Mountain View wins yet another district crown
On the surface, the 10th consecutive district championship for the Mountain View boys swimming team looks like just another case of the Thunder overwhelming the competition.
On Saturday afternoon at Propstra Aquatic Center, Mountain View scored 4081/2 team points to beat runner-up Skyview by 88 points in the Class 4A District 4 championship meet. The Thunder swept the three relays, and had five different individuals win races. Four Mountain View swimmers qualified for state with second-place swims.
But look deeper, and this wasn’t just another championship.
For most of its decade of dominance, Mountain View has simply swamped the competition with numbers, throwing so many more swimmers into the pool that it was almost impossible to outscore the Thunder. That wasn’t the case this time. Skyview entered Saturday’s meet as a real threat to end the streak.
But a Mountain View team that began this season unsure it would have a place to train made sure the season ended with another district title. They did it in part by training through a couple of weeks when the pool at the former Bally Total Fitness site was unheated.
“I think (the string of district titles) is because we’re so much like family,” explained Devonte Willform, a team captain who qualified for state with a second-place finish behind teammate Cody Mouw in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Willform cut more than four seconds off his seed time, an example of the kind of efforts that turned a potentially competitive meet into another Thunder coronation.
In addition to Mouw, who used a strong finish to win the breaststroke in 1:09.01, the individual Mountain View champions were Kai Fyock in the 200 individual medley (2:09.04), Alexander Suk in the 100 freestyle (53.12), Kyle Law in the 500 freestyle (4:55.86), and Davin Gong in the 100 backstroke (58.82).
None of Mountain View’s relays was threatened. Each of the individual winners was on at least one of the relays, and Taylor Turner swam two of those.
“With our relays, we’ve always been lucky enough to have new guys who are really fast come in and take the place of the people who leave,” Law said.
Evergreen senior Jose Plascencia beat Law by almost a full second in the 200 freestyle (1:48.10). The senior also won the 100 butterfly (54.66) by almost three seconds. He said he feels ahead of schedule for the state meet, which takes place in two weeks in Federal Way.
“I tried something new in the 200 freestyle, taking it out faster than I usually do and I ended up dropping some more time than I did last meet,” Plascencia said.
He was less satisfied with his butterfly, but remains confided. “It was still an OK time. It will definitely be a lot better at state, though.”
Despite coming up short of a district championship, Skyview had its share of bright spots. Brightest among them was junior Kevin Boyd.
Boyd came from behind in the final strokes to win a dramatic 50-yard freestyle in 24.20 seconds. Mountain View’s Turner and Alex Wiper of Kelso tied for second at 24.21. Boyd’s surge also carried the Storm to state in the 200 freestyle relay by passing Evergreen for second place.
But Boyd and the Storm couldn’t catch the Thunder.
“Skyview was drastically improved. Skyview could’ve won this meet,” said Dave Shoup who coaches all four Evergreen School District teams. “The Mountain View guys just swam a little better, and that’s the difference.”
A difference fueled by the chance for a 10th consecutive district crown.
As Shoup observed, “(The Thunder) really pulled away because in their hearts they come in and say, ‘This is ours.’”
Still.
