Port Townsend High School’s swimmers placed 10th overall in the District 3 2A Swim Championships at Hazen High School in Renton Nov. 8-9.

The 200-yard medley team of junior Emillia Nunn, senior Veda Dosey, freshman Kaylee Barlow and junior Morgan Trail started things off right, in coach Peter Braden’s opinion, by dropping 6 seconds that Friday, and moving from 10th to seventh place.

They held their position in that Saturday’s consolation finals, and improved their time to 2:07.75, which was fast enough to wildcard the relay into the State 2A Swim and Dive Championship in Federal Way Nov. 15-16.

Nunn followed up with a best time in the 500-yard freestyle, breaking 6 minutes for her first time, with a time of 5:59.65.

Nunn finished eighth in the event, and missed wildcarding into State by less than two seconds.

Braden credited Nunn, Dosey, Barlow and Trail with swimming “an especially strong” 200 freestyle relay, moving from second-to-last in the event to sixth, with an improvement of fourteen seconds. “That was the relay we thought would surprise people, and it definitely did,” Braden said. “Being able to swim in finals was the goal, and the girls did it.”

The top six finishers are qualified for the State meet.

After the relay finished their swim, Barlow swam her 100 backstroke, and qualified for the next day’s consolation final, with a time of 1:11.12, finishing in 11th place in the event.

Dosey also finished 11th overall in her 100-yard breaststroke, with a time of 1:21.32.

The final event was the 400-yard free relay of Barlow, Nunn, Dosey and freshman Magdaline Ferland, whose team swam 12 seconds faster than their entry time, and moved from ninth to seventh for that Saturday’s swim.

Unfortunately, the team was disqualified in that same Saturday’s swim due to a false start.

“The girls were disappointed but definitely not mad,” Coach Shannon Minnihan said. “Lots of disqualification stories were shared, along with tears.”

Braden reported the team was excited to compete in the State meet.

“My favorite stroke is breaststroke, and I’m excited that I get to swim it at State with my team on the relay,” said Dosey, the team’s co-captain, for whom this was Dosey’s third State meet, Trail and Nunn’s second, and Barlow’s first.

In addition to the relays, sophomore Emma McAdam and freshman Gillian McCracken represented the team in the 50 free and 50 backstroke adaptive swims.

McAdam swam last year, while this was McCracken’s first time at the State meet.

The 2A State Swim and Dive Championship took place at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Check the Nov. 27 issue of The Leader for the latest updates from Braden and Minnihan on the PT Redhawks’ final meet of the season.