By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

PUYALLUP--Mount Rainier swam well, qualifying swimmers to districts and even state individually plus a relay Saturday en route to second place at the South Puget Sound League 4A sub-district meet in the Rogers pool.

"Good way to finish," said Rams coach Chris Veraya, who referred to the third-place team, Kentridge, just two points behind the Rams. Kentridge lost by half a second to Curtis in the 400 free relay, the 11th and final event of the meet, which allowed the Rams to stay ahead of the Chargers in the end scores.

Team scoring top honor went to the Curtis Vikings with 345 points. The Rams took second with 233 points, followed by Kentridge (231), Kentlake (120) and Rogers (114). The top six teams got trophies, too.
Out of three SPSL teams coming into the league meet with one-loss season records (Curtis was 6-0), finished tops of those three teams. So, nice work there as well for the Des Moines school.

Also, to note, at a different time than the swimming, the Todd Wollenweber-coached Rams' diving team helped their team, for the league meet, in 1-meter diving. Diver, Peyton Conrad, a senior, took third place, with 307.95, getting 12 points for the Rams while teammate, senior, Nathan DaDalto, nicely ended things, too, with a fifth-place finish, for 301.60, garnering his team 10 points. And, Daniel Russell, senior, ended ninth, with 291.05, for four points.

For the Rams, in the swim portion, at the SPSL league meet, some good progress was made toward competing in the upcoming West Central District 3 (WCD3) meet at Curtis this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6-7, with finals slated for 4:30 pm on the 7th. WCD3 Dive Meet competition is done the day before the two-day district swim meet. Diving is on the Thursday, the 5th, starting at 4 p.m.

Coach Veraya, along with assistant, Samantha Neff, could breathe a little easier after this one, as, one event made it past districts qualification time to a state-cut time, so, being able to, now, go straight to state.

"Made my job easier for next week," said Veraya, who himself swam strong at state for Kentwood boys swimming back in the early 2000s.

Job easier?

Veraya could have been referring to one of the Rams' captains, Eric Reiff, who was going for a state-cut time in the 50-yard freestyle, but, as will be learned soon, that was expected, pretty much, by Veraya, that is, for Reiff to get himself qualified for state. But, the 200 free relay team of Grant Meyers, Joseph Burdine, Tristan Miles, and Reiff, that was not as expected and is what Veraya referred.

But, first, speaking of those meeting expectations, Reiff took first place in the 100 butterfly in 56.17, way ahead of the district-cut time, 1:01.48, going into the event, needing now, at districts, to get a 55.10 to expect to get into state.
And, Reiff, also, flailed arms fast through the water for third in the 50 free in 22:54, beating the state-cut qualification time of 22.85, getting in by .31 hundredths of a second.

Speaking of the 50 free, Reiff said, "My best time coming in was 23.10."

So, wow, over half a second taken off that previously best time?

"Yeah," said Reiff, adding, "I've been having a good meet.".

Another, Rams' senior, captain, Grant Meyers, turned in strong performances, too, he won the 200 free in 1:49.82, and, made the state-cut time in the process, which that barrier was 1:49.99. So Meyers,, just in by less than two-tenths of a second in that event. He, also, took second in the 100 free, going 49.46 in it, getting beat out by Curtis' Sam Abbot, touching of the wall in 48.75. That 100 event was another state-cut time (50.10) make by Meyers.

"I have had better training for specific events this year,"said Meyers, who said he's improved over last season, one in which he went to state in individual events for the Rams, a year ago, at the King County Acquatics Center in Federal Way where state will be held Feb. 20-21.

Veraya's got you ready?

"Yeah, pretty intense last two weeks of training," said Meyers. 'Getting us ready."

Senior, Caden Tongue, made the district-cut time in the 100 backstroke. And, that barrier to district meet entry was 1:04.37, and, Tongue swam a 1:02.47, finishing seventh best in the SPSL
"Not too many surprises there," said Veraya of the aforementioned swimmers' swims. "I expect the world of them, they can all do more. I'm rewarded, but not surprised."

So, those guys were key, along with Joseph Burdine, a junior and Rams' captain, who swam a 52.58 in the 100 free and a 1:59.99 in the 200 free. Both events, Burdine already broke the district-time cuts in previous races this season. Still, work is to be done, Burdine is 2.5 seconds from the 50.10 state cut time in the 100 free, but, maybe, this swimmer who has strong endurance from running cross country for the Rams can surprise there.

