Led by a district-championship swim from Anna Matisons, the Aberdeen Bobcats girls swim team is once again sending a clutter of Bobcats to the state-championship meet.
Matisons won the 100 yard breaststroke to lead Aberdeen to a fourth-place team finish at the 2A/1A District 4 Girls Swim & Dive Championship Meet on Saturday at Shelton High School.
Five Bobcats, including Matisons, have qualified for the 2A State Championships as have three Aberdeen relay teams.
The state meet is scheduled to begin Friday morning for the preliminary rounds with the finals set for the following Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
In the 100 yard breaststroke final, Matisons trailed Black Hills’ Olivia Van Dyne at the halfway point of the race but pulled ahead over the last 25 meters, touching the wall first with a time of 1:11.62, beating Van Dyne by 1.66 seconds.
Matisons’ victory gave Aberdeen 20 of its overall team total of 269 points, placing fourth out of 14 teams at the meet, and drawing praise from Aberdeen head coach Tiffany Montoure.
“Outstanding performance,” Montoure said of Matisons’ swim. “Those girls were on her heels. … She gave it her all.”
Aberdeen has several other athletes scheduled to swim at the state meet.
Bobcats state-meet swimmers include Mija Hood (100 backstroke, 100 butterfly), Litzy Orona (200 individual medley), Keara Burns (50 free) and Katelyn Ancich (1-meter dive).
Hood placed fourth in the girls 100 butterfly on Saturday with a time of 1:07.60, better than a full second off her preliminary time. The Bobcats freshman also also placed fifth in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:07.66.
Orona placed third in the 200 yard individual medley on Saturday with a time of 2:33.76 and sixth in the 100 backstroke behind Hood with a time of 1:10.17.
Burns took fifth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 28.64 and seventh in the 500 freestyle (6:37.21).
Ancich placed fourth in the 1-meter dive competition with a total score of 187.80.
Aberdeen’s depth also helped its three relay teams to the podium on Saturday.
The Bobcats 4×50 yard medley relay team of Orona, Matisons, Hood and Burns placed second overall with a time of 2:01.97, just three-tenths of a second behind district champion Columbia River.
In the 4×50 freestyle relay, the Aberdeen quartet of Burns, Ava Benn, Ancich and Kennedy Hatton placed fourth with a time of 1:56.95.
The Bobcats 4×100 relay team (Hood, Ancich, Orona, Hatton) placed fourth with a time of 4:13.72 as Aberdeen joined Tumwater as the only two district teams to qualify for all three relay races at the state meet.
“The girls did such an amazing job,” said Montoure, adding assistant coach Tanya Bowers-Anderson and diving coach Megan Elway and herself “are so proud of the effort put forth by all of the girls. This has been an amazing season.We can’t wait to see what happens next weekend.”
Montoure also thanked the support from the community in her first season after taking over for legendary head coach Jan Simons, who retired after last season and was inducted into the Aberdeen Hall of Fame this year.
“It was really important to me to carry on the traditions Jan brought to the program,” Montoure said. “A huge thank you to the community. … Without the support of the community, we wouldn’t have the funds to be able to do the things we do. … Everyone is thankful and grateful for that.”
SUBMITTED PHOTO Aberdeen’s Anna Matisons stands atop the podium after winning the 100 yard breaststroke at the 2A/1A District 4 Girls Swim & Dive Championship Meet on Saturday at Shelton High School.
