sports CORRESPONDENT

BALLARD-Gotta hand it to Olympic View. It may not be taking first place team-wise, but they're over the top as far as beating rival Seattle Summer Swim Club league local teams in big meets year in and year out. Like Southern Divisionals July 28, and most recently All-City Aug. 2, at the Blueridge pool in Ballard.

OV took fifth overall, beating out Arbor Heights, Gregory Seahurst and Normandy Park, which was closest, one back, in sixth.

Aubrey Merrell coaches OV now, in her fourth fun summer season, and she got good production from the youngest to the oldest at all-city.

A great big smile bright as Seattle on a Saturday night shined across Merrell's face.

"There were fantastic performances by our team," said Merrell. "Oh my, let's go back to the front. The boys 18 and under free relay was seeded second and took first. That was unexpected. We switched the order up and they came up big. The free 11 and 12 boys relay was amazing. It was the first time they all broke 30 seconds (splits). The eight and under free relay, that's when I lost my voice. The boys 11-12 backstroke, Max Seifert and Jason Lemley were seeded second and fifth and they took first and second.

"On a whole our team moved up in their races. We just had some phenomenal swims."

"Phenomenal" is a very choice word for the likes of the 18 and under free relay team that her brother and assistant, Andrew, was on. That team surprised everyone. "Unexpected" as Aubrey Merrell put it.

The person behind the "switching of 'the order" as Aubrey also put it was none other than her brother, Andrew, a 3A state champ in the 50 free and also second-place in the 100 free. Andrew is also a co-coach on OV so he inserted something smart into his own good doings and his relay team's.

"I was thinking, if I lead off, then we won't have to swim in the other teams' wakes," said Merrell. "I led off with a 21.44 and that set the tone for the race."

It set the tone for an unexpected upset and also plowed the way for an all-city record for Andrew Merrell, Ricky Merrell, Ben Mitchell, and Baden Sprinkle. Not only did they set the record, it was a 13-year standing record until this foursome made it known that nothing lasts forever but eternity.

Possibly the most exciting comeback win of this annual 72-event extravaganza was the 10 and under girls free relay champs of Normandy Park, Kelsey Dunn, Stephanie McClean, Ariana Wetzel and Emma Healey.

The beginning did not look good for Normandy Park, nor the middle, as the Aqua Club gripped a sizeable 2-3 body length lead over NP's first three legs but then came the fourth leg. Healey came from way back to take the AC swimmer at the wire.

"I thought if I put my mind to it, I could do it," said Healey, adding, "But I couldn't have done it without my team."

All others had to say afterward what everyone else was saying.

"That was exciting," said Wetzel.

"The other team was a great team," said Dunn of AC.

It was close to an all-city record, oh, so close.

"We were really excited," said McClean. "The record was 2:08 and we were 12/100ths of a second off."

In the medley, this foursome was seeded sixth but took third.

"We got our best time of the season," said Dunn.

Another great performer at this meet that takes the top six times from Aug. 2 northern and southern division finals and pools them to the six lanes was NP's Thane Maudslien. He took first in the boys 10 and under 25 butterfly.

"This is my best race," said Maudslien.