WIAA State 3A Boys Swim: Bellevue strikes Gold; Blazing Times the order of the Day

2/22/2025

(Federal Way, WA) The 3A State Boys swim and dive Championships were held last weekend at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. The 3A would look different as Bainbridge is no longer a consideration after dropping to the 2A classification this last summer. But the 3a schools would have to face a newby in Snohomish who shifted up a classification from the 2A’s to the 3A’s in the re-classification.

Maybe Lakeside would defend their title or would Mercer Island re-assert themselves atop the final standings? There was another former dominant team just waiting in the weeds to show they should not be forgotten in the Bellevue Wolverines. It was an exciting run for all these teams. Our coverage below includes our meet re-caps, listing of AAA and AAC times, each event results and video replay, photo gallery and more, just keep scrolling!

Bellevue re-claims Swimming Title

The Bellevue Wolverines have stood at the top of the awards stands 7 times in their history but hadn’t done so since completing back-to-back State Championships in 2015 and 2016. The Wolverines are now back on top after missing for nearly a decade.

The Wolverines would win the Championship in a true team fashion. Bellevue won just 1 event the 1st one of the day when they took the 200 Medley Relay. They won by nearly a full second with Alex Kang swimming lead off. Christian Wong was 2nd but it was the 3rd leg of Bob Frazer with a wicked 22.39 split to give the Wolverines a slight lead over Lakeside. Aidan Kim would close the door on the Lions blistering his final run in 21.61. This gave the Wolverines a 40 point win.

Bellevue then simply kept stacking points with 10 more top 8 finishes placing 2nd in the 200 freestyle from Bob Frazer and 2nd in the Backstroke by Christian Wong who just missed the win by .12 seconds.

Shorecrest got off to a fast start as well and threatened to potentially take the lead from Bellevue a couple of times but the Wolverines had an answer each time they got close. Bellevue led start to finish and Shorecrest tookover 2nd place after the 2nd event and never gave up that position either in a classic boat race finish for 1st and 2nd.

Shorecrest took home their 1st ever State Swim trophy in another team effort as the Scots did not win a single event. The top 2 finishers racked up a combined 506 points and won 1 event between the two teams. The Scots would place in the top 8 12 times in 12 events missing only in Diving and the Backstroke and several events with multiple top 8 placers. Even more amazing is they only had one 2nd place finish and that was in the 200 Free Relay. Ian Reece, Tristan Serrano, Zander Muilenburg and Colton Stoecker pulled nearly 2 seconds off their preliminary time with a 1:26.89 for a clear 2nd place finish behind Snohomish.

The race for 3rd and 4th was where the action was as Lakeside and Mercer Island battled hard but also had to take on the newcomer Snohomish who coming into the meet with a top placing on their minds. Lakeside held 3rd through the 6th event. Mercer Island surged past them in the 7th event the 100 Free by winning the B heat from Ron Rastorguev pushing the Islanders total to 104 over Lakeside’s 98.

Snohomish also used the 100 Free to start making their run for a trophy. Torsten Hokanson finished 2nd and Ryan Tuomisto was 4th to pick up 32 points on Lakeside who didn’t have any in the 100 Free.

Defending Champ Lakeside dropped from 2nd to 3rd then to 6th after the 200 Free Relay. The Lions trailed Mercer Island, Snohomish and Gig Harbor but got back in the trophy hunt in the next event when Charlie Cancelmo won the Backstroke and Bennett Jones finished 10th and Brandon Liu 14th to pick up a 30-point haul and they were back in 4th place.

With one event left Mercer Island held 3rd, Lakeside 4th and Snohomish 5th 163-162-150. In the 400 Free Relay it was simple for Lakeside, beat Mercer Island and they would be 3rd and as long as they finished no worse than 5th would beat Snohomish for 3rd place.

Well the Panthers were sitting on a huge performance with Owen Collins, Rysen Tuomisto, Connor Colloton and Torsten Hokanson firing on all cylinders winning the event by nearly a second and a half over Lakeside for a huge 40 point win. They had to pick up 13 points on Mercer Island to get 4th and the Islanders took 6th for 26 points and Snohomish edged our Mercer Island for the last trophy 190-189 and fell 6 points short of Lakeside for 3rd.

In the end 8 teams finished above the 100 point mark setting up some great rivalries in the future.