But, to the question, of these guys all mentioned above being key, or, anchors of the Rams' team, posed to Veraya, what did he say?

"I wouldn't call any group or swimmer on my team an anchor," said Veraya. "It's a whole team effort. Everyone is a key spot."

And, that makes good sense, because there's no 'i' in anchor, or, in 'key,' and, this Rams team, definitely, got some strong efforts from the younger age swimmers, too, at this SPSL meet.

Starting with Miles, who's already been named as a key to the Rams having unlocked the state qualification door in the 200 free relay. Miles had a tough race in the 100 fly, swimming a 1:02.05, which was better than his best time coming into the SPSL meet, but, was not quite good enough for getting him into districts, that cut-time to entry, 1:01.48.

But, Veraya spoke highly of this young swimmer, who is a part of the Rams' future years of continued success, as, the Rams finished top-3 at this SPSL meet last season, too, and, have been a powerhouse in years past in high school swimming.

"A lot of younger guys got good drops," said Veraya. "Specifically, I would point out, Tristan Miles. I put him in two relays. He was key. He performed."

Veraya, also, was impressed with his freshmen.

"Four freshman made league cuts,"said Veraya, meaning they got to swim in this SPSL league meet because of those qualification times.

Joel Willott is one of the four, having swam in the 500 free at the league meet.

"Joel made it to league by .21 hundredths of a second," said Veraya. "I'm very excited he made it. He's a baseball player, too. I am very excited about his sophomore year."

Willott is of the future for the Rams, and, he's starting to like this sport that's with no ball, but, is, definitely, all about sport. Hard to find a tougher race to do, endurance-wise, running included, than swimming 20 straight laps in a pool, as fast as one can, like, Willott does swimming the 500 free.
"Swimming is growing on me," said Willott.

There's a lot of pride in Rams' boys swimming, not to mention, tradition, as the Rams, won six 3A state titles, leading up to 1991. And, after that, under swim coach, Rick Werten, and, dive coach, Todd Wollenweber, who still coaches Rams' diving, won three straight 3A titles 2003-05. And, as if that's not enough tradition, the Rams were 2nd at state in both 2002 and 2009.

So, lore galore that Willott, Miles, and, some others to be named soon, will be called on to help fill in the coming years when the likes of Tongue, Reiff, Meyers, Canon Westland, too, graduate after this season, and, Burdine, the one after that.

"We have very good potential for next year and years to come," said Willott.

The other three freshmen Veraya mentioned were Zachary Tallar, Evan Gwinn, and, also, Ryan Hubbard.

"Evan had a rough 100 fly," said Veraya. "He's been battling the cold, flu. He's another freshman I'm very excited about."

Hubbard is most exciting, at the present, anyway, and, he will swim at the district meet in the 200 medley relay, with Tongue, Reiff, and, Westland, who altogether turned in a second-place time of 1:46.50. They are needing a 1:44.30 to break into the state meet, which, they have one more chance to accomplish at the district meet at Curtis.

But, Hubbard shined individually in the 200 IM, being the only freshman in the top five in that event. He took fourth in 2:17.09. Making state will be tough to do for him, he needs a 2:03.20 to do that. But, attitude, confidence, that's a lot of it, in swimming, and, in any sport, really, those two traits are big. And, hopefully, Hubbard can step up and swim to a surprise finish at districts.

"Ryan swims the 500 free, 200 IM, and, is, also, great in the breaststroke," said Veraya.

So, though a freshman, the future is now for Hubbard, who swam strong at the league meet in the 500 free, getting a 5:29.20, eclipsing the district-cut time, soundly, which was 5:39.13.

Also, to be mentioned is sophomore, Francisco Felix, who qualified for districts in the 500 free in 5:37.43.
And, lastly, the 400 free relay for the Rams has some work cut out for itself, as, it needed to swim a 3:26.50 at the league meet to make it into state, but swam five seconds off that needed pace, getting into the wall at 3:31.60. So, one more try for them to progress to state in that event. Swimming that relay at the league meet was Tongue, Miles, Burdine, and, Meyers.