The Aberdeen Bobcats boys swim and dive team competed at the 2A State Championships Thursday through Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

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Diving

Juniors Micah Schroeder and Zeke Olson finished their seasons on the board with podium places on Thursday morning.

Schroeder, completing his first diving season, challenged the leaders throughout the 11-dive competition before falling back to fourth place overall with 226.65 points.

In his second state diving meet, Olson overcame a missed dive midway through the competition with two high-scoring dives in the last two rounds to take fifth place overall with 214.95 points. This was Olson’s second straight fifth-place finish at state.

“All season, Zeke and Micah pushed each other in practice to get better and complete more difficult dives,” Aberdeen diving coach Carly Giles said. “That was key because they kept their composure and stayed focused, even when a few dives didn’t go their way. They did a great job and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do next season.”

SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen’s Micah Schroeder (4) and Zeke Olson (5) earned podium spots at the State Diving Championships on Thursday in Federal Way.

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Swimming

Overall, the Aberdeen boys swim & diving team took 13th place overall at the end of Saturday’s finals. The Bobcats swam in five B finals, with seniors Denny Linker and Jacob Hallak and juniors Olson and Cole Nylander competing on the day.

“From start to finish, this was a strong meet for us, even if the results didn’t go our way in the pool,” Bobcats head coach Rob Burns said. “Zeke and Micah did a great job of persevering and staying focused. Denny and Jacob finished strong in their final high school swims. Cole had a rough morning but came away with a great swim to end the meet for us, and Cooper Gill swam well in the relays during (Friday’s) preliminaries. It was a very good three-day trip to finish the season. I’m very proud of them and the work they put in to get here.”

The best placing of the day came at the end of the meet. Nylander stayed at the front of the pack throughout and took 10th place overall — second place in the B final — with a time of 1:03.90 in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The four started the meet with the 200 medley relay and finished 13th overall, fifth in the B final, with a time of 1:50.14.

Hallak (2:17.91) and Linker (2:19.03) took 11th and 13th overall — third and fifth in the B final — in the 200 individual medley, with Olson (59.37) and Hallak (1:02.46) taking 16th overall in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, respectively.

– Submitted article