Freshman Scott Nadeau was the only Cheney High swimmer to reach the event finals at last weekend’s boys’ state swimming meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Nadeau reached the consolation B finals in the 200-yard individual medley, making the top 16 with a 14th-place finish in the prelims with a time of 2 minutes, 15.26 seconds Friday, 1.34 seconds off his qualifying mark of 2:13.52. In the Saturday finals he also placed 14th with a time of 2:16.11.
Stephen Boden of eventual 2A state champion Archbishop Murphy won the event with a time of 1:56.38 after going 2:01.21 in the prelims.
Nadeau also reached the B finals in the 100 butterfly, finishing 13th in the prelims with a time of 1:00.71, .84 seconds above his qualifying mark, and 15th in the finals in 1:01.39. Archbishop Murphy’s Alec Barnard emerged as the state champion with a finals time of 50.24 after going 52.03 in the prelims, setting a new state meet record in the process.
Nick Steel was the Blackhawks’ other individual competitor at Federal Way, getting pulled into the 200 freestyle through allocations after the conclusion of Western Washington district meet competition Feb. 8-9. Steele turned in a time of 2:03.57 in the prelims, finishing 21st.
Like Nadeau, Cheney’s 400 freestyle relay team advanced to state by qualifying at the Eastern Washington district competition Feb. 1-2. The team of Steele, seniors Jeffrey Edwards and Chris Boyle along with Nadeau at anchor turned in a prelim time of 3:46.72, just over a half second off their qualifying time of 3:46.02, but just missed the B finals, edged by .49 seconds by the team from Lindbergh High School in Renton and finishing 17th.
Finally, the Cheney 200 free team of Steele, junior Kit Foster, Boyle and Nadeau also got pulled into state competition through allocations. The foursome placed 17th with a time of 1:41.58, .29 seconds behind Kingston High.
Archbishop Murphy won the state 2A team title with 267 points, followed by Sehome with 237 points and Anacortes at 197. Pullman was the highest placing Eastern Washington team, eighth with 106 points, five ahead of West Valley-Yakima in ninth, while Selah was 12th.
Cheney finished its dual meet season with a 4-5 record against 2A/3A competition; placing third overall at 2A districts, behind Pullman and district champion West Valley-Yakima. They lose five seniors to graduation: Boyle, Edwards, Joe Scott, Tyler Barnes and Josh Hautt, but should return a good nucleus of younger swimmers that will now include state meet experience in the form of Nadeau, Steele and Foster, with Steele being a two-time state competitor, having been a part of the 2012, seventh-place 200 medley team.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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