3A Team Final Scores

  1. Bellevue                          276   2. Shorecrest                        230
  3. Lakeside                          196   4. Snohomish                         190
  5. Mercer Island                     189   6. Gig Harbor                        155
  7. Sammamish                         112   8. Odea                              107
  9. Roosevelt                          91  10. Walla Walla                        84
 11. Inglemoor                          57  12. Ridgeline                          55
 13. Shorewood                          52  14. Peninsula                          48
 15. Prairie                            45  16. Garfield                           42
 17. Capital                            40  18. Ingraham                           38
 19. Liberty                            35  20. Shelton                            25
 21. Silas                              23  21. Lynnwood                           23
 23. Everett                            19  24. Cheney                             17
 25. Federal Way                        16  25. Bishop Blanchet                    16
 27. Central Kitsap                     15  27. Timberline                         15
 29. White River                        13  30. West Seattle                       10
 31. Interlake                           9  31. River Ridge                         9
 33. Decatur                             8  34. Franklin                            7
 35. Marysville-Getchell                 6  36. Seattle Prep                        5
 37. Edmonds-Woodway                     2

Big Times and New Names

The Snohomish Panthers were new to the 3A classification and with that took 3 individual Championships. Torsten Hokanson won the 50 Free and Snohomish won 2 relay events the 200 Free and 400 Free with the same 4 swimmers in Hokanson, Owen Collins, Rysen Tuomisto and Connor Colloton. Hokanson set a new meet record and AAA time of 20.40 beating the old mark of Gig Harbor’s Billy Oates mark of 20.53 set in 2020.

Speaking of Gig Harbor, Aiden Hammer dropped the Hammer on everyone with a dazzling run in the 200 Free finishing with a 1:35.95 smashing the state and meet records by more than a second. However, he did not credit for the new records with his time. That’s because it was a 10th of a second slower than his time from the preliminaries on Friday of 1:35.85!

Hammer wasn’t finished as he swam in the 500 Free and had finished in the 3rd fastest time in state history on Friday with a 4:26.37. Hammer did not drain the tank in that effort and left longtime swimming observors simply speechless when he posted a 4:19.95 time in the finals on Saturday. Crushing the state time set by Wes Oliver of Sammamish in 1995 of 4:23.06 by more than 3 seconds. Hammer beat the old meet record of 4:25.81 set by O’Dea’s Ross Buffington in 2000 by nearly 6 seconds and did this by shaving more than 6 seconds off his own preliminary time. Hammer’s 500 time was 10 seconds faster than the required AAA time.

Capital’s Sr Andrew Coombs picked up 2 wins setting AAA times in the both the 200 IM and the 100 Free. Coombs tore 3 seconds off his 200 IM time from 1:50.07 on Friday to a blazing 1:46.83 and set a new meet and state record. He beat his nearest competitor by nearly 5 seconds. However, his new state record would only last for about 4 hours. In the following 4A meet, Syunta Lee from Jackson topped Lee’s time with a 1:46.66. Lee just a freshman will have a chance to top his own mark. Coombs though left it all out there with one of the most impressive races of the weekend.

Another freshman served notice as well winning 2 events. Charlie Cancelmo from Lakeside won both the Butterfly and Backstroke. In the Fly, Charlie won by nearly 2 seconds in a final time of 47.94 just missing both the meet and state records. The state and meet record is 47.60 set by Brian Lee of Bellevue in 2022. Cancelmo’s 47.94 time is the 2nd fastest in meet history and 3rd fastest all-time and only the 3rd sub :48 time ever. In the Backstroke Cancelmo finished with the lone sub :50 mark in 49:89 and just missed the AAA but did earn a consideration award.

And O’Dea senior Shea Skarda took off more than a second from his Breaststroke swim in the preliminary to win by 10th of a second over Bellevue’s Christian Wong with a final time of 54.72. Skarda just missed matching his brothers Championship time from last year by 2/10ths of a second but recorded the 5th fastest time in 3A history.

Day 1 Preliminary Highlights

On day 1 the preliminaries are usually aimed at just getting to the finals but some in the 3A had other ideas. The biggest headline of the day was Gig Harbor’s Aiden Hammer smashing the meet and state record in the 200-yard Freestyle finishing in a final time of 1:35.85 about 2 and half seconds off the 3A meet record and 1.32 seconds faster than than the 4A record of 1:37.17. Hammer’s finishing time was also nearly 3 seconds faster than the minimum of the AAA (automatic All-America) time of 1:38.21.

Hammer wasn’t done tearing up the timer as he qualified for another AAA time in the marathon event the 500-yard Freestyle finishing in a flourish with a time of 4:26.37, the 2nd fastest all-time 3A time and 5th all-time in all classifications. This was also another AAA time by more than 2 seconds.

Hammer defeated Kjell Cady in his 500 heat. Cady of Ingraham is the defending Champ of the 500-Free and gave Hammer a good race but couldn’t keep up in the final lap and finished with a time of 4:29.33. This just missed the AAA time but was easily an AAC time and was also the 8th fastest time in 3A meet history.

Freshman Charlie Cancelmo of Mercer Island opened some eyes in the 100 Butterfly when he stopped the timer in 48.12, shearing 3/10ths of a second off his qualifying time. The time was the 2nd fastest in 3A meet history and was an AAA time by more than 2/10ths of a second.

Capital’s Andrew Coombs flew home in the 200 IM tapping in with a sizzling 1:50.07 final time just missing the AAA but getting an AAC time. It was also the 5th fastest time in 3A meet history.

