Kentridge<\/a>\u2019s Chase Bublitz is not settling for good enough at this year\u2019s state swim championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI have much higher expectations this year,\u201d Bublitz said. \u201cI\u2019ve already beat my times from last year\u2019s state championships and I\u2019m happy with the progress I\u2019ve made, but that doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not still trying to get even better. I\u2019m never just satisfied with my times because I want to keep improving.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bublitz, a sophomore, came in second in the 50 and 100 freestyle events at last year\u2019s championships, trailing close behind fellow 10th grader Edward Kim of Eastlake, who beat him out in both races.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d be lying if I said I didn\u2019t keep track of him,\u201d Bublitz said. \u201cBut I\u2019m also trying to just focus on myself and beating my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The state swim championships are Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-18 at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way. Bublitz is competing in the 50 freestyle and the 100 butterfly event.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal is to win both events and break a record,\u201d Bublitz said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bublitz gets up at 4:30 almost every morning to get in laps in the pool before school.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe more I practice, the faster I\u2019ll be,\u201d he said. \u201cI like fitting in extra practice because it gives me that extra push.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bublitz also swims and competes for the year-round Chinook Aquatic Club. He\u2019s participated in the club since fifth grade.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI love to be in the water and swimming, it\u2019s a great workout,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives me friends, something to do and it keeps me out of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bublitz got the itch to swim while watching swimming lessons at a pool when he was 4 years old.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to get in the water and learn because it looked like a lot of fun,\u201d he said. \u201cI took lessons that year and have been swimming ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Despite growing up competing in a club, Bublitz said, he enjoys being a part of the high school team.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just more of a team feeling, like we are in this together,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be part of a group atmosphere and to make some good friends.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bublitz admitted his busy schedule can be hard on him.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some sacrifices I have to make because of it,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, sometimes I can\u2019t go hang out with friends because I have a swim meet the next morning really early or something. But, I enjoy swimming so much that it\u2019s worth it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Bublitz said all his preparation for this year\u2019s championships has made him less nervous to compete.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cLast year I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect, so that meet was really an eye-opener for me in a good way,\u201d he said. \u201cThis year I know what to do, what I want and how to get it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kentridge\u2019s Chase Bublitz is not settling for good enough at this year\u2019s state swim championships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":18136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-18135","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\/18135"}],"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\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18135"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}