Swimmers Advance to State

Liam Bradford, Sports Editor

The Lakeland Hawks swim team had a very successful meet in the district tournament over the weekend of Oct. 29-31. 

The meet took place at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. Overall, Lakeland girls and boys each had a second-place overall finish in their respective district meets. 

The Hawks sent ten swimmers in total to state after their impressive results on Friday and Saturday. For boys, Ethan Abbott and Ethan Harrell each qualified with 15th and 16th place finishes in the state for the 4A division for the 200-meter IM. 

Logan Harris personally predicted a top ten finish in state at the district meet. Fortunately for Harris, this bold prediction seems to have worked out perfectly, as he finished in tenth place for the 200-meter freestyle. This finish was enough to earn Harris a third-place medal in the district meet for this event. 

Harris also qualified with a 14th place finish in the 100-meter freestyle. Harris had a dominant showing in the district meet and saw his top ten goals come to fruition. 

The Hawks finished in eighth place in the 400-meter freestyle relay, which consisted of Logan Harris, Jeremiah Couper, Micah Minix, and Ethan Abbott.

Lincoln Wood, Ethan Abbott, and Elijah Minix all finished top three in the district meet in separate events but were unable to clinch an appearance in state in those races. 

When asked how he felt about making it to state, Ethan Abbott said in an optimistic tone.

“I am very proud to qualify for state, and I am glad all of our team’s hard work has paid off,” he said. 

Abbott congratulated all of the Hawks who qualified for state. 

For the Lady Hawks, Annika Olson was the star of the show as she broke the school and district record for the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:13.23. Olson is the top seed in the 4A bracket for this event going into the state tournament, marking the first time that a swimmer from Lakeland holds the top seed. 

Olson also qualified in the 200-meter freestyle with an eighth-place finish. 

Sydney Garrity qualified in the 100-meter backstroke with a tenth place finish in state and a third-place medal in districts. She also qualified in the 50-meter freestyle with an eighth-place finish.  

In the 200-meter freestyle relay, Annika Olson, Sydney Garrity, Avery Sabatke, and Sarah Smith contributed to a school-record and second-place state finish with a time of 1:52.42.  

Addy Hobbs qualified in the 200-meter IM with a seventeenth place finish. 

Avery Sabatke had a third-place finish in the district meet for the 50-meter freestyle but did not qualify for state in this event. 

Sarah Smith placed third in the district meet but missed out on state for that event, which was the 100-meter butterfly. The 400-meter freestyle relay team finished second in the district meet but missed state. This team consisted of Avery Sabatke, Addy Hobbs, Micah Bretveld, and Emeri Lukey. 

The state tournament will take place this weekend in southern Idaho.

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