Swimmers dunked in final home meet

Published 6:00 pm Saturday, October 7, 2006

Outnumbered two-to-one in their final home meet of the 2006 season, the girls on the Oak Harbor swim team knew they had a difficult task ahead of them against the strong Lake Stevens Lady Vikings.

Even with coach Erika Miller switching some of the girls around and having them swim in different events didn’t help and Oak Harbor was soundly defeated 120-56.

No matter, Thursday was Senior Day at John Vanderzicht Pool.

Miller got tossed into the pool at the conclusion of the meet, the three seniors on the team were presented with purple balloons and yellow roses, and the Lady Wildcats went home with smiles on their faces.

“I thought if I made some changes we might have a chance, but things just didn’t work out,” a dripping wet Miller said after the meet.

Senior Julia Marriot was the only winner for Oak Harbor, capturing first place in the 100-meter butterfly in a time of 1:08.93. She also finished second in the 50-meter freestyle and was part of the second place teams in the 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter medley relays.

“It was a pretty good pace, but my time was a little slower than I thought it would be,” Marriott said after the butterfly event. “I have a little bit of a back injury so it was better than I expected today. I was panicking in the last 25-meters, it was crazy, but I got in there OK.”

Freshman Kim Klieman was also a member of the second-place finishing relay teams and earned a second-place finish in the 100-meter freestyle.

“I tried my best in the 100 and it was really tiring. I got second and that was good. I’m happy,” she said.

Miller said she was a little disappointed in the outcome of the meet.

“They have a really good team, but we thought we could get them,” she said. “Everybody has been sick all week and tired. It was just one of those things.”

Oak Harbor is on the road for the next three meets, preparing for the 4A North Division District qualifying meet Thursday, Oct. 26, at Snohomish.