Manta Ray swimmer Zachary Washburn dominates at regionals
Manta Ray Aquatics swimmer Zachary Washburn stands in front of the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center.
FEDERAL WAY — Two Manta Ray Aquatics swimmers competed in an elite regional swim meet in Federal Way over the weekend.
The fastest swimmers on over 130 teams from seven western states participated. Cora Dana, 15, competed in the 50 freestyle on Friday and had a top 20 finish.
Her teammate 12-year-old Zachary Washburn also competed in the 50 freestyle, going on to crush the competition with a first place finish in finals. Washburn was just getting started, and went on to dominate his two events on Saturday.
His first place finishes in the 50 butterfly and the 100 freestyle also shattered the Inland Empire Swimming records in both events. On Sunday morning, Zachary qualified for finals as the top seed in the 200 freestyle. He would go on to crush the field winning the event by over two seconds.
Washburn also competed in the 100 individual medley with a third place finish, and took fourth in the 500 freestyle.
Eric Kemper qualifies for Age Group Zones
Submitted by Randy Kemper
FEDERAL WAY — This past weekend Eric Kemper, local unattached swimmer, traveled to Federal Way WA to participate in the Northwest Region Short Course Championships.
He competed against top athletes from Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.
Eric finished his short course season on a high note with a couple great swims.
In the 200 butterfly, Kemper took eighth place. He had a very strong swim in preliminaries, dropping 1.71 seconds for a best time of 2 minutes, 8.65 seconds. That time was good enough to qualify him for a very elite swim meet, Age Group Zones.
Age Group Zones will be held in Kerens, Utah August 10 to 13. Kemper will join the top athletes from Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming.
Kemper also finished 10th in the 100 butterfly.