BOYS SWIM AND DIVE: Port Angeles fourth at state meet

Published 2:30 pm Sunday, February 22, 2026

FEDERAL WAY — Last year, the Port Angeles boys swim team had its best finish at state in more than a decade.

This year, with several swimmers returning from the 2024-25 squad, the Roughriders did even better, with all three relay teams placing and several outstanding individual swims to come in fourth at the State 1A/2A swim meet held at the King County Aquatic Center this week.

Last year, the Riders came in sixth as a team, its best showing in recently history. Port Angeles finished eighth at state in 2022 and eighth in 2015.

Port Angeles finished with 170 points, well ahead of fifth-place Fife with 145. Bainbridge won the state championship with 394 points. Pullman was second at 313 and Anacortes third at 187, just edging Port Angeles.

“The boys left nothing in the tank on day two,” said coach Sally Cole. “Watching them push harder in finals, climb the standings and drop time after day one is exactly what you hope for at a championship meet. That kind of effort is powerful and the kind of fight you want. This was an amazing season I’ll never forget.”

The Riders’ relay teams led the way. The 200 medley relay team of Thomas Jones, Ed Gillespie, Miles Van Denburg and Patrick Ross was fifth with a time of 1 minutes, 45.4 seconds, earning 28 points right out the gate.

This came after they qualified eighth in the preliminaries, barely making the “A” finals. They dropped 1.96 seconds off their time in the finals.

The race was a back-and-forth battle with East Valley (Yakima). Jones gave the Riders a narrow .06-second lead after the backstroke leg. By the end of the butterfly, however, Port Angeles trailed by 1.3 seconds. Ross closed on the anchor leg with a blazing 23.60 split, chasing down East Valley and out-touching them by just .23 seconds to seal fifth place.

The Port Angeles 200 freestyle relay team of Gillespie, Isaac Meek, Ross and Adam Kaminski finished ninth in a time of 1:36.36, winning the B final and earning another 18 points.

In the final event of the day, Port Angeles’ 400 relay team of Ross, Thomas, Kaminski and Van Denburg finished fifth in a time of 3:28.34, earning another 28 points. The relay teams collected a total of 74 points on the day.

Port Angeles trailed Olympic through the first three legs, down three seconds after the opening leg and still two seconds back at the 300-yard mark. Van Denburg delivered on the anchor, ripping a 50.03 split to chase down Olympic and surge ahead at the wall, out-touching them by 1.27 seconds.

Individually, Van Denburg was fifth in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:49.25 and sixth in the 100 butterly in a time of 54.83. He earned 27 points for his two high finishes.

Jones was sixth in the grueling 500 freestyle in a time of 5:07.14 and ninth in the 200 freestyle in 1:55.31, individually earning 22 points.

Kaminski was seventh in the 100 backstroke in a time of 57.41 and 13th in the 100 freestyle in a time of 52.32, earning a combined 16 points.

The Riders had two swimmers earn points in the 100 breaststroke. Jebow Nabua was eighth in 1:05.9, earning 11 points, while Gillespie was 16th in 1:08.72, earning a point.

In the diving, the Riders had three athletes place. Jack Root led the way, coming in 10th with 200.55 points. Liam Sholinder was 11th with 195.55 points and Eli Warren 12th with 193.55 points. The trio earned 18 total points for the Riders.

Meek was 16th in the 100 backstroke ((1:01.08), earning a point, and 18th in the individual 200 medley in a time of 2:16.44. Gillespie was 20th in the 100 freestyle (54.68), while Killian Waknitz was 18th in the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.75 and Ross was 17th in the 100 butterfly in 1:00.54.

Port Angeles could be even stronger next year as Jones, Van Denburg, Ross, Nabua and Kaminski — all state placers — return next year.

The recognition extended beyond the pool. Head coach Sally Cole was named 2A State High School Swimming Coach of the Year by the Washington Interscholastic Aquatics Coaches Association, capping off a historic season for the Roughriders.