To say it was an eventful weekend for Redmond High School (RHS) senior Aly Davis would be quite an understatement.
Last Thursday, she signed her national letter of intent to swim for Texas Christian University, a NCAA Division I school in the Mountain West Conference.
The very next day, she was on her way to Federal Way and the King County Aquatics Center with her Mustang teammates, to compete in her first – and last – 4A state swim meet.
While the RHS team was able to sneak two relays into state via the wild card, neither the 200 medley relay or 400 free relay squads swam fast enough to earn a spot in the consolation finals on Saturday.
To head coach Julie Barashkoff’s delight, however, that didn’t stop the girls from cheering on Davis, who was gunning for a pair of individual titles in the 200 individual medley and the 100 butterfly.
“That’s exactly what I strive to bring to my team, the support,” Barashkoff said. “They wanted a bus, they willingly wanted to come all down together as a group, and they’ve been fantastic support for Aly.”
GOING FOR GOLD
Davis’ first finals swim was in the 200 individual medley, a race she placed third in during the preliminaries with a time of 2 minutes, 7.33 seconds.
In the finals, she remained in third place up until the final freestyle leg of the race, when Stadium senior Casey Penrose overtook her, forcing Davis to settle for a fourth-place medal.
In her other event, the 100 fly, heavy favorite and three-time defending champion Katie Kinnear of Skyline crushed the competition, racing an All-American automatic time of 53.46, and Davis ended up getting out-touched by a pack of swimmers at the wall, placing seventh in 57.96. 
Although the difference between third place and seventh in the 100 fly finals was only .69 of a second, Davis was understandably disheartened at the final results.
“I would have liked to do a little better, I’m a little disappointed,” she said. “But it was my first and last time at state … and coming in with basically zero experience, I can’t be disappointed in what I did. I have great coaches, great teammates, and I had a lot of fun.”
Barashkoff added that the experience that Davis got from simply being at the state meet and swimming in a team atmosphere under intense pressure will help her as she goes on to the next level.
“I think she’ll go into college and understand what it’s like to be part of a group, part of a team,” she noted. “Swimming as a whole instead of as an individual.”
SUPER SENIORS
The state meet is often an emotional moment for girls on a swim team, knowing that that year’s departing swimmers have ended their legacies, often for four years, with the program.
Although Davis is a first-year swimmer for RHS, Barashkoff had a strong core group of upperclassmen this year, including four-year varsity athlete and state relay participant Allison Binkerd, that she said was one of her best ever.
“This one is extremely special,” Barashkoff said of this year’s senior class, adding that leadership was what made them so memorable. “I could keep going for more weeks with this group of girls. They didn’t wear me out, get on my nerves at the end of the season, it’s just a really good group, and I will miss them terribly.”
It was no doubt that group benefited from having a swimmer of Davis’ caliber on the team, and the soon-to-be Horned Frog made sure to credit her teammates for their support during a fantastic swim season.
“I loved having these girls here and I’m so glad that they came (to the state meet), even though they weren’t swimming, to support me,” Davis beamed. “They’ve always been my rock this whole season … they have so much fun and they make me happy.”
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Davis on her decision to attend TCU next fall: “I went to Texas Christian the first week of September, and fell in love the second I got there. People said you get a ‘feeling’ when you find your school, and I thought they were exaggerating, but they were 100 percent right. I’m so happy to be a ‘Frog,’ and I can’t wait until next year.”
