At state swim meet, 50-yard freestyle rocks the house

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Dimond’s Reed Dittlinger celebrates after breaking a 21-year-old state record in the 50 yard freestyle race Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017 during the Alaska state swim/dive championships at Bartlett. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News)

For 21 exhilarating seconds Saturday, the jam-packed Bartlett pool was chaos.

Screams reverberated off the walls as coaches and fans cheered the boys 50-yard freestyle — the shortest race at Saturday's state swimming and diving championships.

When Dimond's Reed Dittlinger touched the wall in 20.48 seconds, jaws dropped.

Not only did Dittlinger crush the 21-year old record of 20.91 set by Service's Andrew Tainter by nearly half a second, but second-place Caleb Law of Service, last year's state champion, also surpassed the mark with a time of 20.80 in the fastest state race ever held in an Alaska pool.

"When I hit the wall I immediately looked up and looked at my time and it took me a minute to process it," Dittlinger said. "It's very humbling."

Saturday's team titles went to the Thunder Mountain boys, who edged Dimond by three points for their first state swimming crown, and the Dimond girls, who topped Kodiak by five points for their third straight title.

In the 50, Dittlinger held a slight lead over Law from start to finish. The two developed a bit of a rivalry late this season, with Law breaking Tainter's Cook Inlet Conference record in last week's conference preliminaries in 20.84 seconds and Dittlinger coming back the next day to beat Law in the finals.

In a race where the smallest error can cost you the race, both swimmers were perfect, Law said.

"If you mess up your turn, your kick off, your start — anything, you're pretty much done," said Law, a junior. "We both had really good races. His underwaters were really good."

Normally a 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke swimmer, Dittlinger burst onto the 50-yard scene this season. He decided to give the event a try after swimming well in the 200 freestyle relay last year.

Dittlinger said he struggled with his stroke, so he switched to a "straight-arm" technique about a month before the state meet. The new technique helped him keep his arms wider and increased his speed, he said.

In the week leading up to the state meet, Dittlinger spent an hour every night watching his races on video and comparing them to Olympic races to see what he could do better.

"I always enjoyed sprinting but never got the chance to," Dittlinger said. "These big meets bring out the best in everybody and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to show that I've got what it takes to swim fast."

Kodiak senior Talon Lindquist recorded the day's only other record-breaking feat when he broke his own record in the 200 individual medley. Lindquist's time of 1:50.08 broke the mark of 1:52.01 he set in 2014 as a freshman.

"Since this is my last year, to go back to freshman year and kind of restart, set a new record — it's awesome," Lindquist said. "I put in a lot of hard work over the summer that transferred over to today's state win."

On the girls side, one of the closest races was the longest. Dimond's Camryn Williams bested teammate Emi Soldwedel by 1.52 seconds in what the meet announcer called the closest 500-yard freestyle he'd ever seen.

For much of the 5-plus minute race, Williams and Soldwedel were side by side until Williams pulled slightly ahead in the final 200.

"We push each other," Williams said. "(When) we train together, we usually train in the same lane so we're about the same speed, which is nice."

In addition to Williams' win in the 500, the Dimond girls enjoyed wins in the 100 freestyle (Erin Moody) and 400 freestyle relay (Moody, Emma Cegelka, Mikayla Terry, Breckynn Willis).

The Thunder Mountain boys used victories from Raymie Matiashowski (500 free), Bergen Davis (100 breaststroke) and the 200 medley relay team of Bergen, Casey Hamilton, Spencer Holt and Chris Ray to win their first state swim title since the school opened in 2008.

ASAA/First National Bank state swimming and diving

Girls team scores

1) Dimond 97; 2) Kodiak 92; 3) Sitka 86; 4) tie, Chugiak and South 37; 6) Soldotna 31; 7) Homer 30; 8) Palmer 23; 8) West Valley, 23; 10) Colony 22; 11) Bartlett 18; 12) tie, Eagle River and Lathrop 12; 14) Wasilla 11; 15) West 5; 16) tie, Monroe and Thunder Mountain 4; 18) tie, Juneau Douglas and Ketchikan 3; 20) Hutchinson 1.

Boys Team Scores

1) Thunder Mountain 94; 2) Dimond 91; 3) Kodiak 64; 4) Colony 61; 5) Service 56; 6) Kenai Central 33; 6) Eagle River 33; 8) Wasilla 18; 9) tie, Lathrop and Sitka 13; 1) Palmer 10; 12) tie, Hutchinson and Bartlett 9; 14) tie, South and West Valley 8; 16) tie, North Pole and West 6; 18)Soldotna 5; 19) tie, Juneau Douglas, Chugiak High and Petersburg 3; 22) Seward 1.

Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay — 1, Kodiak (Marina Cummiskey, Leslie Spear, Devon Cummiskey, Hannah Glover) 1:49.22; 2, Sitka 1:49.27; 3, Dimond 1:53.52; 4, Homer 1:53.86.

Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay — 1, Thunder Mountain (Casey Hamilton, Bergen Davis, Spencer Holt, Chris Ray) 1:36.47; 2, Service 1:38.28. 3, Kenai 1:42.39. 4, Dimond 1:42.99.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle — 1, Marina Cummiskey, Kod, 1:53.22. 2, Erin Moody, Dim, 1:54.91. 3, Skylar Moore, Sitka, 1:58.08. 4, Emma Cegelka, Dim, 1:59.21.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle — 1, Maximus Addington, Dim, 1:41.67. 2, Alex Suleimani, Lath, 1:42.09. 3, Spencer Holt, TM, 1:42.26. 4, Max Snelders, Pal, 1:44.28.

Girls 200 Yard IM — 1, Jessica Davis, Sitka, 2:11.00. 2, Summer Cheng, South, 2:11.47. 3, Camille Dayton, Col, 2:12.59. 4, Devon Cummiskey, Kod, 2:13.52.

Boys 200 Yard IM — 1, Talon Lindquist, Kod, 1:50.08. 2, Bergen Davis, TM, 1:53.07. 3, Casey Hamilton, TM, 1:53.21. 4, John Heaphy, ER, 1:59.09.

Girls 50 Yard Freestyle — 1, Wanlaya Jarupakorn, Bart, 24.60. 2, Sydney Juliussen, Sold, 24.74. 3, Gretchen Snelders, Pal, 24.80. 4, Katy McCarther, Latj, 24.82.

Boys 50 Yard Freestyle — 1, Reed Dittlinger, Dim, 20.48. 2, Caleb Law, Ser, 20.80. 3, Gabe Vestri Giovanni, Col, 21.53. 4, Samuel Horning, ER, 21.57.

Girls 1-meter Diving — 1, Chloe Hartman, Peter, 380.95. 2, Jayde Chan, Was, 377.65. 3, Madison Cook, South, 364.90. 4, Eileen Cyr, Col, 336.85.

Boys 1-meter Diving — 1, Ethan Larson, Bar, 508.05. 2, Tanner Belliston, Col, 472.00. 3, Holt Dannenberg, West, 456.60. 4, Kylin Welch, Sold, 436.85.

Girls 100 Yard Butterfly — 1, Marina Cummiskey, Kod, 57.77. 2, Wanlaya Jarupakorn, Bart, 57.85. 3, Devon Cummiskey, Kod, 58.40. 4, Summer Cheng, South, 58.98.

Boys 100 Yard Butterfly — 1, Talon Lindquist, Kod, 49.41. 2, Jake Simmons, Col, 49.50. 3, Spencer Holt, TM, 49.57. 4, Reed Dittlinger, Dim, 49.78.

Girls 100 Yard Freestyle — 1, Erin Moody, Dim, 52.91. 2, Katy McCarther, Lath, 53.70. 3, Emma Cegelka, Dim, 54.19. 4, Cheyenne Burke, Chu, 54.28.

Boys 100 Yard Freestyle — 1, Caleb Law, Ser, 46.27. 2, Gabe Vestri Giovanni, Col, 46.47. 3, Maximus Addington, Dim, 46.67. 4, Max Snelders, Pal, 46.74.

Girls 500 Yard Freestyle — 1, Camryn Williams, Dim, 5:23.30. 2, Grace Harang, Sitka, 5:24.28. 3, Emi Soldwedel, Dim, 5:24.52. 4, Gretchen Snelders, Pal, 5:24.90.

Boys 500 Yard Freestyle — 1, Raymie Matiashowski, TM, 4:52.62. 2, Chris Ray, TM, 4:54.26. 3, Daniel Smith, Kod, 4:55.11. 4, Andrew Walch, Dim, 4:55.15.

Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Sitka (Whitney McArthur, Kyleigh McArthur, Jessica Davis, Skylar Moore) 1:39.26. 2, Dimond 1:39.37. 3, Kodiak 1:41.35. 4, Homer 1:41.84.

Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Dimond (Maximus Addington, Jesse Tatakis, Nate Flores, Reed Dittlinger), 1:26.35. 2, Colony 1:28.05. 3, Eagle River 1:29.24. 4, Kodiak 1:29.90.

Girls 100 Yard Backstroke — 1, Jessica Davis, Sitka, 58.81. 2, Cheyenne Burke, Chu, 1:00.61. 3, Aubrey Cheng, South, 1:01.66. 4, Ellie Mercer, ER, 1:02.04.

Boys 100 Yard Backstroke — 1, Casey Hamilton, TM, 51.10. 2, Jake Simmons, Col, 51.17. 3, Savaii Heaven, Kenai, 53.72. 4, Brian Jarupakorn, Ser, 54.59.

Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke — 1, Skylar Moore, Sitka, 1:05.43. 2, Patty Eppingher, WV, 1:08.42. 3, Madison Story, Homer, 1:08.55. 4, Anastasia Chen, WV, 1:09.05.

Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke — 1, Bergen Davis, TM, 57.42. 2, John Heaphy, ER, 57.68. 3, Alex Suleimani, Lath, 58.61. 4, Anders Hocum, KHS, 1:00.12.

Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Dimond (Emma Cegelka, Mikayla Terry, Breckynn Willis, Erin Moody), 3:37.33; 2, Kodiak 3:44.24; 3, Soldotna 3:47.69; 4, South 3:48.73.

Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay — 1, Dimond (Reed Dittlinger, Jesse Tatakis, Andrew Walch, Maximus Addington) 3:10.34; 2, Thunder Mountain 3:11.27; 3, Kodiak 3:12.82; 4, Colony 3:14.10.