Hazen Savors Dramatic Route To Swim Title

FEDERAL WAY - Hazen High School is calling it a water-made miracle.

Call it what you want, but be sure to call the Highlanders the 1992 Class AA-A boys state swimming champions.

A stunning final leg in the consolation heat of the 400-yard freestyle relay by an ailing Ken Kester lifted Hazen to its first Class AA-A state swimming title at the King County Aquatic Center Saturday night.

Kester made up three places in the final leg of the meet's final event to give Hazen the victory in the consolation race. The 18 points Hazen earned meant that Eastmont, seeded third, or Mount Rainier, seeded fourth, had to win the championship heat to win the meet. They finished sixth and third, respectively.

Hazen finished with 178 points to Mount Rainier's 174 1/2.

Mount Rainier's Jeff Rice fell about 1.7 seconds short in a valiant attempt to give his Des Moines school a repeat of the team title. Eastmont of East Wenatchee finished third with 169 points.

"I can't believe I just did that," said Kester, last year's state champ in the 500 free and sixth-place finisher yesterday. "I was completely numb."

Jason Close, seventh-place finisher in the 50-yard freestyle for Hazen, seemed more disbelieving than Kester.

"I don't understand it," said Close. "It's just great, just great. He's been hacking it up all week. It's insane."

Two records fell: to Olympia's Dan Frazee, 21.06 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, and to Whitney Woolard of Hudson's Bay in Vancouver, 51.24 in the 100 butterfly.

Scott Milewski's time of 1:54.54 in the 200-yard individual medley was good for All-America consideration. In the breaststroke, Milewski, a junior at Sehome High School, broke his own Class AA-A state record with a 57.52. Milewski also won both events last year.

Frazee, second in last year's race, won in 21.06 seconds. The swimmer who beat him last year, Chad Rolfs, held the previous record with a 21.15.

Hunter Shafer of Lindbergh won the diving title. He avenged a loss to Hazen's Gary Smotherman of Hazen in last week's Sea-King District meet for a narrow 408.9-399.6 victory.

"Honestly, I feel I should have won, but Hunter had a great meet," said Smotherman, coming back from a concussion suffered in a pole vaulting last spring. "If it wasn't for that sixth dive."

The sixth dive is a front dive with a half twist, considered to be the most difficult of the required dives.

"It's the dive from hell," said Smotherman, who lost 408.9 to 399.6. "That's the dive that usually wins or loses the meet."

The top Metro League finisher was Seattle Prep, sixth with 138 points. Blanchet was seventh with 123 1/2 points, and Ballard was ninth with 104.

Ballard's James Cleghorn won the 500 freestyle title and also placed third in the 200 freestyle. Seattle Prep's Adam Myhre was second in the 200 backstroke and third in the 100 butterfly. Lakeside's Dillon Cady finished second in the 200 individual medley.

Seattle Prep's 200 medley relay team placed third, and Blanchet's 200 freestyle relay team was third.

CLASS AAA SWIMMING -- Curtis failed to win any individual titles but captured the Class AAA boys swimming and diving championship Saturday night.

The Vikings from University Place in Tacoma edged Wilson of Tacoma, 196 1/2 points to 177 1/2.

The Vikings got points from seven swimmers in individual races plus a first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay and a fifth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.

As expected, Newport senior Ugur Taner, who set national public high-school records in the preliminaries Friday in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and a 100 freestyle leg, claimed his sixth and seventh career state titles.

He won the 50 freestyle in 20.14 seconds and the 100 butterfly in 48.14. His time in the butterfly matched his effort Friday, but his 20.14 in the 50 free was .12 seconds off his state and national record.