Just one young lady stood out beautifully from the rest in the 2007 WIAA Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tire/Wells Fargo bank sponsored 4A Girls Swim and Dive Championships at the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center Nov. 11.

Three different corporate groups took turns placing medals around girls necks on the awards stand for first to eighth places in the 12 events. That was a first for that many sponsors to take part.

Katie Matulic of Decatur did not take first but her one event performance -- second place in the 200 Individual Medley --was better than anyone else's and her other effort was a top eight finish, taking seventh in the 100 backstroke. Matulic's a swimmer who just might be a good poster child for a major company, like, let's just say, Wells Fargo, for getting through what she's gone through. in great, improving fashion.

"I have syncledrosis," said Matulic.

Syn-cluh-duh-what?

"I don't know," said Matulic. "I can't spell it."

Matulic took eighth at the state meet in the 100 IM as a sophomore, then took time off rest of the year mostly instead of swimming for her year-round club, King Aquatics. Then, as a junior at state, Matulic improved to third in the same event. And now this year, Matulic was one away from first.

There's no way one could tell by this pretty girl's constant smile and sparkle that she felt she could have done better in the race than 2:10.35. Maybe she could have. She did go a 2:09.30 the day before in preliminaries before faltering a little in the finals the next day.

"I felt good in warm-up," said Matulic. "But the race didn't feel very good. I think I took it out slower and wasn't able to bring it back."

Matulic did well in the 100 back, as aforementioned. She finished seventh in that event this year after the previous two years she had taken fifth and then the 11th at state in the 100 breaststroke.

Going back a little, Matulic's time in the 200 IM was nine hundredths of a second faster than the third place finisher. It was close, maybe then what brought her through was her extended family.

"All the King people cheer for each other even though we are on different teams," said Matulic.

And what about the people up above in the stands overhead of the pool floor?

"Yeah and the other people here," said Matulic. "Good support from everyone."

Todd Beamer's freshman, Rachel Kim, did best place-wise at state for her team, taking fifth in the 100 back in a time of 59.81. She was slower in the final than the prelim time posted of 59.31.

"My turns were not as good as they should have been and my tempo," said Kim. "I guess it was fun. It was hard, but it was a lot of fun."

"It" being 'state.'

The team should do better next year for Beamer. All of their top eight finishers were underclassmen, with their 200 medley relay team being disqualified but their 200 free relay took eighth in 1:43.20. That was sophomores Lesley Elijah and Kelly Erickson and junior Eryn Murphy and Kim. Erickson also individually took seventh in the 100 butterfly in 59.21, eclipsing her prelims mark of 59.53. So that's all good promise, plus Beamer missed winning districts by a couple points this season.

"This will carry on to next year," said Kim. "People will need to watch out for our team. We are definitely going to succeed next year."

Success does not always show itself in the form of winning as was the case for Federal Way's Bren Fejarang, on the Eagles' 200 free relay that was one of the top teams in the consolation finals. They, being senior Bren Fejarang, sophomore, Dalynn Wingard, and freshmen Kayla Ramey and Kaia

Barth took fourth in 1:44.40. It was better than the prelims time of 1:44.67.

"It's my first time making finals at state," said Fejarang. "I am a senior and I am glad finishing this year with a bang."

For Fejarang, success meant, "Just being here, making it to state."

The relay members helped the Eagles to 12th place in the 200 free relay

Federal Way coach Carla Boone was happy with the relay and the season.

"It was a fantastic time, a best time," said Boone. "It was a great season."

Barth did well individually, making it to the consolation finals in the 100 free, taking eighth in 56.34.

Thomas Jefferson's Amy Friedhoff took third place in the 500 free with a 5:02 time, that was on the heels of a prelim time of 4:58.51. So the finals time for Friedhoff was not as good as prelims but it was the prelim time that made Friedhoff happy. It let her know how fast she can go when she's mad.

She was disqualified from her other good event, the 200 free, after Friday's prelim race.

"I did go a 1:53 yesterday but they dairy queened me," said Friedhoff, trying to make light of things. With a 1:53, in finals, if she had that time in it, would have placed her top three in the state.

"I was mad from it yesterday and went and swam my best time in the 500," said Friedhoff.

In diving, the good news there was that Angela Hansen of Decatur and Laura Schrader of Beamer both made it past the cut of 32 to be one of the 16 finalists the second day of diving. They both had fun learning, and are both young -- Schrader's a junior and Hansen's a freshman. And not just both young as in age. They're young in experience,e too. Real young.

Their coach, Tim Fraychinaued, liked what he saw at state from the two divers that made it from his coaching of all four 4A teams during the season.

"These girls from state, a lot of them, are from club teams," said Fraychinaued. "Both are second year divers. So I couldn't be more proud of them. They are a couple of hard working girls."

That said, Hansen won the district meet the two weeks prior and Schrader was right there after her.

For Hansen, it was a big change from last year, even though Schrader made it to state last year too, just not to top 16 cut.

"I went to non-quals last year," said Hansen. "It's where divers go that don't qualify for the state meet."

Hansen attributes her success to many things, including her coach, Fraychinaued.

"He just kept pushing me to try harder and harder things," said Hansen.

Schrader said she is in gymnastics as well for Beamer.

"That helps me because you have to have form and grace," said Schrader. "It helps you not to be afraid of going for things."

Schrader, to note, made it to state in gymnastics last year as a sophomore, going on the balance beam.

Decatur's Briley Boggs took sixth in the 100 fly. She said that she is a lot like Matulic, with physcial problems that hinder her performance.

Boggs seemed like she was in tears after thinking back to her 100 fly and her time of 58.84, which was 14 hundredths faster than her prelims time, 58.94.

"It's like I did everything technically right that I could have done but it wasn't fast enough," said Boggs. "This year just hasn't been my best. I expect to come back. Katie (Matulic) and I both have back problems. My right back works and my left doesn't. It's like atrophied."

So it goes. More good efforts despite adversity from some, like Matulic, Boggs, and others that were just learning the ropes and knocking this state thing out of the water, like Kim, who will surely be making waves, so to speak, in the future.

Not to mention the Eagles with some good relay swimmers. And Friedhoff, who had a so-so state by placement standards, she's been top five about since she was a freshman in the 200 and 500 free, and she will go to San Jose State, a Division One swimming program.