By John McCallum
Editor 

Babcock finishes career with second, third at state swimming

 

Last updated 2/23/2017 at 11:37am



Cheney boys swimmer Trevor Babcock wrapped up his high school career with a pair of top-three finishes at the 2A/3A/4A state championships last Friday and Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Head coach Jennifer Hochwalt said the Blackhawks senior turned in lifetime bests to finish second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 43.73 seconds; and third in the 100 freestyle in 47.63. Babcock accounted for 33 of Cheney’s 55 total points, helping the team to a 14th place finish overall.

Hochwalt said Babcock’s time in the 200 was so fast, it took an outstanding effort by Columbia River’s Josh Bottelberghe to hold him off the top of the podium. Bottelberghe captured the event title with a record-breaking time of 1:39.87.

“The guy broke the state record to beat Trevor,” Hochwalt said, adding Bottelberghe was eventually named the meet’s top swimmer in 2A.

Babcock’s time in the 200 did prove good enough to put him into the 2A top-10 all-time marks at state, while also setting a new Cheney team record.

Babcock was the only individual to advance to Saturday’s finals. Neither younger brother Trae, nor fellow freshman Jared Geschke advanced out of preliminaries, Trae Babcock competed in the 100 butterfly and Geschke in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

In the latter, Geschke just missed a slot in Saturday’s B finals, placing 17th in 1:05.70, 62/100ths of a second back of Mount Tahoma’s Alexander Bogatyrev. Hochwalt said both Trae Babcock and Geschke swam faster than at districts two weeks prior.

“I was very happy with their performances as freshmen,” she said.

All three of Cheney’s relay teams advanced out of preliminaries to Saturday’s B finals. The 200 freestyle team of Trevor Babcock, Zach Jongeward, Matt Christianson and Trae Babcock landed the highest finish, placing 12th overall with a time of 1:36.04.

The 200 medley team of Trevor Babcock, Geschke, Trae Babcock and Jongeward was 13th in 1:49.20, while the 400 free team of Trae Babcock, Matthew Norman, Jacob Devine and Steven Freeman was 15th in 3:47.94.

Medical Lake’s 400 team of Isaac Outhentapanya, Tylor Edison, Phoenix Hanks and Brayden Bruess missed the finals, finishing 21st overall with a preliminary time of 3:58.93.

Hochwalt said almost all of the swimmers going to state from Cheney and Medical Lake posted either lifetime or season best marks.

“They swam fantastic,” Hochwalt said.

Kingston High School took the state 2A title with 225 points, while Cheney’s fellow Great Northern League/Central Washington Athletic Conference opponent Pullman finished fifth out of 39 teams.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.

Author Bio

John McCallum, Retired editor

John McCallum is an award-winning journalist who retired from Cheney Free Press after more than 20 years. He received 10 Washington Newspaper Publisher Association awards for journalism and photography, including first place awards for Best Investigative, Best News and back-to-back awards in Best Breaking News categories.

 

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