"I just wanted to beat him," said Stocker.
Stocker finished the race in 55.41 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than he finished it in Friday's preliminary. He said he knew after the first turn that he could win it, so he went as hard as he could to the finish.
"Come tomorrow, I'm gonna be in a world of hurt," he said.
South's Jay Schulte won the boys 100-yard breaststroke and the 200 individual medley, but made a point to avoid such exhaustion. He wants to save his best for next week's state championships, also at Bartlett. The times he turned in on Saturday were a little faster than his regular-season times, but not as fast as he's capable of swimming.
"I'm right where I need to be heading into next week," he said.
To prepare for finals, many swimmers will actually do less training this week than at any other time during the season, tapering so the body can save its energy for the big race.
South swimming coach Troy Christensen said the hardest part of the week leading to the final is keeping his swimmers from burning off all their energy. Their bodies are so used to working hard that the kids feel a natural urge to get some physical activity, like going for a five-mile run, just because they feel like it.
Christensen likes to tell his swimmers to act like a bottle of soda the week before the state championships. He wants them all shaken up and ready to explode, but he wants the lid kept on the bottle until the moment the race starts.
Dimond senior Nikki Wray, who won the girls 200 individual medley Saturday and won the 500 meters and 200 individual medley at the state championships last year, said she also tries to save her best for the state championships, but she can't help but swim her hardest every time she gets in the water, for fear that she might lose her mental edge if she doesn't.
Wray, who has been swimming at the Bartlett pool since she was 9, said she expects good things next week, in part because of her familiarity with the pool. She said some pools have starting blocks that are abrasive enough to cut her feet, and some have starting blocks that are too slippery, but Bartlett's starting blocks always feel just right to her.
Nikki's sister Kari Wray, a freshman at Dimond, is starting to like the Bartlett pool as well. She won the 100 breaststroke on Saturday, beating her time from Friday's preliminary by more than a second when she finished in 1:08.42. She said she wasn't swimming as hard as she possibly could and she hopes for an even faster time at the state championships.
South's Katie Cartee won the girls' 1-Meter diving competition, but said she is also saving some of her best for next week. She closed Saturday's competition with dive she called the four-double in the pike position.
"It's my most consistent dive," she said.
Cartee has a few new dives she will work on this week and said she expects to make a good showing at the state championships, because she has six or seven dives she can use that she doesn't think any other girl in the state knows how to perform.
Cook Inlet Conference Swimming and Diving Finals
Girls team scores
1) Dimond, 385. 2) Service, 382; 3) Chugiak, 342; 4) East Anchorage, 318; 5) South Anchorage, 230; 6) West Anchorage, 167; 7) Eagle River, 147. 8) Bartlett, 82.
Boys team scores
1) Dimond, 561; 2) South Anchorage, 394; 3) Chugiak, 267; 4) West Anchorage, 219; 5, Service, 199. 6, East Anchorage, 195. 7) Eagle River, 100; 8) Bartlett, 59.
Girls individual results
200 Medley Relay -- 1) Service (Adams, Victoria , Kirk, Christine , Adams, Margot , Uselmann, Mary ), 1:49.91; 2) Dimond, 1:51.31; 3) East, 1:53.32; 4) Chugiak, 1:54.87; 5) South, 2:01.02. 200 free -- 1) Adams, Margot, Service, 1:56.91; 2) Dalton, Katy, West, 1:57.04; 3) Wilcox, Jennifer, Dimond, 1:59.48: 4) Cavanaugh, Jesi, East, 2:00.04; 5) Iverson, Jordan, Service, 2:00.17. 200 IM -- 1) Wray, Nikki, Dimond, 2:10.06; 2) Caldwell, Jordyn, Chugiak, 2:10.99; 3) Wray, Kari L, Dimond, 2:13.14; 4) Adams, Victoria, Service, 2:13.30; 5) Hawkins, Michelle D, Dimond, 2:15.78. 50 free -- 1) Uselmann, Mary, Service, 24.55; 2) Kirk, Christine, Service, 25.72; 3) Sauerbrey, Carrie, East, 25.90; 4) Bauer, Katie, Service, 26.32; 5) Oldenkamp, Katie, Chugiak, 26.84. 1M diving -- 1) Cartee, Katie, South, 375.20; 2) Friedli, Kaitlin, Chugiak, 325.45; 3) Evenstad, Anna, Eagle River, 222.85; 4) Milterson, Kaylee, Chugiak, 180.80; 5) Israel, Tiffany, West, 178.75. 100 butterfly -- 1) Adams, Margot, Service, 57.28; 2) Wilcox, Jennifer, Dimond, 57.75; 3) Cavanaugh, Jesi, East, 59.15; 4) Stacy, Janelle, Chugiak, 59.66; 5) Bowen, Olivia, Chugiak, 1:00.68. 100 free -- 1) Wicks, Sam, East, 52.10; 2) Caldwell, Jordyn A, Chugiak, 55.27; 3) Sauerbrey, Carrie, East, 56.55; 4) Bauer, Katie, Service, 57.18; 5) Oldenkamp, Katie, Chugiak, 58.59. 500 free -- 1) Dalton, Katy, West, 5:18.48; 2) Wray, Nikki L, Dimond, 5:22.56; 3) Iverson, Jordan, Service, 5:24.45; 4) Wallace, McKinley R, East, 5:24.57; 5) Holt, Hayley L, Dimond, 5:36.00. 200 free relay -- 1) Service (Kirk, Christine , Iverson, Jordan , Bauer, Katie, Uselmann, Mary ), 1:41.85; 2) East, 1:42.90; 3) Chugiak, 1:43.99; 4) Dimond, 1:46.60; 5) South, 1:49.66. 100 backstroke -- 1) Wicks, Sam, East, 57.17; 2) Hawkins, Michelle, Dimond, 59.28; 3) Adams, Victoria, Service, 59.39; 4) Stacy, Janelle, Chugiak, 59.58; 5) Bowen, Olivia, Chugiak, 1:02.17. 100 breaststroke -- 1) Wray, Kari, Dimond, 1:08.42; 2) Kirk, Christine, Service, 1:11.88; 3) Cockreham, Erin, Chugiak, 1:13.51; 4) Jurrens, Cannon, Bartlett, 1:14.29; 5) Johnson, Richelle, Eagle River, 1:14.52. 400 free relay -- 1) Chugiak (Stacy, Janelle, Oldenkamp, Katie, Holtman, Cierra, Caldwell, Jordyn), 3:42.16; 2) Service, 3:42.58; 3) Dimond, 3:43.32; 4) East, 3:43.68; 5) South, 4:07.71.
