Friday Nov. 15 eight young women from the Ballard High School varsity swim team went to the state finals. They swam in the 200 Free Relay and the 200 Medley Relay at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Tiara Adler, Luisa Chan, Claire Comiskey and Joy Jaeger were the starting relay swimmers with Marguerite Devine-Mraz, Christina Korth, Audrey McFarland and Tianna Lee as their alternates.

In the 200 Free Relay they placed twenty-fourth with a time of 1:47.51 and in the 200 Medley Relay they placed twentieth with a time of 1:57.89.

Luisa Chan and Tiara Adler also competed in individual races. Chan placed 4th in the 100 meter Breaststroke with a new school record of 1:05.22. She also competed in the 100 Butterfly and placed fourteenth with a time of 59.93.

Adler competed in the 100 meter Freestyle, filling seed No. 23 with a qualifying time of 56.56. She placed twenty-second with a time of 57.26.

“It was a wonderful experience for the Ballard girls to compete against the best in the State,” said first year head coach, Barbara Stevens.

The Beaver’s relay team was seeded as No. 16 out of 24 in the 4A class. There were two qualifying meets they swam in order to gain their spot, and had a qualifying time of 1:56: 66. The Beavers faced other teams like Newport (seed No. 1 with 1:49:72) and said rival, Garfield (seed No. 14 with 1:55:50), among twenty-one other teams.

“It’s a more of a mental event and you have to be careful during the exchanges. That’s where the officials can get you,” said Comiskey.

Chan is a veteran at in competing at the state level, competing her freshmen year. Moreover, the relay team went to state the same year and took 2nd.

“It feels good to go to state. … I’ve been training with two club teams 3 hours a day, “ said Chan before the meet.

For training many of the young women swim 8 to 9 thousand meters a day, however leading up to the meets they swim shorter, faster laps. The relay team collectively practiced their exchanges daily.

“It was quite an accomplishment for the 2 relay teams to make it to the State swimming competition,“ said Stevens.

For more information on the swim meet results visit http://www.wiaa.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=314