Liam Campbell leads Newport to 4A state boys swim title

FEDERAL WAY — The question was so simple, just three words, but the answer resonated on several levels.

“Was that better?” Newport senior Liam Campbell asked.

For Campbell, who had just gone out and lowered his 100 freestyle time to 44.40 seconds, yes it was. The swim was Campbell’s second automatic All-America time of the Class 4A state boys swimming and diving championship finals on Saturday morning.

Unlike his first — a 19.98-seconds effort in the 50 free — this one came with a state title. The 100-free effort was also nice for his team, earning 20 points and the only individual championship the Knights recorded all meet.

Newport did win the first event of the morning as Campbell swam the final 50 yards of the 200 medley relay, pulling away for the first of three meet records. The Knights finished in 1:32.70, easily taking down the record of 1:33.06 they set just a year ago.

Combined with several strong nonwinning performances, it propelled Newport to the school’s first Class 4A state team title since the Knights completed a run of three straight from 2014 to 2016.

“We finished second last year,” Newport coach Mark Budos said. “And the guys had this date circled on the calendar from the first day of practice this season.”

Campbell’s individual battles were with Curtis junior Tolu Young. Campbell entered Saturday with the second-best time in the 50 and 100 frees to Young.

In their first showdown of the meet, both shaved their prelim times again to go under 20 seconds. For Young, who already had posted a 19.86 effort Friday, his drop to 19.73 seconds brought with it a meet and overall state record, lowering the mark of 19.81 seconds set by Glacier Peak’s Matt King in 2020.

“I’m surprised I dropped that much,” said Young, who came into the state meet with a personal best of 20.41 seconds. “I was really shocked (yesterday) when I went 19.86. And then I managed to get it to that.”

That battle in the 50 came just 20 or so minutes after Campbell brought home the relay victory.

“It was tiring, but we really got the competition spirit going,” Campbell said. “And I got a school record. It’s always fun to go 19.”

Campbell turned the tables in the 100 — just as he did a year ago.

“History repeating itself,” Campbell said.

The Newport senior’s second automatic All-America time wasn’t a meet or state record. But it did give Campbell 315 points, enough to garner him Swimmer of the Meet honors over Young and a pair of individual double winners.

Eastlake senior Connor Brown needed a swim of 53.32 seconds or better in the final individual event of the meet, the 100 breaststroke, to overtake Campbell for Swimmer of the Meet. Brown got his second win, but he did it in 54.76 seconds, adding that title to his 200 individual medley championship.

Union’s Sam Empey also won twice — in the 200 free and 100 butterfly.

Curtis set the third meet record, ending the meet by winning the 400 free relay to close things out in 3:04.98. That lowered the Vikings’ own mark set a year ago of 3:06.45. While that win closed the gap a bit, it wasn’t nearly enough to catch Newport.

Nor could the individual wins from guys not wearing the red and yellow stop the Knights juggernaut on Saturday.

“It all starts with talent and it starts with hard work,” Budos said. “And they stayed focused all the way through the end. We talked before the meet that we wanted the team to be better than the sum of the individuals. That was our approach. This is a win for the guys. They do all the work.”

Pullman wins first 2A title

The Fife Trojans did Pullman a favor one race before the meet ended on Saturday afternoon. Fife came from behind to beat Anacortes in the consolation final of the 400 free relay, securing the Greyhounds first boys state team title.

A Seahawks victory would have meant that Pullman at least had to finish in the championship final that followed. That should have been a foregone conclusion for the top qualifier in the event. But once the Trojans won the consolation, Anacortes was left with only 245 team points to the Greyhounds’ 246 before the last race began.

Pullman, of course, did finish. And it won the 400 relay in 3:15.55 to earn a 286-245 victory over the runner-up Seahawks.

The Greyhounds had one of the two individual double winners of the meet. Sophomore Jake McCoy won the 200 IM and the 100 back. Bellingham’s Miles Cratsenberg set the meet record in the 200 free, going 1:37.75 to lower the 1:38.18 set by Liberty’s Warren Briggs in 2020, and added the 500 free title to earn Swimmer of the Meet.