Bottelberghe gets ‘swimmer of the year’ honors at state meet, Columbia River places fifth

FEDERAL WAY — Josh Bottelberghe won’t have the record he was gunning for, but he’ll have plenty of hardware to show for his swimming career at Columbia River.

At last year’s meet,Bottelberghe beat U.S. Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian’s meet record in the 200 freestyle when he swam 1:39.87 at the state meet. This time he wanted to go for Adrian’s state record.

Bottelberghe, who is headed to Notre Dame to swim, came short on Saturday, but he helped lead the Chieftains to a fifth place finish at the 2A state swim meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

“It was a huge goal, a huge thing to set out for,”Bottelberghe said. “Watching my team follow through and compete really well was spectacular.”

And he won his second consecutive State Swimmer of the Year award, edging Kingston’s Timothy Gallagher.

The Chieftains were Clark County’s top finishers at fifth with 191 points. Washougal finished 16^th with 39 points and Hockinson was 22^nd place with 25 points.

For Bottelberghe, who finishes a decorated high school career, he didn’t like the way he felt in the water. Swimming a lot later than he was used to, Bottelberghe said he had a tough time adjusting.

Bottelberghe finished the 200 freestyle in 1:40.13, then also won the 100 breast stroke at the end of the night with a time of 54.43.

“It happens, it’s part of the sport,” Bottelberghe said. “I am happy with the how I swam, and there was great competition.”

He shot out of the start in the 200 free, determined to take a shot at Adrian’s record of 1:37.17.

“That wore me out. I was able to stick through it, though,” Bottelberghe said. “I went out fast enough looking at my splits, but coming back I hit a wall pretty hard. I was happy to go up for it and happy to have the challenge to do it — something to push me.”

River’s Rob Mead finished second in the 100 free and was less than 0.2 seconds off of the first place finisher, who broke the meet record. Mead also finished third in the 100 backstroke in 51.94 and partook in River’s wins in the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay. Mead won the 100 free last year, and beat his times across the board, but the competition proved quicker this time around.

“I finished mostly where I wanted to, was a little tired in the end but pretty satisfied,” Mead said. “Having all our guys, a couple us were in our last year, to go out with a bang is cool.”

Washougal’s Isaiah Ross finished fourth in the 200 free with a time of 1:42.64, then added a second place finish in the 100 butterfly (51.03). Daniel Brown finished 14^th in the 50 freestyle (22.93) and 13^th in the 100 butterfly (55.97) for the Panthers.

Hockinson’s points came from its 200 freestyle relay team. Evan Oja, Bradley William, Sam Morris and Joe Dodd finished 15^th in 1:36.12.

2A BOYS STATE MEET RESULTS
At King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way
Team scores—1, Anacortes 249; 2, Liberty (Renton) 241; 3, Kingston 236.5; 5, Columbia River 191; 16, Washougal 39; 22, Hockinson 25.
Winner and Clark County finishers
200 medley relay—1, Kingston (Timothy Gallagher, Aron Markow, Quincy Walker, Ethan Fox) 1:33.55: 2, CR (Rob Mead, Josh Bottelberghe, Elijah Parish, Ben Phelps) 1:36.34.
200 free—1, Josh Bottelberghe (Columbia River), 1:40.13; 4, Isaiah Ross (Washougal), 1:42.64: 14, Sam Walker (Columbia River), 1:52.15.
200 IM—1, Timothy Gallagher (Kingston), 1:50.10; 14, Elijah Parish (Columbia River), 2:08.16; 16, Simon Parish (Columbia River), 2:11.22.
50 free—1, Dietrich Meyer (Olympia), 21.50; 13, Ben Phelps (Columbia River), 22.72; 14, Daniel Brown (Washougal), 22.93.
100 fly—1, Emmett Moore (Anacortes), 49.94*; 2, Isaiah Ross (Washougal), 51.03; 13, Daniel Brown (Washougal), 55.97; 15, Elijah Parish (Columbia River), 56.89.
100 free—1, Dietrich Meyer (Olympic), 46.56*; 2, Rob Mead (Columbia River), 46.68; 14, Ben Phelps (Columbia River), 50.50.
500 free—1, Ross Burchell (Olympic), 4:33.46; 9, Sam Walker (Columbia River), 4:50.49; Daniel Ishchuck (Columbia River), 5:11.61.
200 free relay—1, Columbia River (Josh Bottelberghe, Simon Parish, Ben Phelps, Rob Mead), 1:27.29*; 15, Hockinson (Evan Oja, Bradley William, Samuel Morris, Joe Dodd), 1:36.12.
100 back—1, Timothy Gallagher (Kingston), 49.42; 3, Rob Mead (Columbia River), 51.94.
100 breast—1, Josh Bottelberghe (Columbia River), 54.43.
400 free relay—1, Kingston 3:12.91; 12, Columbia River (Simon Parish, Daniel Ishchuck, Elijah Parish, Sam Walker), 3:32.11.
*meet record