By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR

For the Independent

UNIVERSITY PLACE — The streak is over.

South Kitsap swim coach Cliff Rousell couldn’t keep a smile from creeping across his face as he acknowledged that for the first time in several years, the Wolves will have multiple swimmers competing at the state meet.

“That’s the greatest thing,” said Rousell, who will take two individuals and a relay to next weekend’s championships in Federal Way. “It’s kind of lonely when you’ have just one person going to state (like) the last few years.”

A strong showing at the Class 4A West Central District III meet on Saturday at the Curtis Aquatic Center helped South Kitsap finish ninth in the team standings with 120 points. South Puget Sound League stalwart Curtis used wins in all three relays to successfully defend its title with 422 points, ahead of perennial Narrows League powerhouse Gig Harbor, with 294.

“They’ve earned everything they’ve got today,” Rousell said. “They worked hard for it.

“I can’t wait until we really get into the state tapering.”

Instrumental in South Kitsap’s success was sophomore Dylan Macabitas, who claimed the school’s first district title in at least a half-decade with a dominating performance in the 100-yard backstroke. His time of 54.77 seconds was almost two full seconds ahead of runner-up Jake Davies of Kentridge (56.68).

“Last year, I was in fourth place, and now I’m the top dog,” he said, standing to display the Wolves swim banner he was wearing as a cape. “I’m No. 1, and it feels awesome.”

In 2014, Macabitas, then a ninth-grader at Cedar Heights Junior High, was the Wolves’ lone state swimmer after earning a berth with a fourth-place finish in the backstroke. On Saturday, he just missed qualifying in the 200 individual medley, placing seventh in 2 minutes, 08.31 seconds. The top six competitors in each event advanced.

Macabitas admitted that he had some nerves coming into Saturday’s finals after winning the preliminary heat of the backstroke. But once that was over, all was well.

“Right now I’m not nervous for state,” he said. “I’m just focusing on practice and my teammates.”

Also advancing is junior Yoshi Iwakawa, who narrowly earned a berth in the 100 breaststroke with a sixth-place finish in 1:03.38.

Macabitas and Iwakawa also helped the Wolves’ 200 medley relay team qualify for state, along with junior Nils Johnson and sophomore Simon Martin, finishing fifth in 1:45.22.

Rousell said that the state experience will be more fun this season.

“Not just for the meet itself, but it starts in practice,” he said. “There’s a different way the practices go when you have more people in it, and that’s a positive thing.”

Senior co-captain Andy Straavaldson, one of the swimmers who rotates in at freestyle on the medley relay, said that going to state is the way he wanted to end his final season.

“It’s leaving on a high note,” he said. “Going out with a bang.”

Class 4A West Central District III Boys Swim Finals

at Curtis Aquatic Center

Top six individual qualifiers and medleys advance to state.

Team scores

1, Curtis 422; 2, Gig Harbor 294; 3, Kentridge 222; 4, Mount Rainier 208.5; 5, Stadium 193.5; 6, Olympia 163; 7, Kentlake 144; 8, Rogers 122; 9, South Kitsap 120; 10, Timberline 96; 11, Thomas Jefferson 75; 12, Tahoma 71; 13, Kentwood 67; 14, Puyallup 63; 15, Federal Way 20; 16, Decatur 15; Todd Beamer 2

200 medley relay

1, Curtis 1:42.47; 2, Mount Rainier 1:43.33; 3, Gig Harbor 1:43.80; 4, Olympia 1:45.10; 5, South Kitsap 1:45.22; 6, Kentlake 1:45.22

200 freestyle

1, Dillon DePriest (KR) 1:46.91; 2, Sam Abbott (CUR) 1:47.46; 3, Noah Willers (STAD) 1:48.02; 4, Derek Jones (GH) 1:48.33; 5, Ryan Grady (GH) 1:48.69; 6, Jackson Curtis (GH) 1:48.86

200 individual medley

1, Andrew Wright (OLY) 2:00.04; 2, Garrett Friedman (CUR) 2:01.31; 3, Troy Friedman (CUR) 2:02.90; 4, David Ling (CUR) 2:04.94; 5, Jake Davies (KR) 2:05.50; 6, Griffin Doane (GH) 2:05.50

50 freestyle

1, Mitchell Crossen (ROG) 22.02; 2, Grant Meyers (MR) 22.34; 3, Eric Reiff (MR) 22.60; 4, Jacob Stone (GH) 22.84; 5, Tate Mitchell (KR) 23.07; 6, Sam Melin (CUR) 23.08

1-meter diving

1, Gabriel Gonzales (KR) 366.30; 2, JJ Spoja (CUR) 358.10; 3, Nathan DaDalto (MR) 338.85; 4, Jordan Nelson (DEC) 330.05; 5, Clay Curl (KR) 316.00; 6, Peyton Conrad (MR) 314.80

100 butterfly

1, Elias Knobloch (KL) 53.98; 2, Willers 55.16; 3, Reiff 55.60; 4, Curtis 56.15; 5, Alex Wu (CUR) 56.57; 6, Casey Nguyen (TJ) 56.70

100 freestyle

1, Crossen 47.51; 2, DePriest 47.84; 3, Abbott 48.80; 4, Alex Lin (TIM) 49.85; 5, Melin 50.04; 6, Seamus Grant (STAD) 50.61

500 freestyle

1, Knobloch 4:54.04; 2, Grady 4:54.31; 3, Jones 4:58.25; 4, Matthew Peterson (CUR) 5:01.21; 5, John Armstrong (STAD) 5:07.63; 6, Josh Arnold (CUR) 5:08.24

200 freestyle relay

1, Curtis 1:30.47; 2, Kentridge 1:31.66; 3, Gig Harbor 1:32.56; 4, Kentlake 1:33.44; 5, Stadium 1:33.54; 6, Olympia 1:34.43

100 backstroke

1, Dylan Macabitas (SK) 54.77; 2, Davies 56.68; 3, Melin 57.02; 4, Nguyen 57.72; 5, Wu 57.91; 6, Conor Collins (ROG) 58.55

100 breaststroke

1, Ryan St. John (CUR) 1:01.10; 2, Wright 1:02.24; 3, G. Friedman 1:03.04; 4, Ling 1:03.35; 5, Yoshi Iwakawa (SK) 1:03.05; 6, Doane 1:03.47

400 freestyle relay

1, Curtis 3:19.12; 2, Gig Harbor 3:19.16; 3, Kentridge 3:22.46; 4, Mount Rainier 3:27.21; 5, Rogers 3:28.45; 6, Timberline 3:31.02