Aberdeen swimmers use depth to beat Hockinson

All things considered, Aberdeen boys swimming coach Rob Burns was happy that his early projection of a wafer-thin meet Monday was slightly exaggerated.

Using their depth to overcome Hockinson’s first-place punch, the Bobcats emerged with an 82-74 victory at the YMCA of Grays Harbor.

Not at full strength, Hockinson employed the unusual strategy of loading up their limited troops in several events and all but abandoning others.

With Joe Dodd and Evan Oja each winning two individual races and sharing in a pair of relay victories, the Hawks notched first-place finishes in eight of the 11 events contested Monday (diving was not staged).

The Bobcats, however, outscored the visitors 20-0 in two events (the 200-yard individual medley and 100-yard butterfly) that the Hawks left uncontested. Aberdeen also registered enough seconds and thirds to blunt Hockinson’s advantage at the top.

Dodd, for example, easily won the 50-yard freestyle. But with Connor Gates, Sage Bridges and Toby Courts placing second, third and fifth, the Bobcats matched Hockinson’s eight points in that event.

Burns, who had anticipated Hockinson’s speed, was pleased that his troops capitalized on a rare advantage in manpower.

“Our depth today was the difference,” he observed. “Our main guys did what they were supposed to do and our second and third guys really stepped up.”

In the final analysis, Aberdeen’s lone victory in a contested event proved to be pivotal to the outcome.

The Bobcat foursome of Jared Durr, Trevor Mullin, Bridges and Gates outdueled Hockinson’s A team to take the opening 200-yard medley relay with a time of 2:01.68. Had the Hawks prevailed in that event, the meet would have ended in a tie.

As it was, Aberdeen owned a 45-21 lead through five events. That proved to be a sufficient cushion to hold off Hockinson’s late charge.

Mullin topped teammate Brice Kola in the 200 IM and Bridges and Ryan Curry went one-two in the 100 fly.

Burns cited Courts and Brennan Munoz for their performances in several events, Clayton Anderson for a personal best in the 500 free and Eric Eng for a significant time drop in the 100 free.

The Bobcats will compete in the all-classification Southwest Washington Championships on Saturday at Longview’s Mark Morris pool.

200 medley relay — 2:01.68 — Aberdeen (Durr, Mullin, Bridges, Gates), Hockinson, Aberdeen. 200 free — 2:11.75 — Bradley (H), Durr (A), Achterbosch (H), Shaw (A), Johnson (A). 200 IM— 2:45.88 — Mullin (A), Kola (A). 50 free — 22.35 — Dodd (H), Gates (A), Bridges (A), Broer (H), Courts (A). 100 fly — 1:08.64 — Bridges (A), Curry (A). 100 free — 52.68 — Oja (H), Gates (A), Courts (A), Broer (H), Baker (H).

500 free — 7:10.25 — Achterbosch (H), Anderson (A), Shaw (A), Munoz (A). 200 free relay — 1:43.87 — Hockinson (Bradley, Oja, Martinez, Dodd), Aberdeen, Hockinson. 100 back — 1:08.62 — Oja (H), Durr (A), Williams (A), Eng (A). 100 breast — 1:02.43 — Dodd (H), Mullin (A), Bradley (H), Kola (A), Kyle (H). 400 free relay — 3:57.81 — Hockinson (Bradley, Oja, Dodd, Broer), Hockinson, Aberdeen.