Boys individual results
200 medley relay -- 1) Dimond (Chan, Cory SO, Kowalewski, Adam, Wilson, Matthew, Wilcox, Erik), 1:39.82; 2) South, 1:40.29; 3) Chugiak, 1:48.12; 4) Service, 1:55.48; 5) West, 2:09.82. 200 free -- 1) Wilcox, David, Dimond, 1:46.09; 2) Krenzelok, Brett, Eagle River, 1:47.97; 3) Ursin, Jackson, Dimond, 1:49.10; 4) Ross, Simon P, Dimond, 1:50.91; 5) Bulkow, Rowan, Service, 1:52.09. 200 IM -- 1) Schulte, Jay, South, 1:59.47; 2) Wilcox, Erik K, Dimond, 2:04.72; 3) Sandstrom, Joseph, Dimond, 2:06.13; 4) Hummel, Austin K, Dimond, 2:07.51; 5) Sieg, Jeremy K, Chugiak, 2:07.76. 50 free -- 1) Rockwell, Ben, South, 21.84; 2) Kowalewski, Adam, Dimond, 21.96; 3) Bullington, Nick, West, 23.17; 4) Wilson, Matthew S, Dimond, 23.38; 5) Towslee, Donald, Dimond, 23.51. 1M diving -- 1) Haas, Dalton, Service, 446.20; 2) Hodgson, Scott, South, 377.55; 3) Tyler, Evan, West, 353.15; 4), Oldham, Joshua, East, 352.10; 5) Hurst, Jacob, Dimond, 286.15. 100 butterfly -- 1) Wilcox, David, Dimond, 52.92; 2) Wilcox, Erik, Dimond, 53.79; 3) Chan, Cory, Dimond, 54.91; 4) Sieg, Jeremy, Chugiak, 55.04; 5) Wilson, Matthew, Dimond, 55.60. 100 free -- 1) Rockwell, Ben, South, 47.90; 2) Kowalewski, Adam, Dimond, 48.12; 3) Krenzelok, Brett, Eagle River, 49.66; 4) Bulkow, Rowan, Service, 50.41; 5) Anderson, Jeremy, Dimond, 53.27. 500 free -- 1) Ursin, Jackson, Dimond, 4:58.73; 2) Ross, Simon, Dimond, 5:04.45; 3) Steger, Clinton, East, 5:16.23; 4) Ensign, Grant, Chugiak, 5:22.41; 5) McWorkman, Christian, Service, 5:22.46. 200 free relay -- 1) South Anchorage (Rockwell, Ben, Schulte, Jay, Rockwell, Zach Esplin, Eric), 1:30.89. 2) Dimond, 1:30.94; 3) East, 1:36.03; 4) West, 1:38.88; 5) Chugiak, 1:48.21. 100 backstroke -- 1) Stocker, Micah, East, 55.41; 2) Chan, Cory, Dimond, 56.62; 3) Rockwell, Zach, South, 56.69; 4) Anderson, Jeremy, Dimond, 58.97. 5) Espe, Andrew, Chugiak, 59.45. 100 breastroke -- 1) Schulte, Jay, South, 59.54; 2) Bullington, Nick, West, 1:04.14; 3) Sandstrom, Joseph, Dimond, 1:04.31; 4) Towslee, Donald, Dimond, 1:08.94; 5) Cockreham, Paul, Chugiak, 1:09.37. 400 free relay -- 1) Dimond (Hummel, Austin, Ross, Simon, Ursin, Jackson, Wilcox, David), 3:21.46; 2) South, 3:31.06; 3) East, 3:31.19; 4) Chugiak, 3:34.38; 5) Service, 3:34.91.
Find Jeremy Peters online at adn.com/contact/jpeters or call 257-4335.
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