“Despite a regular season that fell short of expectations, the Oak Harbor girls rose to the occasion last Thursday and Friday at the 4A State Swim Meet in Federal Way. The girls put the team in swim team as they placed fourth in the 200 medley relay and took home some high rankings in other individual catagories. The team also put its 5-5 regular-season record behind them by taking sixth overall in the team competition behind the efforts of Chauntelle Johnson, Kyla Meuer and Amanda Birr.I thought that they swam really well, said Oak Harbor head coach Patrick Stewart. I was really happy with how we finished up.Despite the fact that Oak Harbor’s placing was out of 50 of the state’s best high school teams, the Wildcat’s head coach is quick to point out how well the team has done in consecutive years. We finished in fourth place last year and this time we were only 10 points from fourth, said Stewart. I am very happy with how well they swam despite not getting their fastest times.The team also tied for third in the 400 freestyle relay with Decatur High School.This means a lot for us to come back, said Johnson. I mean we had a good season last year and got fourth, and then to come back and get sixth this year is great. It is a great way to end a four-year career.According to Stewart, one reason for the team’s great showing at the meet was the effort of his swimmers. He said that for the other teams, their middle-grade swimmers dragged their team’s score down, but those same swimmers for Oak Harbor picked it up to help carry the team to a great finish. One swimmer that has been swimming well her entire high school career for the Wildcats is Johnson, and the state meet was no exception. Despite not swimming her best times, Johnson was able to place third in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.69 and placed fifth in the 100 freestyle, gliding to a time of 53.69. I think that I swam well, said Johnson. I swam faster at districts but I was happy with both weekends. The team support was encouraging me through the whole season. At state it was real nice to have a lot of parents, even the parents of swimmers that didn’t swim and the swimmers that didn’t swim. They still came and supported us.Kyla Meuer placed third in the 50 freestyle and beat her teammate Johnson by just eight one hundredths of a second. Meuer won the event last year and swam two tenths of a second faster at the district meet. This year the schools were faster, said Meuer. I didn’t go as fast as last year, but I had fun. Another reason that Stewart gives for the Wildcat success was the strength of their competition pushing them to give their all.All the fast competition really helped us out at the state meet, said Stewart. Thanks to a wildcard berth in the previous round, Amanda Birr placed 15th in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:10.95.My best friend Tiffany Gordon helped me swim so fast because she was in my head saying, ‘Go baby go,’ said Birr.To make it to the consolation round is quite good, said Stewart about Birr’s effort at state. I thought she had a pretty good meet.Birr was also cited by Stewart as one of the swimmers on the team that improved the most this year.They all improved a lot this year, said Stewart. But if I had to choose one that stood out, it would have to be her. The Wildcats stood out at the district meets as they took seventh and had better times than at the state meet.Next season will be a challenging one for the Cats as they will lose four seniors: Birr, Johnson, Annie Glenn and Shelley Cook. “