Led by a phenomenal swim by freshman standout Sage Speak, the Inglemoor High Vikings rose to the occasion at the 4A state swim and dive championships, which concluded last Saturday at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

The Viks led off the finals with a medal in the 200-yard medley relay, sneaking into the championship heat and placing eighth in 1 minute, 53.72 seconds.

The team of senior Claire Thompson, junior Leann Yee and freshmen Speak and Kristy Chiang also combined to place fifth in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a season-best time of 1:41.74, just two seconds off the pace set by Newport (1:39.73).

“Claire, being a senior, was on the team that won state in 2007,” said Inglemoor head coach Monica Mayes. “It was fun to watch her in that final heat, to watch her race. Claire’s always been a leader, to have her take those freshmen under her wing and take them through a relay at state was pretty exciting.”

Individually, Speak (24.94) placed 10th and Yee (25.39) 15th in the 50-yard freestyle sprint, but Speak saved her best for last.

In the next-to-last event of the state meet, the 100-yard breaststroke, Speak had the swim of her lifetime as she crushed not only her personal best but also the Inglemoor record, placing third in 1:05.53.

The old Viking record in the event was 1:06.89 set by Mackenzie Nakamura.

“It was a best swim for her, she wanted to compete and raced well,” said Mayes on Speak’s performance. “She is really proud of herself, and should be.”

Though the team is leaner than when compared to squads like the Vikings’ state-championship roster in 2007, Mayes maintained that the girls that don the school’s black-and-gold swim caps are as committed as ever.

“They’ve worked really hard,” Mayes said.

“Our practice time is 5:15 in the morning, and these girls are dedicated — they get up every day for practice. There aren’t very many high-school girls that would be looking forward to that, but these kids do.”

Most importantly for the program’s future, Mayes believes that her team should come back stronger in 2011 as the Vikings don’t graduate that many seniors and possess a ton of young talent, including state qualifiers Speak and Chiang, who will be swimming for three more years.

“It’s exciting for the program to have freshman blood come in, and we had a very strong freshman class this year all the way around,” she noted. “But to have those two go to state as freshmen is pretty exciting.”

Overall, the Vikings finished 12th with 82 team points out of the 42 4A teams in attendance. Skyline ran away with the team title with 220 points, followed by Newport with 157.5.

Bothell junior Tiffany Dang, the Cougars’ lone state swimming representative, swam her way into two consolation heats.

Dang finished 12th in the 50 free in 25.13, and 13th in a tightly contested 100-yard backstroke final in 1:00.97.

Bothell diver Michayla Craig began the 1-meter diving finals in 11th place and made up ground in her first two dives before a rough final dive dropped her back to 12th overall with 265.25 points.

Kamiak senior Fiona Weeks won the diving title by .9 of a point over Eastlake senior Mackenzie Rands with 383.05 points.