Sports
Mercer Island Swimmers Take 3A SeaKing District 2 Championship
Seattle's Lakeside faded in the final events of the two-day meet as Mercer Island to finished first of 18 prep teams.
Mercer Island Boys Swim and Dive team came from behind Saturday night to seize victory in the 3A SeaKing District 2 meet at .
Hundreds of parents, siblings and fans filled the stands to the rafters, joining in the din and roar as prep swimmers from 18 schools battled for a spot in the Feb. 18-20 WIAA Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires State Championship at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
The Islanders were neck-and-neck with rivals Lakeside until late in the meet when Mercer Island placed three swimmers in the top six of the 100-yard backstroke, led by senior Andy Wingerson.
Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Led by coach Chauntelle Johnson, Mercer Island had three first-place finishes, including the 200-yard medley relay (Wingerson, Deiparine, Simons and Signorelli), Kyle Moline in the 100-yard butterfly (tie with Lakeside's Sean Ekavithvorakul) and Jimmy Deiparine in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Eastside Catholic's Ethan Hallowell was the meet's top individual performer, setting two new district records in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle events. His 100-yard time of 44.73 shaved nearly half-a-second off the existing record and 1:39.28 in the 200-yard mark smashed the previous mark by nearly 2 seconds.
Find out what's happening in Mercer Islandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The following Mercer Island swimmers placed in the finals of each event (qualified for state in bold):
200-yard medley relay
1st: Wingerson, Deiparine, Simons and Signorelli, 1:38.45
200-yard freestyle
9th: Benca, Eric, 1:49.31; 10th: Moline, Kyle, 1:49.35
200-yard IM
3rd: Wingerson, Andy, 2:00.49; 4th: Deiparine, Jimmy, 2:00.9; 5th: Chong, Samuel, 2:03.62; 6th: Koontz, Duncan, 2:06.42
50-yard freestyle
2nd: Signorelli, Marco, 22.54, 9th: Simons, Dan, 23.07; 12th: Waesche, Brandt, 23.37
1-meter diving
3rd: Hall, Cody, 293.55
100-yard butterfly
1st: Moline, Kyle, 53.09; 6th: Simons, Dan, 56.25; 7th: Markwith, Quinn, 54.92; 9th: Moline, Evan, 56.84
100-yard freestyle
7th: Signorelli, Marco, 49.99
500-yard freestyle
10th: Koontz, Duncan, 5:02.54, 11th: Tse, Gabe, 5:06.79
200-yard freestyle relay
2nd: Signorelli, Markwith, Simons, K. Moline, 1:30.19
100-yard backstroke
2nd: Wingerson, Andy, 54.10; 3rd: Benca, Eric, 55.50; 5th: Piper, Ian, 56.64; 12th: Austin, Ralph, 59.98
100-yard breaststroke
1st: Deiparine, Jimmy, 1:01.29; 3rd: Chong, Samuel, 1:02.5; 5th Moline, Evan, 1:04.63
400-yard freestyle relay
3rd: K. Moline, Deiparine, Benca, Wingerson, 3:16.39
Final team placings and points (through 14 teams:)
1. Mercer Island 290.5 2. Lakeside 258.5 3. Seattle Prep 172 4. O'Dea 153 5. Bainbridge 134 6. Liberty 107 7. Eastside Catholic 83 8. Bellevue 55 9. Bishop Blanchet 52 10. Sammamish 27 11. Nathan Hale 25 12. Lake Washington 1613. Juanita 11
14. Ingraham 6Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.