Kim wins two more, Issaquah second in team scoring | State swim and dive roundup

Eastlake's Edward Kim added two more individual titles while Issaquah finished second as a team behind one championship from Brian Ruggles and another in a relay.

February 20, 2012 10:35 pm

Edward Kim contined on his way to the career goal of eight individual titles, but it was Issaquah that finished the highest of any KingCo school with a second place team total at the 4A state swim and dive championships.

Kim swam an Automatic All-American time of 1:38.32 in the finals of the 200 free, nearly five seconds in front of second place finisher Brendan Weiner.

He also picked up a championship and Automatic All-American time in the 100 backstroke, winning in 48.84 ahead of Logan Rysemus of Stadium.

Newport’s Dehlan Gwo was fifth in 54.17.

Eastlake finished second in the 400 free relay and Newport was fourth. Issaquah earned an eighth place finish in the final race of the day.

The Eagles, which finished second in the team scoring behind champion Stadium, were led by the 100 free title of senior Brian Ruggles and the first place finish in the 200 free relay.

After taking the top time in the preliminaries, Rugles held off Sebastian Bury of Newport in the finals by just a tenth of a second with a winning time of 47.39.

Eastlake’s Zach Alleva was third in the race in 48.32 and also earned an All-American consideration time of 58.06 in the 100 breaststroke, which he finished second in.

In the 200 free relay, William Matsuda teamed with David Nam, freshman Gabe Florsheim and Ruggles to hold of Stadium and defending team champion Kamiak in 1:28.68.

The A Final of the 200 IM was full of KingCo competitors, led by the fifth place finish of Issaquah’s Austin Melody.

The junior swam a final time of 1:58.30 to finish in front of Keith Schendel of Roosevelt, Jett Paul of Skyline and Ben Nussbaum of Issaquah.

Ruggles finished just nine tenths of a second behind the All-American consideration time of champoion Chase Bublitz from Kentridge and was followed by Sebastian Bury of Newport and Nam, who ended the race in seventh.

Max Levy of Skyline finished just fractions of a point behind the champion from South Kitsap in the diving competition. The junior earned a 388.50 in the finals.

Matsuda was sixth and Florsheim seventh in the 100 fly, just ahead of Newport’s Gwo.

The Eagles 200 medley relay team finished second with Matsuda, Melody, Florsheim and Ruggles just ahead of an Eastlake group that consisted of Kim, Alleva, Jason Kroon and O’Neil.

Benton Allen of Newport was the highest KingCo finisher in the 500 free, just in front of Alec Raines of Skyline.