It was the longest race of the day, and two of the youngest Northshore swimmers tackled the 500-yard freestyle with verve.
Inglemoor High sophomore Casey Colella took 10th with a time of 4 minutes, 57.50 seconds and Bothell High freshman Matt Williamson placed 12th in 4:57.75 in the consolation final at Saturday’s 4A state meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
“I was a little disappointed with my swims because I was hoping to go faster than I did before, but it’s been a lot of fun — the relays were all good,” Colella said.
Inglemoor’s top finish was by its 200-yard freestyle relay in ninth with a time of 1:31.95 seconds. The team, which won the consols final, consisted of Sam Billet, Michael Postetter, Mateusz Merchel and Matt Yusen.
Colella, who also swam the breaststroke portion of the Vikings’ 200-yard medley relay (15th) in the consols final, enjoyed racing with Williamson in the 500 free.
“Twenty laps, you have to train a lot. I train six days a week for two hours a day or more,” said Colella, noting that the Inglemoor swim crew is a supportive group, especially when the Viks jump in the pool at the brutal hour of 5 a.m. for practices. “We have fun, we laugh, we talk about swimming and anything else.”
As Bothell’s lone representative at state, Williamson was tough to locate after his 500 swim, but coach Tom Linde tracked the youngster down in a side pool cooling off with a few laps.
Williamson hopped out of the pool and beamed with excitement while discussing his personal-best time (by three seconds) in the 500: “Yesterday, I’ll admit I was pretty nervous (for prelims). I swim here for club quite a bit, but it’s really different for high school — it’s really intense, it’s a really fun meet.
“Today, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m gonna go out and swim.’ I did it, and I’m very happy about the performance.”  
The Skyview Junior High student and West Coast Aquatics club swimmer noted that his sister, Mariah, has inspired him to do well in the 500. She swam in the 500 final for Bothell as a freshman and has taught Matt to relax and focus on the grueling race.
“It just required mental toughness and being able to say, ‘I’m gonna finish this out,’” Matt said about the 500.
The Bothell “rookie,” as Matt calls himself, had his sights set on state this season and notched the Kingco 500 title along the way. Matt said he felt some pressure after finding out he was seeded first at Kingco three days before the meet.
“(I thought) I’ve done this before and I put that (pressure) to the side and said, ‘I’m just gonna go ahead and swim and I’ll be good to go,’” he said.

EXTRA SPLASHES
Inglemoor freshman 100-yard breaststroker Josaiah Clark placed 13th in 1:02.42.
The Vikings’ 400-yard freestyle relay placed 13th in 3:24.95. It consisted of Postetter, Yusen, Clark and Billet.
Inglemoor’s 200 medley relay of freshman Merchel, Postetter, Colella and Kevin Luo notched a time of 1:45.21.