Highway to the Papermaker Zone

The Kelso High School swimming pool became the Papermaker Zone after the Camas boys set 18 new records at the district meet, Feb. 10 and 11. In the process of rewriting the record books, the Papermakers racked up 367 points to defeat Hanford, Richland and Walla Walla for the championship. "We had a fantastic meet," said head coach Mike Bemis. "Those Eastern Washington schools brought out the best in us. It was a lot of fun." Finn McClone, Eric Wu, Chris Xia and Tom Utas won the 200-meter medley relay with a new meet and pool record time of 1 minute, 37.95 seconds. Mark Kim clinched first place in the 200 freestyle with a new meet and pool record time of 1:42.2. Jeff Fadlovich took sixth place with a state qualifying time of 1:48.35. Jaden Kim claimed seventh place with a state qualifying time of 1:49.98. Wu earned first place in the 200 individual medley with a new pool and meet record time of 1:53.97. Zachary Macia secured eighth place in 2:18.36. Utas won the 50 free with a new meet and pool record time of 21.28 seconds. Xia finished in fourth place with a state qualifying time of 22.48. Luke Albert grabbed fifth place (22.92), Maxwell Crowson notched ninth place (24.14) and Luke Bates took 10th place (24.33). Jaden Kim snagged second place in the 100 butterfly with a state qualifying time of 51.99. Austin Fogel finished in sixth place (55.07), Andrey Khabibrakhmanov took seventh place (57.5) and Ashton Morris earned eighth place (1:00.51). Utas took first place in the 100 freestyle with a new meet record time of 47.58. Xia finished in fourth place with a state qualifying time of 49.21. McClone claimed fifth place (50.05) and Albert grabbed seventh place (50.49). Mark Kim clinched first place in the 500 free with a new meet and pool record time of 4:37.63. Fogel finished in fifth place with a state qualifying time of 4:58.5. Wu, Jaden Kim, Utas and Mark Kim won the 200 free relay with a new meet and pool record time of 1:28.3. Jeff Fadlovich set a new meet record time of 54.76 during his preliminary heat in the 100 backstroke Friday. McClone captured first place in Saturday's finals, with a time of 54.96. Fadlovich followed in second place (55.23), Khabibrakhmanov took fourth place (59.6) and Morris notched seventh place (1:01.64). Wu won the 100 breaststroke with a new pool and meet record time of 58.66. Crowson notched ninth place (1:10.52) and Ian Pinch placed 11th (1:13.26). McClone, Jaden Kim, Xia and Mark Kim captured first place in the 400 freestyle relay with a new meet and pool record time of 3:15.81. "Some of those records were set by our former teams and some were set by former state champions," Bemis said. "Guys like Kasey Calwell, Lucas Ulmer and John Utas. That team ended up getting second at state. Who knows what this team can do." Camas will go for it all at the state meet Friday and Saturday, at the King County Aquatic Center, in Federal Way. The 4A session starts at 9:45 a.m. Friday, and 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Panthers send four to state Washougal swimmers Isaiah Ross, Daniel Brown, Landon Schmid and Levi Collins will get the opportunity to compete at state together. Ross clinched first place in the 500 freestyle with a new meet record time of 4:50.76. He also took second place in the 200 freestyle with a state qualifying time of 1:45.93. Brown grabbed fourth place in the 200 individual medley (2:15.36) and fifth place in the 100 freestyle (53.08). He qualified for state in the 100 free as a wild card. Ross, Collins, Brown and Schmid took third place in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 4:00.67. This was good enough to get them all to state as a wild card. The 2A state meet takes place Friday and Saturday, at the King County Aquatics Center, in Federal Way. The 2A session starts at 2 p.m. Friday, and 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

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