The Olympia girls swim and dive team breezed past Sumner 117-65 at Timberline High School’s pool Thursday afternoon thanks to five event wins.
Olympia took the top three spots in the 1-meter diving competition, led by Arielle Lewis’ first-place finish with a top score of 100.40. Isabella DiBenedetto-Campos finished second at 95.65, while Julie Cheeka came in third at 80.85.
Olympia also claimed the top three spots in the 50-yard freestyle, with sophomore Preita Sanders emerging victorious in a close race at 25.96 seconds. Sophomore teammate Aila Swanson was right behind her at 26.86 seconds, and senior Nastasia Moniodis came in third at 27.65 seconds.
Sanders also finished first in the 100-yard freestyle at 57.11 seconds, and Moniodis was the only other finisher under one minute with a second-place time of 59.82 seconds.
Junior Lily Boyle shined in the 200-yard individual medley, winning the event in 2:26.12.
The Bears won the 400-yard freestyle relay by about 23 seconds, coming in at 4:02.72. They also clinched a runner-up finish in the 200-yard medley relay at 2:01.54 and a second-place time in a close 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:48.76. Sumner was less than a second faster in the latter race.
Freshman Priya Sanders continued her impressive debut season with runner-up times in the 200-yard freestyle (2:04.26) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.06). Sophomore Olivia Smith was second in the 100-yard butterfly by swimming a 1:07.67, and senior Campbell Patterson took second in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:18.07. Swanson earned a runner-up time of 1:18.10 in the 100-yard breaststroke.
“Sumner has a really elite top four swimmers, but we were able to overcome them with depth and excellent performances by our divers,” Olympia head coach Henry Valz said. “We have a better idea what it will take to go to that next level, and now we need to put in the work to get there.”
