Thomas Jefferson’s Amber Cratsenberg made history Saturday afternoon.
The Raider senior became the first swimmer in the rich history of the state of Washington to win individual state championships in all four freestyle events.
Cratsenberg added the 200- and 500-yard free titles to her trophy case Saturday afternoon at the Class 4A Girls Swimming and Diving State Championships inside the King County Aquatic Center. The two state titles give Cratsenberg five during her stellar TJ career.
Cratsenberg’s first state titles came during her sophomore season when she swept the 50 and 100 freestyle events in impressive fashion. She added another 50 free title last year as a junior.
But this year, Cratsenberg chose to get away from her comfort zone in the sprint freestyle events, and turned her attention to the two longer events as a senior.
Cratsenberg was tested by Stadium’s Felicity Cann in the 200. Cratsenberg won the race in a time of 1 minute, 50.01 seconds to edge Cann’s time of 1:50.94. Cratsenberg’s time was good enough to earn her automatic All-America status in the event.
She had a little easier time in the 500 free Saturday, winning in a time of 4:57.55. Kent-Meridian’s Joanna Wu finished in second place over three seconds behind Cratsenberg, who was the lone swimmer to break the five-minute barrier all weekend.
Cratsenberg recently committed to swim in college at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va. The Hokies compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference and are one of the better academic colleges in the southern portion of the United States.
But Cratsenberg wasn’t the only Federal Way swimmer to bring home a state championship Saturday. In somewhat of a surprise, Federal Way High School sophomore Kenna Ramey snagged her first title in the 50 free.
Ramey, who was one of the top sprinters in the state all season long, entered the championship final Saturday with the third-fastest preliminary time Friday behind Kentridge’s Emily Mohr and Wenatchee’s Hannah Bruggman.
But Ramey dominated the sprint and edged Mohr for the win.
Ramey finished with a time of 23.62, which was good enough for All-America consideration, and Mohr was right behind at 24.00. Bruggman finished third in 24.05. Ramey also finished in 11th place in the 100 butterfly Saturday in a time of 58.95.
The district also had a strong performance in the 1-meter diving event during the state championships. Federal Way divers snagged four of the top six places Saturday, led by Beamer senior Elizabeth Wiley.
Wiley ended her Titan career with a second-place finish. Garfield’s Caitlin Chambers dominated the event by tallying 404.50 points to outdistance Wiley’s total of 356.75.
A trio of Jefferson divers finished fourth, fifth and sixth. Junior Monica Church led the way with the fourth-place finish with 326.40 points and was followed by senior Madi Kellar (314.90) and junior Shelby Church (308.70). Federal Way High School freshman Tia Thomas ended up in 16th place with 266.15 points.
Skyline High School won its third consecutive Class 4A state team title and senior Katie Kinnear was awarded swimmer of the meet after winning her sixth and seventh career individual titles and third and fourth relay crowns.
Skyline finished with 202 total points and was followed by Stadium, Issaquah and Mount Rainier.
In other district results:
• The Beamer 200 medley relay team of Taylor Wintler, Leah Freeborn, Michelle Rah and Annalise Miller finished 15th Saturday in 1:58.93.
• Federal Way junior Eva Barth finished 23rd in the 50 free in 25.96.
• The Federal Way team of Barth, Tracey Um, Marissa Meyer and Ramey ended up 17th in the 200 free relay in 1:45.87.
• In the 3A state meet, the Decatur 400 free relay team of Julyna Ngy, Ciara Neely, Victoria Snyder and Lanie Vuong finished 16th in a time of 4:04.32.
