FEDERAL WAY — They came. They saw. They conquered the next level.

In their first showing at the state swimming and diving championships Friday and Saturday, Brandon Weiner and Jason Soria, both ninth-graders at Central Kitsap Junior High School, made it to the second day of competition.

Weiner placed 18th in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 51.8 seconds, and Soria was 18th in the 200 individual medley, in 2:06.45, and ninth in the 100 breaststroke, in 1:02.37. The Cougars finished 27th overall in the Class 4A standings.

“I loved it,” Soria said of swimming at the King County Aquatic Center. “I love racing against people and being here.”

Soria said he was disappointed about finishing five-hundredths of a second behind South Kitsap’s Justin Slezak in the 100 breaststroke for a spot in the championship final.

But he’s determined to not let that happen again next year.

“I just want to get into that championship heat,” he said. “I need to work on everything.”

Weiner said he plans to take a few weeks off from swimming before starting to work with weights to help his conditioning.

“It’s a really young team,” he said. “We have a lot of potential. We’ve got two and three years left together.”

On swimming at state, Weiner said he was proud of his performance in the 200 freestyle.

“That’s where I’m seeded,” he said. “I was proud of that finish.

“I’m just really glad that I got to swim and make it here.”

Both freshmen also swam on the 15th-place 200-medley relay, which finished in 1:46.65, along with sophomores Jeremy Torres and Tyler Hirata. The four also led CK to 18th place in the 400-freestyle relay, with a time of 3:31.02.

The 200-freestyle relay, swam by juniors James Mackovjak and John Mackovjak, senior Eric Reichel and Hirata was 23rd at 1:40.51.

Torres was 21st in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 2:08.76, and 21st in the 100 breaststroke, in 1:04.73.

Olympic, which finished 17th at the 3A level, had several swimmers make it to Saturday, too.

Of particular note was senior Jacob Nord, who earned himself a place on the platform by finishing eighth in the 50 freestyle in 22.59 seconds. He also swam to a 16th-place finish in the 100 freestyle in 51.1.

Coach Paul Henderson said Nord, who didn’t start swimming until high school, had a rough time at districts, but was able to come back and show what he was able to do.

“That 50 free, he’d been off of it a little before,” he said. “To come back at 22.5 — it wasn’t his best time — but he was excited to be on top of the podium. It was a dream for him.”

Junior John Wojtech was 14th in the 200 individual medley, in 2:04.72, and was awarded a medal for his seventh-place finish in the 100 breaststroke, with a time of 1:03.14.

“Just being here and doing what they did was a huge step in the right direction,” Henderson said. “This year, it was we got here and we belong here.”

Olympic’s 200-freestyle relay team of Nord, Wojtech, senior Scott Lutz and junior Colton Kohnke was 17th in 1:36.07. Its 400-freestyle relay of Nord, Lutz, Kohnke and Wojtech was 15th in 3:31.68.

Senior Travis Ottele was slated to swim in the relays, but got rear-ended on the way to the van to leave for the meet and suffered whiplash and a possible concussion. Lutz filled in and “did well,” Henderson said.

“It’s a great group of guys that brought it together,” he said. “It was a mountain-top experience.”