Led by freshmen Sarah Grundman and Kay Sterner, Bainbridge Island finished seventh in the 3A state swim meet at King County Aquatic Center last week.
Bainbridge scored 123 points, only five points behind sixth-place Mount Rainier. Mercer Island captured the state championship with 246.5 points.
Grundman led the way as the Spartans’ only swimmer to qualify for the championship in both her individual events, the 200-meter and 500-meter freestyle.
Grundman scored 18 points for the Spartans, coming in with a team-best fourth-place finish in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of five minutes, nine seconds. In the 200-meter freestyle, Grundman placed sixth with a time of 1:57:55 and Sterner placed eighth (2:02.96). Sterner also placed 10th in the 500-meter freestyle with a time of 5:10.45.
Even though the Spartans didn’t qualify their 200-meter freestyle relay for state until the district meet, Tess Harpur, Cameo Hlebasko, Sterner and Grundman placed fifth with a time of 1:42. The same relay team also placed sixth in the 400-meter freestyle final with a time of 3:44.61.
Bainbridge’s 200-meter medley relay team of Emily Sonnenfeld, Kayla Estes, Hlebasko and Kendall Sanson placed 13th with a time of 1:59.77.
In the 200-meter individual medley, Tess Harpur finished 11th and Estes finished 23rd. Harpur also placed ninth in the 100-meter butterfly.
In her only individual event, Sonnenfeld placed 18th in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:03:17.
Freshman Lilia Paul, the Spartans’ only diver, placed 19th.
The Spartans, who competed without any seniors in the state meet – juniors Sonnenfeld and Sanson were the only upperclassmen – will return a young squad next season.
In addition to Grundman and Sterner, the Spartans will benefit from the experience of sophomores Estes, Harpur and Hlebasko.