Looking at their record, one might think it hasn’t been a winning season for the Oak Harbor Wildcat swimmers. But the team will tell you it’s been anything but a losing situation, and they capped the thought Tuesday with a 104-79 season closing win over Everett to prove it.
“Going into the meet we thought we had a pretty good chance of winning. We swam tough and hard, and everyone came close if not swam their best times of the season,” said captain Kyla Meuer.
Standings and meet results don’t always make or break a team’s happiness. Key word for this season was”better.” Every meet, girls were swimming better times than the meet before, relay teams were finding a better fit and faster times, by the end of the season they were a better, more unified team than pre-season, and next year Sullivan sees things as only getting better.
Following the meet against Everett, Oak Harbor sits in the number five spot in Wesco North with a 3-4 league record, 4-5 overall. They’ve had their mix of landslides. The Wildcats out swam Ferndale Oct 1 in a 119-75 win, and wave rolled the other way with loses including Oct. 15 to Marysville-Pilchuck 116-70, and Cascade 110-60 on Oct. 17.
Teams constantly putting up the points usually have “one or two elite swimmers who can get the number one spot, adding depth with some swimmers who can consistently get the two and three spots,” said Oak Harbor coach Emelie Sullivan.
Consistently this season, the Wildcat 200 medley team of Kyla Meuer, Missy McIntyre, Annagret Klinger and Cassie Klieman swam into first place, and against Everett they put up a time of 2:21.28. Exchange student from Germany, Annagret Klinger, held strong in the 100 fly all year, and posted 1:28.98 against Everett to nab second place, with senior Amy Rose close on her heels with 1:29.41 in third. With sprinting in her blood, Meuer dominated when she swam the 100 and 50 freestyle. Tuesday she placed first in the 100 with a time of 1:00.97 and senior Ashley Werring came in right on her heels in second with 1:14.34. Meuer didn’t swim the 50 free against Everett, but McIntyre and Werring claimed first and second, with 28.01 and 32.76, respectably.
So, this year even if Oak Harbor consistently swam the number one spot in an event as they often did, their opponents nabbed the two and three spots and outscored the Wildcats.
Next week at district the field should “even out a little,” according Sullivan. This is because at district only one team per school per relay event can be entered. In league dual meets, schools can have multiple teams in relay events, and stack points from teams, even the ones that constantly swim into the wall first.
A goal Sullivan and the team hoped for all year was the chance to send a relay team to state competition. Though not gone, the final chance at a Wildcat relay at state sits in the waters of the district meet. That’s where the 200 medley team consisting of Kyla Meuer, Missy McIntyre, Annagret Klinger and Cassie Klieman will need to drop three seconds from their time for a chance to head to state. and compete against some of the state’s top swimmers.
Also at district, the 200 freestyle team of Meuer, Werring, Klieman and McIntyre will be stroking for a chance at state, as they are currently just seconds shy of qualifying.
Although Oak Harbor did not qualify any divers for state this year, Sullivan sees potential for the still emerging Wildcat dive program. This is only the second year there has been the interest and coaching for diving at Oak Harbor, and if juniors Lauren Shulock and Kristin Griffith, and first time diver Krystal Dennewitz, continue to develop their skills on the board, Sullivan envisions taking divers to state in the future.
Throughout the season, Natalie Franciose has been dropping time in the 500 freestyle faster than the Seahawks can drop a pass. The junior began the season swimming the distance at 7 minutes, 50 seconds. She is currently at 7:20, a full 30 seconds faster. Now consider her time last year was 8:36, and that’s almost a full minute dropped.
“My goal this year was to not add time, but to drop time every time I swam and I pretty much did that — I’m happy with the results,” Franciose said.
Not finished yet, Natalie hopes to drop another 10 off her time at district.
Heading into district, Missy McIntyre knows she’s bound to state, so the pressure for state qualification times isn’t there. But don’t think this young lady is going to take a cat nap during the competition.
Jokingly, McIntyre points to the district meet as “the last meet before I get to shave my legs.” But even though she doesn’t have to be full of seriousness Thursday, this year-round swimmer will take it on as a “preview of state,” and seriously root on her teammates.
“I’m going to be cheering on the others girls, because district are their state,” McIntyre said. “I really want to be there to give them support.”
The Oak Harbor team began the season “not as a team, but just a group of girls on a bus, “ according to McIntyre. Now they are their own safety net, confidant, laughing partner and cheerleader to each other.
Could have a little to do with a teammate-driven hostage situation?
“One bus rides I realized there were girls that didn’t even know each other’s names, and we’re a small team. So we played a name game and wouldn’t let anyone off the bus until everyone knew everyone’s names.” Since then, McItyre said there’s been no separating them.
Oak Harbor heads to district competition Nov 7-9, at Marysville-Pilchuck. WIAA State Swim and Dive Competition will be Nov 14 and 15 at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
