FEDERAL WAY — With all three Port Angeles relay teams finishing in the top eight, the Roughriders finished fourth as a team in the state 2A girls swim and dive championships held this weekend at the King County Aquatic Center.
It was the 11th straight top 10 finish at state for the girls swim program and the highest finish since 2017, when the Riders came in third. Port Angeles also finished third at the bidistrict meet.
Port Angeles also got a pair of top-eight finishes from Harper McGuire and one from Yau Fu.
The Riders saved the best for last. They went into the final event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, in fifth place. The team of Lynzee Reid, Danika Asgeirsson, Fu and McGuire came in third with a time of 3 minutes, 54.27 seconds to collect 32 points and leapfrog Bellingham into fourth place overall.
Port Angeles earned 143 points. Sammamish, which dominated the bidistrict swim meet, won the state championship by a wide margin with 343 points. Second was Pullman with 200 and the Olympic League’s North Kitsap was third with 159 points.
Sequim finished 20th with 34 points, getting two top-10 finishes from Ava Shinkle.
The Roughriders’ 200 medley relay team of Asgeirsson, Brooke St. Luise, Fu and Amayah Nelson finished fifth with a time of 2:02.4 to collect 28 points. Port Angeles’ 200 freestyle relay team of Reid, Asgeirsson, Fu and Harper finished sixth with a time of 1:47.51, good for 26 points. Fu and Asgeirsson were part of all three relay teams.
Individually, Harper had the best finish for a Port Angeles swimmer, coming in fourth in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:28.48. That earned 15 points. She also finished fifth in the 200 freestyle in a time of 2:02.21, earning another 14 points.
Fu also had a sixth-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:02.83, earning 13 points.
St. Luise and Asgeirsson also earned points in the 100 backstroke. St. Luise finished ninth with a time of 1:05.02, good for nine points, while Asgeirsson was 11th in 1:07.99, earning six points.
Reid finished 18th in the 200 freestyle (2:13.61) and Nelson was 18th in the 500 freestyle (5:58.22).
Sequim, East Jefferson
Shinkle had the best showing at state for Sequim. She finished sixth in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:24.85, good for 13 points. She also finished 10th in the 100 butterfly (1:05.43), which earned seven points. Annie Ellefson finished 11th in the 100 breaststroke (1:14.39), good for six points.
The Sequim 200 medley relay team of Melia Nelson, Ellefson, Shinkle and Natalie Cross came in 15th (2:08.17) to earn four points and the Sequim 400 freestyle relay team of Shinkle, Cross, Nelson and Ellefson was 15th (4:10.74) for another four points.
East Jefferson’s best showing was by Ursula Schmidt, who came in 19th in the 100 backstroke (1:10.62). The Rivals’ 400 freestyle relay team — Tallulah Sebastian, Schmidt, Serena Hanby-Perless and Akeyla Behrenfeld — was 20th (4:21.47) and the Rivals’ 200 freestyle relay team — Sebastian, Hanby-Perless, Willa Schmidt and Destini Rosas — came in 22nd (1:55.28).
