Decatur’s Matulic rolls to second-place at state swim meet; Friedhoff finishes third

Beamer uses its depth to end up 11th as a team; Kim places in two events

By Casey Olson • April 26, 2008 6:34 am

By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror

It was her last meet as a high school student at Decatur High School, and Katie Matulic made the most of it.

The senior rolled to a second-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley Saturday at the Class 4A State Swimming and Diving Championships at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Matulic battled with her best friend, Kentwood senior Marley Prothero, in the 200 individual medley final Saturday night. The two were pretty much tied after the first 100 yards of the race before Prothero pulled away to win in a time of 2:06.87. Matulic, who ended up in third place in the same event last year, finished the race in 2:10.25. Prothero’s time was good enough for All-American consideration. Beamer freshman Rachel Kim finished in sixth place in the race with a time of 2:13.72.

All three swim for the powerful and prestigious King Aquatic Club, which trains in Federal Way.

Another Federal Way School District swimmer ending an ultra-successful prep swimming career Saturday was Jefferson senior Amy Friedhoff. But things didn’t end up the way Friedhoff wanted them to, especially in the 200 free.

Friedhoff was disqualified during her preliminary heat on Friday afternoon and didn’t get a chance to improve on her third-place finish in the 200 free a season ago.

But Friedhoff, state runner-up a year ago in the 500 free, came back to qualify for the finals in that event as the No. 2 seed in 4:58.51 later Friday night. Friedhoff eventually finished in third place in the 500 with a time of 5:02.10. Roosevelt’s Haley Brunner won the event for the second straight year in an automatic All-American time of 4:54.03.

But the big story inside the Aquatic Center on Saturday was how the Class 4A team title ended. Never in state history had a girls state swim meet ended in a tie. That was until Saturday.

Inglemoor and Garfield shared the Class 4A title when Vikings anchor-leg swimmer Megan Caylor rallied to overtake Garfield’s Alexandra Ernst to win the final event of the night — the 400 freestyle relay.

Both teams finished with 216 team points. Beamer was the top Federal Way finisher in 11th place with 79 points. Decatur ended up 16th with 44 points, Jefferson was 28th (16 points) and Federal Way was 32nd (11 points).

Beamer, who finished second at the West Central District Meet last week, had several swimmers competing at the state meet. Kim not only finished sixth in the 200 individual medley, but also swam to a fifth-place finish in the 100 backstroke. Kim swam a time of 59.81 to finish behind Ballard’s Annemarie Thayer (56.80). Matulic ended up seventh in the 100 back (1:01.35).

Other Beamer swimmers finishing in the top-eight at the Class 4A State Championships were Eryn Murphy in the 50 free (eighth, 24.93), Kelly Erickson in the 100 butterfly (seventh, 59.21) and the 200 free relay team of Lesley Elijah, Erickson, Kim and Murphy (eighth, 1:43.20).

Decatur’s Briley Boggs finished up in sixth place in the 100 butterfly in a time of 58.84.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com