Inglemoor High’s powerhouse girls swim and dive program put on another strong performance at Saturday’s Sea-King District 2 swim meet at Juanita High.

The girls started out with a fourth-place finish in the first event, the 200-yard medley relay, with the team of sophomore Claire Thompson, freshman Leann Yee, senior Katie Chapman and junior Liane Lovitt combining for a state-qualifying time of one minute, 54.10 seconds.

Yee had two individual runner-up finishes, the first of which was in a tightly contested 50-yard freestyle event where only .74 of a second separated first and last place in the championship heat.

Yee, who also swims for Northshore-based WAVE Aquatics, clocked 24.62 for the event, only trailing Eastlake standout Kathryn Kinnear, who won with 24.26.

A favorite for the sprint events, Yee went on to win a tough battle for second during the 100-yard freestyle, when she broke ahead of Lake Washington’s Margo Clinton (54.50) and Roosevelt’s Anne Kenney (54.87) down the home stretch to take the silver with a time of 54.10.

“Just go really fast and try to do really well,” said Yee when asked what her race plan was. “I have a lot of confidence (going into the state meet). I know that I’ve dropped my times, so I’m excited.”

Also swimming well for the Vikings was Thompson, who finished third in the 100-yard backstroke event with a state-qualifying time of 1:00.61.

Bothell’s Mariah Williamson was the only Northshore swimmer to make the finals of the grueling 500-yard freestyle, and her time of 5:14.64 was good for a fifth-place finish.

Inglemoor diving standout Stacey Luke won the 1-meter championship with a final score of 411.05, edging out Anna Steiner of Lake Washington (393.05) and Kailey Creek of Bothell (381.85).

The Cougar relay team of freshman Tiffany Dang, senior Kelsey Ellis, senior Katie Draper and Williamson won the B heat of the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:43.86, a state-qualifying time and the fifth-best time overall for that event.

The Vikings, who have won the 4A state swimming championships four years in a row, finished third at the district meet with a cumulative score of 151. Garfield won the meet by winning the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, allowing the Bulldogs to sneak by Ballard, 169-168. Bothell ended up ninth with 91 overall points.

Viking head swim coach Monica Mayes was pleased with her team’s effort overall and feels the Viks are ready to defend their state title this weekend at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way.

“We swam really well tonight, the girls were really inspired,” Mayes said. “Leann Yee and Claire Thompson both swam really well, and we got one of our freshman in, (Michelle) Olynyk.”

Olynyk won the B heat for the 100-yard butterfly with a state-qualifying time of 1:01.47. The cut for state in that event is 1:01.50.

“I think that the girls are feeling confident, and I’m excited about that,” said Mayes, the Vikings’ 13th-year coach. “They looked tired and now they don’t look so tired. They’re ready to go.”

“I think we’re going to do well at state,” added Yee. “We’ve got a good team.”