Aberdeen swimmers soar past Eatonville, 138-41

An altered lineup didn’t alter Aberdeen’s victory celebration in its final home girls swimming meet.

Winning every event, the Bobcats cruised to a 138-41 rout of Eatonville in a non-league meet Wednesday at the YMCA of Grays Harbor.

Bobcat coach Jan Simons did her share of lineup juggling in an attempt to qualify additional swimmers for district and state.

While the Cats, in her estimation, did not match their performance from last week’s meet against the Centralia-Chehlis combine, she was generally happy with the results.

“Mostly, they swam to the competition,” Simons said. “If they were comfortably ahead, they swam their race. But they swam really well. It was a good meet overall.”

Aberdeen senior Taylor Jones, sophomore Emily May and freshman Karli Heikkila had a hand in four victories apiece.

Jones won the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard breaststroke, May captured the 200 individual medley and 100 backstroke and Heikkila prevailed in the 100 and 200-yard freestyles. The trio also shared in two relay victories apiece.

The Bobcats (5-2) swept the top three places in five events. Most of their event wins were lopsided — including Linnea Davison’s triumph in the 500 free by some 45 seconds.

Bobcat senior Danielle Rowe barely out-touched Eatonville’s Jayla Thirtyacre at the finish of a highly competitive 50-yard freestyle. May and teammates Mackayla Waltee and Amelia Davison swam together for the opening lap of the 100 back before May pulled away to win relatively comfortably.

Senior diver Naomi Wolfenberger was Aberdeen’s other individual winner. While Wolfenberger fell short of the school-record 257 points she established last week, she again cracked the 220-point barrier.

Hannah Mellon-Jackson, Hoquiam’s lone representative on the Bobcats, met district-qualifying standards in the butterfly and backstroke.

May was commended by Simons for a strong showing. The Bobcat coach also cited her four seniors (Jones, Rowe, Wolfenberger and Christina Rosche), who were making their final home appearances.

The Bobcats will compete in the all-classification Southwest Washington Championships at Mark Morris High School in Longview on Saturday.

200 medley relay — 2:03.95 — Aberdeen (Waltee, Jones, May, D. Rowe), Aberdeen, Eatonville. 200 free — 2:13.82 — Heikkila (A), L. Davison (A), Bunnell (A), Thirtyacre (E), Gacke (E). 200 IM — 2:27.99 — May (A), Rabung (A), Dawson (A). 50 free — 27.8 — D. Rowe (A), Jayla Thirtyacre (E), A. Davison (A), Litzenberger (E), Boyce (E). Diving — 220.15 — Wolfenberger (A), Cournoyer (A). 100 fly — 1:09.24 — Jones (A), Dawson (A), Mellon-Jackson (A), Smith (E), Raffensberger (E).

100 free — 1:00.95 — Heikkila (A), Jayla Thirtyacre (E), D. Rowe (A), Boyce (E), Waltee (A). 500 free — 6:35.24 — L. Davison (A), Bunnell (A), B. Rowe (A), Golding (E). 200 free relay — 1:55.95 — Aberdeen (Heikkila, Wolfenberger, L. Davison, Jones), Eatonville, Aberdeen. 100 back — 1:08.8 — May (A), Waltee (A), A. Davison (A), Nacnac (E), Janelle Thirtyacre (E), Gacke (E). 100 breast — 1:16.40 — Jones (A), Rabung (A), Raffensberger (E), Cournoyer (A), Boyce (E). 400 free relay — 4:22.6 — Aberdeen (L. Davison, Heikkila, D. Rowe, May), Eatonville, Aberdeen.