The senior wins another dive title while Hallett takes two bronzes.

FEDERAL WAY – Bainbridge diver Olaf Olson went out as a champion and as a class act.

The senior co-captain scored 448.75 points to overcome Mercer Island’s Beau Riebe and win his second straight diving title at the 2A/3A state swim and dive meet last weekend at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Olson, who signed a letter of intent to enroll at the U.S. Naval Academy next year, applauded all the competitors’ dives upon completion and shook the medalists’ hands as he made his way to the podium to receive his medal.

He also showed that he can have fun with his competition as well, goofing around with Riebe and teammate Cheyne Clark after their picture was taken in the back.

Olson had said in an earlier interview that he wanted to score over 500 points at state, but knew it wasn’t to be.

“After my second dive (in the prelim round), I knew that 500 was going out the window,” he said. “

Olson was ahead of Riebe by just 17.90 points after the preliminary round late Friday night, due to a combination of tough judging and an off night, including a rare blown dive by Olson.

“My biggest asset is how consistent I am and Friday night I wasn’t very consistent,” Olson said. “I had a lot of trouble with my front approach and that’s not something I’m used to having trouble with.”

But Olson made sure everything was working for him Saturday night, scoring 40 points or more on his last three dives.

“I had planned my final workout to be easy,” he said. “Just so I could go in with a set that I could do in case I was sick or was dealing with injuries and I could just go out and do it.

“I had some pretty easy dives and decent DD (degree of difficulty) so they (the dives) were reliable,” Olson continued. “I just went in with that and that worked for me. From (Friday) on it was like, let’s keep first place. Going into finals, that was questionable. I said I needed to dive amazing (Saturday), and I think I accomplished that.”

Head coach Kaycee Taylor said he had to remind Olson that he was doing just fine, even after making a mistake on a dive that was different from what he had on the diving sheet.

“He was so stressed,” Taylor said. “I just went over and I said, ‘Olaf, you’re in first place. You’re a state champion diver in first place. Forget about all that other stuff. You’re winning.’

“He said, ‘you know what, you’re right.’ So from then on, he started diving to win it as opposed to diving to avoid losing.”

Clark, who was fifth in the preliminaries, stayed there with a final score of 316.20 – .60 behind Carson Darling of Bellingham.

Clark said he didn’t score well on his first two dives which put him in a hole.

“I just wasn’t diving consistent,” he said. “But I plan, no question, to come back next year.”

The junior, who did gymnastics for 11 years before dropping out with a leg injury and plays water polo for the Bainbridge Island Water Polo Club, said he’ll work with the club diving team to help him get better.

“He wanted to be a little bit higher,” Taylor said. “Maybe that will motivate him to dive all year-round.”

Austin Hallett improved on his performances from last year, just missing out on a title.

He took third in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.14, then placed third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.78 – just .46 of a second behind the winner, Zack Ponchene of Ellensburg.

The time was good enough for All-American consideration.

It also broke the school record and met his personal goal of breaking 53 seconds.

“It’s kind of disappointing because I didn’t beat my personal best (in the 100 free,)” he said. “But I still improved my place. That’s great.”

He was much happier with his performance in the 100 back.

“I was trying to get into the top 25 times for state but that’s always moving around,” he said. “I was shooting for 52.5, 52.6. But breaking 53 was nice. It’s the best time I’ve had this whole season.”

Taylor said he can’t be upset at all with Hallett’s performance.

“We would have liked to have that first or second place (finish,) but to (achieve) that personal goal of 52 (seconds) was fantastic,” he said, noting that Hallett originally broke the record Friday night, then did it again Saturday. “It’s hard to look at a 52 and say, ‘oh, that’s just third place.’ That’s a great swim.”

The relay teams for Bainbridge did well against stiff competition.

The 200 medley relay team of David Ortyn, Clark, Hallett and Kevin Brooks took seventh in the championship final.

The 200 free relay didn’t make it to either final, as the Mercer Island relay team set a blazing time of 1:31.01 in the prelims.

The 400 relay team of Ortyn, Brooks, Cooper Ashley and Hallett finished fourth in the consolation final with a time of 3:24.67.

Bainbridge scored 100 points as a team, tying them with Lakeside for seventh place.

Despite losing Olson and three other seniors, Taylor is excited about the team’s chances next year.

“All of our state competitors are coming back,” he said. “We’ve got some young kids coming up as well.”