Bokowy leads Bulldog swimmers at state championships

Bulldog boys third in 4A; girls finish fourth

BOISE — Sometimes a tip of the swim cap is warranted, and such was the case for Sandpoint junior Payton Bokowy, who posted her two fastest swims ever in the 50 and 100 freestyle races but finished third in each, leading the Bulldog swim team at the Idaho State Swimming Championships on Saturday at the Boise YMCA.

In the only high school sport where all classes compete against each other, Bokowy had a target on her back after winning the two featured sprints as a freshman and sophomore. Despite posting PRs in both races on Saturday, Bokowy fell just short, finishing mere tenths of a second behind the winner.

Longtime Bulldogs head coach Mike Brosnahan said Bokowy did everything she needed for a rare 3-peat, but ran into some unexpected speed.

“She got PRs in both of them. She had her best swims, it wasn’t like she was off the blocks wrong,” said Brosnahan. “She came in first in the prelims, in the final they just slipped past and touched out first. Neither one of us expected it.”

Bokowy was just .17 off the winning time in the 100 free, and raced well in a fast 50 final that saw a six-year old state record fall. It was the first time all season Bokowy has been pushed in a race, and the 100 free winner from 5A Borah High School is an exchange student from Iceland that competes at the national level.

Unfortunately, the two state finals were the lone times all season Bokowy was tested. Luckily she’ll get to come back as a senior to make a run at the third titles.

“She dusts any competition up here, doesn’t have anyone close to pushing her,” said Brosnahan, who felt Bokowy handled the losses with the utmost class. “Like a true champion, after the race she said ‘that wasn’t that good.’ No throwing goggles, no excuses, no nothing. She said ‘those girls were fast.’”

Pretty much all of the 11 Bulldog swimmers in action posted PRs, which is all a coach can ask for at state.

Freshman Jacob Ballard was 12th in the 100 fly and 100 breast to lead the Bulldog boys, making the B finals in each event and also teaming with Miles Luce, Garrett Bamer and Seth Bamer to finish 7th in the 400 free relay and 9th in the 200 medley relay.

Luce also finished 12th in the 200 IM to score points and 19th in the 100 free, as the four boys did well enough to finish third in points among the 4A teams.

Garrett Bamer was 21st in the 100 back and 26th in the 50 free, while Seth Bamer was 20th in the 200 free and 29th in the 100 fly for the Bulldog boys.

“Pretty much everybody went faster. They had really strong relays and racked up a lot of points,” praised Brosnahan of his boys team. “Jacob made finals in both events. He was the strongest swimmer on both of the relays, and had awesome swims.”

The Bulldog girls finished fourth in the overall 4A team scores, at a meet that featured more than 500 swimmers, making for some huge heats.

The girls 200 free relay team of Bokowy, Sierra Speakman, Ellie McCray and Mikayla Schoening finished seventh, while the 200 medley relay team of Bokowy, McCray, Schoening and Briana Brosnahan finished 9th.

Other Bulldog girls finishes: Speakman — 24th 200 fly, 30th 200 free; McCray — 31st 50 free, 32nd 100 free; Emily Hieronymus — 34th 200 free, 35th 100 free; Catherine Brenner — 35th 500 free, 36th 200 free; Brosnahan — 38th 100 breast; Schoening — 39th 50 free, 42nd 100 free.

WINNERS, LOCALS IN TOP 8

BOYS

TEAM SCORES (winner, locals) — 1, Boise 329. 2, Coeur d’Alene 231. 9, Lake City 94. 10, Moscow 71. 12 (tie), Sandpoint 57. 16 (tie), Post Falls 45. 33 (tie), Lakeland 1.

200-yard medley relay — 1, Boise, 1:40.64. 2, Coeur d’Alene (Caleb Markowski, Cole Curtis, Sam Fredrickson, Karter Rasmussen), 1:41.30. 6, Lake City (Tom Loftus, Mark Sego, Aren Kariotis, Brian Penney), 1:47.82.

200 freestyle — 1, Luke Yost, Boise, 1:40.98 (state record; old, 1:41.42, Ethan Griffel, 2009). 5, Karter Rasmussen, Coeur d’Alene, 1:50.46. 8, Tristan Whiting, Coeur d’Alene, 1:52.18.