In the 100 Breast another AAC time was recorded by Shea Skarda of O’Dea in a final time of 55.88. Skarda finished 2nd last year in this event last year to his brother Jack Skarda.

Torsten Hokanson from Snohomish ripped the tide in the 50 Free posting a blazing 20.70 final time. That just missed the AAA time of 20.41 but was an AAC time.

One last note from the 50 Free is after all was said and done there was a swim off for 16th place. This is important because teams earns points down to 16th place and only 16 advance to swim in the finals on Saturday. Senior Alex Lee of Lynnwood and sophomore Sebastian Sanchez from Shorewood tied for 16th with times of 22.66.

The swim off would extend on of their season’s to Saturday and end the others season immediately. Sanchez got the jump on Lee and advanced to Saturday while the senior from Lynnwood fell just short.

All-America Automatic Times

Saturday
Aiden Hammer Jr Gig Harbor 200 Freestyle 1:35.95 *State and Meet Record
Andrew Coombs Sr Capital 200 IM 1:46.83 *Meet Record **State Record for about 4 hours but was topped in the 4A meet by Syunta Lee of Jackson with a 1:46.66 final time
Torsten Hokanson Sr Snohomish 50 Freestyle 20.40 *Meet Record
Charlie Cancelmo Fr Lakeside (Sea) 100 Butterfly 47.94
Andrew Coombs Sr Capital 100 Freestyle 44.37
Aiden Hammer Jr Gig Harbor 500 Freestyle 4:19.95 *State and Meet Record
Kjell Cady Sr Ingraham 500 Freestyle 4:26.92
Luke Dunn Fr Mercer Island 500 Freestyle 4:30.87
Snohomish 200 Freestyle Relay 1:24.19
Shea Skarda Sr O’Dea 100 Breaststroke 54.72
Christian Wong Jr Bellevue 100 Breaststroke 54.84
Owen Collins Sr Snohomish 100 Breaststroke 55.39

Friday
Aiden Hammer Jr Gig Harbor 200 Freestyle 1:35.85 *State and Meet Record
Aiden Hammer Jr Gig Harbor 500 Freestyle 4:26.37
Charlie Cancelmo Fr Lakeside (Sea) 100 Butterfly 48.12

All-America Consideration Times

Saturday
Bellevue 200 Medley Relay 1:35.86
Kjell Cady Sr Ingraham 200 IM 1:51.15
Torsten Hokanson Sr Snohomish 100 Freestyle 45.50
Charlie Cancelmo Fr Lakeside (Sea) 100 Backstroke 49.89
Snohomish 400 Freestyle Relay 3:05.99
Lakeside (Sea) 400 Freestyle Relay 3:07.43

Friday
Andrew Coombs Sr Capital 200 IM 1:50.07
Torsten Hokanson Sr Snohomish 50 Freestyle 20.70
Kjell Cady Sr Ingraham 500 Frfeestyle 4:29.23
Shea Skarda Sr O’Dea 100 Breaststroke 55.88

Special Awards

Each meet gave out several special awards including the Academic State team Champions, Swimmer of the Meet, Coach of the year and they honored 1 official for their time and commitment. Here are the 3A awards.

Official of the Year
James Tubberville

3A Academic State Champions
Interlake Saints 3.93

3A Coach of the Year
Scott Kelley-Shorecrest

3A Swimmer of the Meet
Aiden Hammer-Gig Harbor

Adaptive Competition

The 3A Adaptive competition was again one of the many highlights at the 3A swim meet. 7 athletes competed in the 1st event the 50 Freestyle and Stanwood’s Levi Stiers just out touched Silas’s Seth Balderson by 2/10ths of a second in a great race. Xander Krause of Stanwood was 3rd just 4 seconds behind then Samuel Nelson of Roosevelt took 4th, Jacob Mwangi from Federal Way was 5th, Austin Hubacek of Timberline and Austin Osburn 7th but Austin took 2 seconds off his personal best for a great showing.

In the 50 Backstroke only 6 participated with Silas’s Seth Balderson ripping the tide in a hot 31.79 to set new state and meet record. Balderson beat the old state reccord of 32.86 set by Ben Stanton in 2019 and the meet record of 33.76 set by David le in 2023. Balderson is just a freshman so he will have chances to top his own record still to come.

Levi Stiers also had an excellent run in a time of 33.94 just off the old meet record himself and as a junior will come back to take another shot at the top time next year. Xander Krause was 3rd, Samuel Nelson took 4th followed Austin Osburn getting 5th slicing a massive 9 seconds off his best time and Austin Hubacek finished 6th.

These 7 swimmers showed great school spirit, determination and reminded everyone of why sports and activities are so important in the schools. They were all great representatives of their schools and all were awarded medals for their efforts. In an editorial comment here, this is truly one of our favorite events to cover each and every year. It is the epitome of high school sports. Congratulations to all 7 athletes.

Full videos of both races just below.

Adaptive 50-yard Freestyle