Shelton finishes ninth at state swimming

After the final event of the state 2A girls swim meet in Federal Way, the Shelton relay team of Lelia Ollenburg, Madeline Allred, Kaylin Mutoli and Abbi Sachs jumped into the pool to celebrate their 2022 season accomplishments.

As the team scores were revealed, Shelton celebrated again. The big readerboard showed Shelton taking ninth place, the highest finish in school history, at the state 2A swim meet Nov. 11 and 12 at the King County Aquatic Center.

"That's awesome. That's the first time the girls have ever been in the top 10 at state, first time in the history of Shelton, that's the highest they've placed," Shelton coach Rob Phelan told the Journal. "The kids have been terrific throughout the season with all the situations and things like that so it's just amazing to be here and them to end on a high note is great."

Allred had the best finish for the Highclimbers, placing fifth in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 26.11 seconds.

"I didn't get a best time, but I'm still proud of myself," Allred told the Journal. "I still feel like I gave it my best and that's all that matters."

In the 200-freestyle relay finals, the Shelton team of Lelia Ollenburg, Allred, Kaylin Mutoli and Abbi Sachs placed seventh in 1:49.55. The same Shelton relay team finished the 400-freestyle relay in 4:02.03.

"That was amazing," Allred said. "We were really unsure of how we would do going into the end of the season and all of our girls are so happy with how we placed and we're so grateful all of our hard work paid off and it's just a really satisfying way to end the season."

Mutoli finished 16th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:13.83. Ollenburg placed 13th in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:27.53.

The ninth-place finish was a culmination to a season that was anything but normal.

"They've had a lot of challenges this year with the pool being remodeled in the middle of our season and there's just been quite a few curveballs we've had to deal with," Shelton coach Chad Youngquist told the Journal. "We knew they were this talented, it's just getting here was not the normal path that we would expect. They really rose to the occasion and I really appreciate how they did this year. Last year, they were much more anxious and had a little bit of state jitters and I know they performed much better this year than they did last year. I'm excited about the progress because I think we still have a lot to do for next year."

Allred was excited to be a part of Shelton swimming history.

"I never thought that I could be someone that could help make history and I don't think any of our girls thought that would be us, but it is and I'm so grateful. This year has been amazing. The team, we're so close, it's like a family and it's so fun to be with everyone, we're all very supportive of each other and we have so much fun, every single meet. Even when we have bad days, we still have fun together. I'm proud of all the girls."

The team will come back next year with this experience and try to achieve history once again.

"Every point we scored today was by a junior," Youngquist said. "We look forward to having some of the rest of them join next year and this group to get a little bit better, if not a lot better, but just real pleased with how they did."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

• Email: [email protected]