BOYS SWIMMING: Beamer finishes with silver medal; Wanot snags two second-place finishes

The Todd Beamer Titans boys swim team keeps climbing up the award podium. The Titans snagged second place at the Class 4A State Boys Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday inside the King County Aquatic Center.

The finish was up two spots from last season, when Beamer ended up fourth. Kamiak won the 2011 4A title with 240.5 points. The Titans finished with 170.5, just ahead of Richland (158) and Newport (138).

“Second is good,” said head coach Sue Bergman. “It’s not a bad thing. We just keep getting closer every year.”

The Titans didn’t have to play second fiddle during the 200-yard medley relay and the 400 free relays Saturday. Beamer took home state titles in both events in impressive fashion.

Beamer entered Saturday’s final round as the top seed in both races and didn’t disappoint. The 200 medley team of Bart Wanot, Cole Um, Matthew Um and Dylan Chase outdistanced second-place Eastlake in a time of 1:37.48.

Wanot, who is still deciding between Arizona State, Nevada Las Vegas and Michigan, swam the backstroke leg of the medley relay for the first time all season, but it was Matthew Um who moved the Titans into first place over Eastlake with a blazing butterfly leg.

“We kind of changed things up,” Wanot said. “I think it went a lot better.”

Wanot also swam the leadoff leg of the 400 free relay and helped the Titans to a wire-to-wire victory in a time of 3:13.74. The team also included Cole Um, Matthew Um and Jade Feigert.

“In the 400 free relay, we just put everything out there,” Wanot said. “We had nothing to lose.”

“It feels really good,” said senior Cole Um, who will swim next year at Carnegie-Mellon in Pittsburgh. “It was our goal to win both relays and winning them both means a lot.”

Wanot was a little disappointed in his individual events during the final heats Saturday. The Titan senior snared two silver medals in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle after entering state with the goal of winning two individual and two relay state championships.

But Wanot’s second-place finishes came to a pair of two-time individual champions. Stanwood’s Matthew Roe won the 200 free and also the 500 free and Snohomish’s Bryan Harvey took home the 100 butterfly title and also the 100 backstroke.

“It was pretty good,” said Wanot, who won the 100 backstroke title a season ago over Harvey. “I wanted to win my two individual events. But it was good competition so I’m kind of OK with losing. Those two guys are fun to race with.”

“I think that he had a little more in him,” Bergman said about Wanot. “He was a little tired. They run this meet faster than other ones. But that’s not an excuse. There is no shame in either of those second-place finishes.”

Cole Um also had a pair of impressive individual performances on Saturday. The senior finished fourth in the 200 individual medley and fifth in the 100 breaststroke. Um swam a time of 1:58.12 in the medley. Garfield’s Andrew Nemeth won the race in 1:54.09. Um’s time of 1:00.07 was two seconds behind Eastlake’s Zach Alleva in the breaststroke.

“We made the best of it,” Cole Um said. “It’s the best we’ve ever done, so we are happy about that.”

Decatur’s Tanner Brotherton was also impressive during the Class 3A State Swimming and Diving Championships. The senior finished up in second place in the 50-yard freestyle Saturday night behind Shorewood’s Mackey Hopen. Brotherton swam a blazing time of 21.49, compared to Hopen’s 21.00.

Fellow Decatur senior Noah Johnson finished fifth in the 50 in a time of 22.25.

Brotherton also finished up in third place in the 100 free in a time of 47.06. Eastside Catholic’s Ethan Hallowell won in an automatic All-American time of 44.75.

Brotherton and Johnson helped the Gator 200 free relay team finish sixth overall in a time of 1:30.19. Lakeside won in 1:27.95. The team also included Alex Prokopchik and Chris Garnatz.

In other action:

• Feigert finished up in a tie for 10th place in the 50 free in a time of 22.63 and Chase ended up in 13th in 22.76. Feigert also finished 14th in the 100 free (49.93) and Chase was 16th in 50.80.

• The Titans’ 200 free relay team of Chase, Blake Jordan, Dominick DeSimone and Feigert was disqualified from the “B” Final Saturday after officials determined that Chase, the leadoff swimmer, flinched on the starting blocks.

• Matthew Um finished 11th overall in the 100 butterfly in a time of 56.33.

• Jefferson’s Jordan Gaspay finished up in 16th place in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:03.66. Gaspay was the Raiders’ lone representative at the state meet.