Domination.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how the Kentlake High boys swim team began the season, and it\u2019s how it finished it, too.<\/p>\n
How dominant?<\/p>\n
The Falcons recorded more than 100 points in successive meets to end the season, victories over Tahoma and Jefferson.<\/p>\n
Kentlake wrapped up an undefeated regular season last Thursday with a 110-60.5 win over Jefferson to finish the South Puget Sound League North schedule 7-0-1 with the tie coming against four-time division champion Kentridge on Jan. 5.<\/p>\n
In the meet at Thomas Jefferson, the Falcons won seven of the 12 events, but more importantly picked up multiple points in each event, including sweeping three \u2014 the 200 yard freestyle, the 500 free and diving competition.<\/p>\n
Heading into that meet, senior co-captain Tyler Royal did all he could to motivate the Falcons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe captain in me was yelling at my team, saying, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re going into another team\u2019s house, they\u2019re going to see an undefeated, cocky team,\u2019 and they\u2019re going to say \u2018We want to beat them,\u2019\u201d Royal said. \u201cLet\u2019s not hold back. Let\u2019s not stop now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the meet was over and it was clear Kentlake had done something historic for its program, the team decided to celebrate by taking a picture together outside the pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good, it feels incredible,\u201d Royal said of going undefeated.<\/p>\n
Junior co-captain David Dougherty agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly I was just really happy because this has never happened,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had this great of a coach or a team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then it was focusing on what comes next \u2014 the SPSL Championship Saturday, Jan. 30 at Curtis High in University Place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a feeling we\u2019re going to swim a lot of yards this week,\u201d Royal said.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s important, he explained, because in order to win the league meet they need to \u201cwork hard, stay focused, don\u2019t get cocky.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freshman Erik Fulmer said that Kentlake\u2019s first-year coach Diana Ekstrom is a key to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of good swimmers, not just the KING (club) swimmers. There are people who haven\u2019t even swam competitively before,\u201d Fulmer said. \u201cWe\u2019re all just hard workers and we don\u2019t like to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tanner Keeling-Garcia, a sophomore who has earned four automatic state qualifying times during the course of the season and swims club, said he hopes the effort pays off this weekend.<\/p>\n
After tying Kentridge 93-93 earlier in the month, Keeling-Garcia said they think they\u2019ve figured out what they need to do to beat the Chargers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast time it was after winter break,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had like, three practices over break, they had 14. So, we were definitely out of shape and you really saw that. Some of our superstars were just average in that meet so, I think (heading into league) that we\u2019re going to be in a better position. I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dougherty said he thinks the chances are pretty good but he thinks it\u2019s best to not count out Curtis at the league meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur coach has said she wants us to win SPSL and I think that\u2019s a great goal to have, but Curtis has won for as long as I can remember,\u201d Dougherty said. \u201cIf we can break their record that would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Christian Knobloch, a junior who won the 200 free against Jefferson and took second in the 100 butterfly, said this season has been \u201camazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knobloch wasn\u2019t sure at the start of the year how the season was going to go because the Falcons had lost a number of strong swimmers then guys like Fulmer and Keeling-Garcia showed up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll definitely improve and that will help to finally topple Kentridge off their throne,\u201d Knobloch said.<\/p>\n
Senior diver Doug Goodgion said there is a sense of unity, too, that has helped contribute to Kentlake\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year I feel like the team is more connected,\u201d Goodgion said. \u201cLast year everyone was just doing it for themselves. THis year I feel like diving has become more part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodgion has posted a number of second place finishes this season behind fellow senior Taylor Welch, who is in his first year diving, and those points definitely help the Falcons\u2019 cause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited to be part of such a good team,\u201d Goodgion said. \u201cI hadn\u2019t been part of a team for a while and it\u2019s a really good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thinks that he and Welch can place well this weekend.<\/p>\n
More importantly, he thinks Kentlake\u2019s success this year has laid a solid foundation for the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good start for next year,\u201d Goodgion said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good promoter for the swim program. It well get people to come out because people like to be part of a winning program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keeling-Garcia thinks it will also encourage other club swimmers to jump in the water for their high school team.<\/p>\n
For now, though, Kentlake wants to continue its undefeated streak.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve put in the time,\u201d Keeling-Garcia said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done the work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Domination.
\nThat\u2019s how the Kentlake High boys swim team began the season, and it\u2019s how it finished it, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":10601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-10600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10600"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=10600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}