Climbers' Cervantes, Bulldogs' Evans take third at state championship

Shelton freshman Tawan Benedict made his first appearance at state a memorable one, placing sixth in the 100-yard butterfly at the State 2A swimming championships on Saturday at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Benedict finished the butterfly in 55.98 seconds. Quincy's Trenten Calloway won the race in 49.25 seconds, setting a meet record. He finished 14th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.08.

"I was a lot happier with the prelims. The finals weren't bad per se, but I feel like it could have been a little bit better," Benedict told the Journal. "Overall, I did meet my goal. I wanted to get a medal my freshman year and I did achieve that."

Benedict said he's competed at meets bigger than the state meet, but this was most important meet to him because he wants to win state before his high school career is over. He said his swimming has improved a lot since the start of the season.

"At the beginning of the swim season, I would have never thought I would have a 55 (seconds) in the 100 fly, so I'm really happy with my fly and my freestyle," Benedict said. "My breaststroke, I wish I could pull it through a little bit more, but I'm pretty happy with how much I evolved this season."

Charlie Morson was the other Shelton swimmer to compete in an individual event, placing 16th in the 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 2:01.35.

The Highclimbers had three relay teams compete. Shelton's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Wyatt Anthis, Judah Holzgrove, Andrew Karr and Morson placed 12th with a time of 1:40.36. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Morson, Karr, Jayden Lovingfoss and Benedict also finished 12th with a time of 3:41.30.

Shelton competed in the 200-yard medley relay but was disqualified after the second swimmer leapt off the starting blocks before the first swimmer touched the end of the pool.

The Highclimbers finished 15th with 37 points. Pullman won the team title with 286 points.

"The big thing was yesterday, we made it with as many swims as we did for finals. We did what we hoped to do," Shelton coach Chad Youngquist told the Journal. "I think we pretty much stayed where we were, a couple shifts here and there but not big changes. I thought the big highlight was just being here, especially being in finals or in consolations with all three relays."

This is the first time the Shelton boys have had three relays compete at state in 28 years, according to Shelton coach Rob Phelan.

"It's a big milestone, usually we put together one relay, two relays, a group of four, and we were able to get six guys together and we came out of last year that we weren't going to be as fast this year," Phelan said. "We've surpassed those times from what we did last year so really happy with those."

Lovingfoss set two personal records in his relay times and Karr had a personal record as well. Morson and Holzgrove each had personal records Friday.

It was a successful meet for the Shelton boys, and Benedict's early goal for his sophomore season is to win two medals at state and be the district champion.

"Thank you to my parents and teammates and coaches for being so great and supportive," Benedict said.

With only one senior competing at state, the Highclimbers hope to be back and better than ever next season.

"This is a great group of boys, they've worked hard," Phelan said. "For a small group, it's hard to motivate when you know you're a small group. It would be nice to add a big group of freshmen next year so that we can continue and keep building upon it."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

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

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