Piper Enge Clocks 100 Breast State Record as Mercer Island Wins Washington 3A State Title

Washington High School 3A State Championships (Girls)

• November 9 – 11, 2023 
• Federal Way, Washington 
• King County Aquatics Center 
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results
• 2022 Champion: Mercer Island

At the Washington girls’ 3A state meet was held this past weekend at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington, Mercer Island successfully defended their state title from last year, winning by over 100 points. They were led by a historic performance from US Junior National Team member Piper Enge, a senior swimming in her last meet before heading to Texas in the fall.

Last year, Mercer Island set a record for the most points ever set at the Washington state meet. They scored 385 points in their effort last year, while they scored 314 this year. While Mercer Island boasted superstars such as Enge (40 points) and Gracyn Kehoe (37 points), their depth would’ve still won them the meet regardless. 

Bellevue repeated as state runner-up, and Lakeside School moved up from 4th last year to 3rd this time around. 

• Washington HS Swimming has three divisions: 2A, 3A, and 4A. 2A are the smallest schools, and 4A are the largest.

Overall Scores

1. Mercer Island – 314 points
2. Bellevue – 207 points
3. Lakeside School – 205.5 points
4. Garfield – 155 points
5. Seattle Prep – 130.5 points

Swimming Recap 

Highlighting the meet was Mercer Island’s Piper Enge. Enge, a Junior National Team Member who is committed to swim at the University of Texas next fall, took two individual state titles in record fashion. She opened her meet with a 1:58.23 200 IM season best, before clocking a 58.95 100 breaststroke personal best later in the competition. This marks the first time she has cracked the :59 second barrier in the event, as she eclipsed her previous personal best from March of this year. In doing so, she became the first Washington high school girl to break the 1:00 barrier in the 100 breaststroke.

Mercer Island put their sprint freestyle depth on display in both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. 

They faced tough competition in the 400 free relay, as they were trailing by two seconds going into the final exchange. The foursome of Gracyn Kehoe (50.85), Meg Dahlin (53.53), Isabel Peng (52.54), and Piper Enge (49.01) posted a 3:25.93 for the win. Enge anchored in 49.01 to overtake Lakeside over the final 25 yards. 

Meg Dahlin (24.52), Gracyn Kehoe (23.53), Isabel Peng (24.38), and Hope Enge (24.39) combined for a 1:36.82 win in the 200 free relay, winning by just over 2 seconds. 

Another key contributor to Mercer Island’s title defense was sophomore Gracyn Kehoe. She opened up her meet with a 1:49.91 win in the 200 freestyle. This marks the third time Kehoe has broken the 1:50 barrier in the event, as she just fell short of her personal best from March. Kehoe went on to take 2nd place in the 100 freestyle, posting a 50.79 personal best in the process. Mary Clarke of Snohomish was the winner of that 100 freestyle race, touching out Kehoe by 0.01 to win in 50.78. 

Junior Ella Jablonski of Lakeside was another two event winner. She kicked off her meet with a win in the 100 butterfly, posting a 53.29 to win by over a second. Her 53.29 effort comes in shy of her 52.05 personal best from November of 2022. She followed up her 100 fly victory with a sizable win in the 100 backstroke (54.66), just off her best of 54.00. 

Claudia Yovanovich, who is headed to swim at UCLA next fall, took the 50 freestyle state title for Ballard. She posted a 23.40 for the win, checking in just short of her 23.37 best time from April. 

Junior Sammy Segerson took the win in the 500 freestyle by nearly 8 seconds, clocking 4:56.17 in the process. This was a significant improvement for Segerson, who placed 4th last year (5:06.60). 

Bellevue opened up the meet strong with a win in the 200 medley relay. Coming into the meet ranked 6th, they posted a 1:44.91 to take the win over Mercer Island (1:45.86). Bellevue’s relay consisted of Lily Siripipat (27.20), Cecilia Howard (28.36), Sophie Segerson (24.89), and Sammy Segerson (24.46). 

Diving Recap

The 1m diving competition was held two days prior to the state swimming finals. Ava Lear of Auburn Riverside won the state title with a score of 360.10. Makenna Post of Peninsula took 2nd with a score of 345.75, while Finley Springer placed 3rd with a 277.70 score. 

Lear, a senior, made the leap from 5th last year all the way up to 1st this year. She improved upon her score by nearly 50 points. 

Post, who placed 4th a year ago, improved her score by nearly 20 points to move up to 2nd place.