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Beaumont 5th
QHS junior PRs at state swim meet
Kurtis J. Wood/Post-Register
Cody Beaumont readies for the second heat of the 100-meter breaststroke preliminary race at the state swim meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Cody Beaumont entered the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires 2A Boys State Swimming Championships as the lowest seed in the 100-meter breaststroke. The only place, then, the QHS junior could go was up.
Beaumont did just that, rising to fifth place last Saturday at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way. He was seeded 20th with a qualifying time of just above 69 seconds. By the time he was done swimming, he clocked in at a blistering one minute, 2.88 seconds.
On Friday, he qualified for the finals with a personal best time of 1:04.15 and impressed April Cheadle, his coach from Eastmont High School. She attributed his first-day success to his ability to maximize his lane seven draw. Since lane eight was open, he was able to take advantage of the calm water on either side of him.
“It lets waves move farther away. That’s why it’s good to get out front,” Cheadle said. “Cody got a lead on the guy next to him and created his own goose-shaped V.”
However, since the first day featured three preliminary races, Beaumont’s chances to move into the final eight were tough. The winner of heat one clocked in at 1:04.48 and all five swimmers were faster than Beaumont’s seeding time.
But he was unphased and swam his fastest first 50 of the season in heat two. Maybe he was too fast, though. He paired a 28-second first lap with a 36-second second lap, which meant he was far from consistent. After the third heat, only defending champion Austin Fish of Sehome clocked in faster, so he qualified for the finals as the fourth seed.
“He’s such a competitor, and it comes out here,” Cheadle said.
On the second day, he found a way to close the gap. He swam a 29-second opening lap and paired that with a 33-second lap for his personal record of 1:02.88.
“I shaved my legs, I had the (fast) suit on and I think adrenaline was a lot of it,” Beaumont said. “Consistency has been my problem with the second 50 a lot slower, so I think the adrenaline kicked in on the second 50.”
The fourth-place finisher, Sehome’s Patric Gregory, clocked in at 1:02.29 and the sixth-place finisher, Christopher Li of Pullman, touched in 1:02.98.
“I never even imagined I could swim a 1:02, so I was plenty happy with a 1:02,” Beaumont said. “ I wasn’t complaining.”
But he did admit the fast time did not seem to coincide with a fifth-place finish. After all, he was two seconds faster on Saturday and four seconds faster than his third-place finish from last season.
“I was happy, because it was a 1:02, and that’s great,” he said. “But fifth, that doesn’t fit right.”
Fish won the event with a time of 59.21 and Sehome brought home the team championship with 124 points, while second-place Interlake had 74 and Pullman had 73. Quincy scored four points to claim 19th.
