in the 100 backstroke.
To see a slideshow from the meet, click here.
Paulson said the team’s sophomores also had a great day for the Panthers, Led by Tyler Tangen and Skylar Lvingston in the 200 freestyle.
“Both Skylar and Tyler will push each other as we close in on our league championship meet,” Paulson said.
In addition, Tangen dropped 10 seconds off his 500 freestyle time and is closing in on a district qualifying time.
“It’s easy to forget he’s only a sophomre,” Paulson said.
Bonney Lake’s trio of divers also had a good day, finishing second, third and fourth. Scott Jackson led the Panther divers, followed by Gary Flygare and rookie Brice Roberts, whose inward 1 1/2 notched the highest single-dive score of the day.
The meet ended with a spectacular race in the 400 freestyle relay, with Bonney Lake’s Leiggi, Weaver, Engledow and Gehrke posting a district qualifying time. Steilacoom went out to an early lead in the race, but the Panther pulled ahead in the second leg and held on to the lead until the final 50 yards, when Steilacoom’s anchor leg was able to get a slight lead and touched-out the Panthers at the end.
The Panthers are at Clover Park on Tuesday and host Auburn Mountainview Thursday at the Sumner High School pool.
