Kingston edges out Olympic to take sole possession of first place in league standings

POULSBO — It was a meet worthy of the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. The North Kitsap Community Pool was loud and boisterous as the two top teams from the Olympic League went head-to-head in a Jan. 17 meet.

The Buccaneers came out on top, edging out the Trojans 95-75 in a dual meet that went almost all the way down to the wire and featured a number of excellent swims from some of Kitsap’s best.

“I don’t think you’re going to find a much more action-packed and star-studded dual meet this side of the water,” Kingston head coach Mark VanHuis said. “That was pretty awesome.”

Olympic put on a furious charge after the early break, winning the 100-yard butterfly, the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard freestyle relay. At one point, the Trojans were within four points.

But Kingston picked up wins in the final three events to take sole possession of first place in the Olympic League.

“It was about as tough of a lineup as I can put together,” VanHuis said. “When you have tough competition, you have to bring the best.”

After brothers Haakon and Dietrich Meyer strung together victories in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, Kingston freshman Rocco Velie and Olympic sophomore Ryan Burchell went head-to-head in the 500-yard freestyle. Burchell was never more than half a second ahead of Velie throughout the entire race and during the last few laps, Velie managed to close the gap and swim to victory by .61 seconds. Velie swam a 57.30 over his final 100 yards.

That win helped turn the tide back in Kingston’s favor. Although the Olympic relay team of Haakon Meyer, Tiernann Shelton, Ross Burchell and Dietrich Meyer won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a 2A state time of 1:30.55, the Bucs were able to take home victories in the final three events.

“They were great, they were the better team today,” said Olympic coach Paul Henderson. “But we swam really well, we had some amazing swims, from my best swimmers to my rookie swimmers, they all felt the intensity and rose to it.”

Tim Gallagher won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.32, then Aron Markow beat the field in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:00.63. Velie, Duncan Platz, Ethan Fox and Gallagher then outraced the Olympic foursome of the three Meyer brothers and Ryan Burchell with a time of 3:19.13 to cap the meet.

Kingston 95, Olympic 75

200-yard medley relay —1. Kingston “A” (Gallagher, Fox, Velie, A. Markow), 1:37.68; 2. Olympic “A” (R. Meyer, Ro. Burchell, Ry. Burchell, Ti. Shelton), 1:42.70; 3. Kingston “B” (Walgren, S. Markow, Jacobsen, Yamane), 1:57.12; 4. Olympic “B” (Anthony, Mourich, Riley, Ta. Shelton), 1:59.38; 5. Kingston “C” (Munger, Kumei, Leon, Gregg), 2:02.57; 6 Olympic “C” (Forster, Gonzales, Morgan, Eash), 2:21.52.

200-yard freestyle —1. Ethan Fox, Kingston, 1:46.90; 2. Dietrich Meyer, Olympic, 1:47.35; 3. Ryan Burchell, Olympic, 1:52.69; 4. Duncan Platz, Kingston, 1:56.57; 5. Michael Manuel, Olympic, 2:09.69; 6. Tor Sather, Kingston, 2:10.25.

200-yard IM — 1. Rocco Velie, Kingston, 2:01.48; 2. Haakon Meyer, Olympic, 2:03.01; 3. Sean Markow, Kingston, 2:17.77; 4. Christopher Mourich, Olympic, 2:18.99; 5. Charlie Near, Kingston, 2:25.49; 6. Christian Macazo, Olympic, 3:00.53.

50-yard freestyle — 1. Tim Gallagher, Kingston, 21.55; 2. Rainer Meyer, Olympic, 22.68; 3. Tiernann Shelton, Olympic, 23.33; 4. Evan Yamane, Kingston, 24.97; 5. Taliesin Shelton, Olympic, 26.85; 6. Zawadi Leon, Kingston, 26.88.

100-yard butterfly — 1. Haakon Meyer, Olympic, 54.80; 2. Aron Markow, Kingston, 55.67; 3. Ross Burchell, Olympic, 55.80; 4. Sean Markow, Kingston, 1:02.62; 5. Gunnar Jacobsen, Kingston, 1:05.23; 6. Kody Riley, Olympic, 1:06.13.

100-yard freestyle — 1. Dietrich Meyer, Olympic, 48.15; 2. Ethan Fox, Kingston, 48.28; 3. Tiernann Shelton, Olympic, 51.70; 4. Evan Yamane, Kingston, 55.47; 5. Michael Manuel, Olympic, 57.58; 6. Thomas Mixon, Kingston, 59.93.

500-yard freestyle — 1. Rocco Velie, Kingston, 4:53.16; 2. Ryan Burchell, Olympic, 4:53.71; 3. Duncan Platz, Kingston, 5:32.69; 4. Charlie Near, Kingston, 5:59.28; 5. Stefan Anthony, Olympic, 6:15.08; 6. Taliesin Shelton, Olympic, 6:49.17.

200-yard freestyle relay — 1. Olympic “A” (H. Meyer, Ti. Shelton, Ro. Burchell, D. Meyer), 1:30.55; 2. Kingston “A” (A. Markow, Yamane, S. Markow, Platz), 1:37.15; 3. Kingston “B” (Sather, Leon, Gregg, Mixon), 1:43.83; 4. Kingston “C” (Walgren, Lanning, Munger, Near), 1:46.29; 5. Olympic “B” (Moutich, Riley, Wyant, Manuel), 1:47.22; 6. Olympic “C” (McMillen, Eash, Leong, Macazo), 2:02.60.

100-yard backstroke — 1. Tim Gallagher, Kingston, 52.32; 2. Rainer Meyer, Olympic, 55.62; 3. Gunnar Jacobsen, Kingston, 1:10.45; 4. Stefan Anthony, Olympic, 1:10.89; 5. Bradley Walgren, Kingston, 1:15.06; 6. Dylan Forster, Olympic, 1:21.16.

100-yard breaststroke — 1. Aron Markow, Kingston, 1:00.63; 2. Ross Burchell, Olympic, 1:06.56; 3. Christopher Mourich, Olympic, 1:09.38; 4. Ryuzo Kumei, Kingston, 1:19.28; 5. Thomas Mixon, Kingston, 1:21.76.

400-yard freestyle relay — 1. Kingston “A” (Velie, Platz, Fox, Gallagher), 3:19.13; 2. Olympic “A” (H. Meyer, Ry. Burchell, R. Meyer, D. Meyer), 3:23.31; 3. Kingston “B” (Sather, Jacobsen, Near, Mixon), 4:05.66; 4. Kingston “C” (Leon, Lanning, Walgren, Gregg), 4:07.91; 5. Olympic “B” (Manuel, Riley, Ta. Shelton, Anthony), 4:09.96; 6. Olympic “C” (Wyant, McMillen, Morgan, Macazo), 4:38.87.

— Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com. Follow him on Twitter @MKrulishKDN.