200 individual medley — 1, Cy Jager, Moscow, 1:53.73. 5, Ian Rector, Post Falls, 2:05.20.

50 freestyle — 1, Thomas Roark, Bishop Kelly, 20.96. 2, Gabe Markowski, Coeur d’Alene, 22.21. 5, Aren Kariotis, Lake City, 23.19.

100 butterfly — 1, Andrew Clifford, Meridian, 51.22. 6, Cole Curtis, Coeur d’Alene, 53.94. 7, Aren Kariotis, Lake City, 55.81.

100 freestyle — 1, Thomas Roark, Bishop Kelly, 46.24.

500 freestyle — 1, Luke Yost, Boise, 4:39.48. 3, Karter Rasmussen, Coeur d’Alene, 4:57.89. 6, Tristan Whiting, Coeur d’Alene, 5:03.62.

200 freestyle relay — 1, Capital, 1:31.84. 3, Coeur d’Alene (Gabe Markowski, Tristan Whiting, Karter Rasmussen, Troy Hannon), 1:33.26.

100 backstroke — 1, Jackson Cunningham, Mountain View, 52.97. 2, Gabe Markowski, Coeur d’Alene, 55.16.

100 breaststroke — 1, Cole Curtis, Coeur d’Alene, 59.82. 4, Ian Rector, Post Falls, 1:02.28.

400 freestyle relay — 1, Boise, 3:13.58. 5, Coeur d’Alene (Tristan Whiting, Caleb Markowski, Sam Fredrickson, Cole Curtis), 3:31.14. 6, Lake City (Aren Kariotis, Jack Bukowski, Tom Loftus, Brian Penney), 3:31.64. 7, Sandpoint (Seth Bamer, Garrett Bamer, Miles Luce, Jacob Ballard), 3:35.52.

GIRLS

TEAM SCORES (winner, locals) — 1, Boise 437. 5 (tie), Coeur d’Alene 138. 8, Lake City 105. 10, Sandpoint 70. 11, Moscow 66. 15 (tie), Post Falls 38. 23, Lewiston 21. 30 (tie), Lakeland 6.

200-yard medley relay — 1, Boise, 1:46.83 (state record; old, 1:47.23, Boise, 2015). 4, Coeur d’Alene (Emily Dietz, Micah Hudlet, Riley Fowler, Kathryn Moon), 1:53.81. 5, Lake City (Hailey Pierce, Brianne Gundlach, Alisa Felshaw, Sara Kaitz), 1:55.51.

200 freestyle — 1, Eva Suggs, Timberline, 1:53.04.

200 individual medley — 1, Charity Pittard, Rocky Mountain, 2:04.00. 6, Micah Hudlet, Coeur d’Alene, 2:14.10.

50 freestyle — 1, Isabella Rhodes, Calvary Chapel Christian School, 23.59 (state record; old, 23.62, Kjirsten Magnuson, Lake City, 2010). 3, Payton Bokowy, Sandpoint, 24.12. 6, Emily Dietz, Coeur d’Alene, 25.02.

100 butterfly — 1, Abbey Erwin, Boise, 56.95.

100 freestyle — 1, Sol Jorunnardottir, Borah, 51.87. 3, Payton Bokowy, Sandpoint, 52.04. 7, Hailey Pierce, Lake City, 54.33.

500 freestyle — 1, Abbey Erwin, Boise, 4:56.67.

200 freestyle relay — 1, Boise, 1:38.92 (state record; old, 1:40.70, Boise, 2015). 7, Sandpoint (Sierra Speakman, Ellie McCray, Payton Bokowy, Mikayla Schoening), 1:47.59.

100 backstroke — 1, Emily Dietz, Coeur d’Alene, 58.71. 6, Hailey Pierce, Lake City, 1:00.32.

100 breaststroke — 1, Sammie Eyolfson, Boise, 1:03.99 (state record; old, 1:04.37, Paulina Grabow, Sandpoint, 2008). 4, Micah Hudlet, Coeur d’Alene, 1:07.21.

400 freestyle relay — 1, Boise, 3:35.11. 4, Lake City (Sara Kaitz, Toriana Wilson, Brianne Gundlach, Hailey Pierce), 3:48.64. 5, Coeur d’Alene (Kathryn Moon, Riley Fowler, Rylie Rasmussen, Micah Hudlet), 3:53.64.