Olympia High School freshman Priya Sanders is headed to her first state swim meet of her young career, as she clinched state-qualifying times in both the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle in a swim meet at Curtis Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Sanders finished in second place in both events, including in 1:58.60 in the 200-yard freestyle and in 5:19.71 in the 500-yard freestyle. She also made up a quarter of Olympia’s winning 200-yard freestyle relay team with Preita Sanders, Aila Swanson and Nastasia Moniodis. The quartet finished in 1:43.64 in a closely contested race.
Olympia’s Lily Boyle won the 200-yard individual medley at 2:22.64 and the 100-yard butterfly at 1:04.76, and Swanson took home the 50-yard freestyle title at 25.52, just 0.13 seconds faster than runner-up Preita Sanders. In the 100-yard butterfly, Boyle was just over a second ahead of Olivia Smith, who swam 1:05.90.
Swanson was just a second behind the champion in the 100-yard breaststroke, taking second place at 1:11.35.
Olympia’s 200-yard medley relay team of Mila Grillo, Paulina Mueller, Boyle and Swanson was the runner-up at 1:58.58. Grillo also took third in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:35.23, good enough for the district meet, and third in the 100-yard backstroke at 1:07.31. Smith was right behind her in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:35.78, also a district time.
Preita Sanders finished in second place at 56.17 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, and Moniodis ranked fourth at 57.32 seconds.
Olympia’s top diver was Isabella DiBenedetto-Campos, who came in third with a final score of 113.85.
Curtis edged Olympia on the scoreboard 100-86.
“It was an incredibly competitive meet throughout with lots of season-best times for us. Our girls swam incredibly hard,” Olympia head coach Henry Valz said.
