Boys Swim Drowns Bainbridge at Mary Wayte Pool

With the double distraction of final exams and teams diminished by winter illnesses, yesterday's Islander swim meet against Bainbridge Island at seemed subdued. But despite the low numbers, there were great individual performances in 's triumph over Bainbridge High School, 119-61.

"It's amazing so many of my swimmers had personal best times tonight," said Mercer Island's Coach Chauntelle Johnson.

The Bainbridge Spartans had their share of personal bests too. The top finishers in the 200-yd, 100 yd and 50-yd freestyle events were Spartans. Andrew McCarthy had a personal best time of 1:46.73 (200 yd); while Colin Chupik had personal bests in both the 50 yd (22.59) and 100 yd (49.16). 

McCarthy chalked up another 1st place finish and best time in the 100 yd butterfly with a time of 55.04. Other personal bests for the Spartans included Grant Keenan (1:14.86) and Adam Comeau (1:18.89) in the 100 yd breaststroke.

Tomorrow's meet (Jan.20) against Bellevue at Mary Wayte Pool might be the last season contest unless administrators can reschedule a contest lost to snow cancelation last week. Then it's on to the post season, where the Islanders have exhibited a streak of dominance, taking home the State Championship Trophy every year since 2006. Bainbridge took fifth at the 2010 State tournament.

Team Scores:

Mercer Island 119, Bainbridge 61

Mercer Island Swim and Dive Individual Results:

Andy Wingerson, 500 yd freestyle, 1st place, 4:54.42; 200 yd freestyle, 2nd place with 1:47.61

Duncan Koontz, 200 yd freestyle, 3rd place with 1:54.69

Marco Signorelli, 200 yd freestyle, 4th place with 1:55.11

Quinn Markwith, 200 yd IM, 2nd place, 2:05.20

Peter Litzow, 200 yd IM, 5th place, 2:19.88; 500 yd freestyle, 5th place, 5:31.19

Kyle Moline, 100 yd breaststroke, 3rd place, 1:05.62

The Islanders also won the following team events:

200 yd medley relay 1st place (Eric Benca, Jimmy Deiparine, Kyle Moline, Dan Simons) 1:43.57; 2nd place (Ian Piper, Samual Chong, Austin Ralph, Nick Swaya) 1:50.62

200 yd IM 1st place Jimmy Deiparine 2:04.46

200 yd freestyle relay 1st place (Mathew Fukuda, Quinn Markwith, Brandt Waesche, Marco Signorelli) 1:32.23 (also a season best time for this relay)

100 yd backstroke 1st place Eric Benca 55.94

100 yd breaststoke 1st place Samuel Chong 1:03.57

400 yd freestyle relay 1st place (Deiparine, Markwith, Benca, Wingerson) 3:22.18

MI Divers Cody Hall (161.25) and Connor Nielson (155.30) took first and second place, adding 10 team points for Mercer Island.