Saturday was a banner day for area swimming, as both Interlake (2A) and Bellevue (3A) earned second place team finishes at the 2010 state swim meet at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Interlake’s Victor Hsiao set a Class 2A state meet record with a 54.02 in the 100 back – and tied with Burlington-Edison’s Ryley Pearson for the state title.

Perhaps the biggest finish of the day for the Saints came in the 400 free relay. Hsiao, Eldon Cummings, Yuji Nelson and Alex Rockwell finished second in 3:19.55 and with the second place finish, the Saints moved past Pullman to finish second overall in the day’s final event by just one point. Interlake ended with 74 team points to Pullmans 73. Sehome won the 2A title with 124 points.

Hsiao also placed in the 100 fly, Nelson earned a third place finish in the 50 free (22.67) and Alec Rockwell took third in the 100 breast (1:01.64) and fourth in the 100 free to wrap up individual placers for the Saints. Interlake also earned a second place finish in the 200 medley relay and finished sixth in the 200 free relay.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend belonged to Bellevue’s second place finish in 3A. Surprising because just a week ago, the Wolverines finished fourth at districts behind Mercer Island, Lakeside and Bainbridge.

The Wolverines swam “out of their mind” according to coach Kalen Carney; while no Bellevue swimmer took first in any event, the Wolverines piled up top-five finishes.

“I told them I thought they had a chance at getting second, but they’d have to swim great,” Carney said. “And they stepped up to the plate. All around, guys swam their best times of the year.”

The team of Conrad Preston, Hayden Goudy, Justin Dellinger and Andrew Barrett finished second in the 200 free relay and Paolo Stanchi (200 IM, 1:56.68) and Geoffrey Stokes (100 breast, 1:00.82) both finished third in their events.

Bellevue also took third in the 200 medley relay and Andrew Barrett (22.48) and Justin Dellinger (22.85) took fifth and eighth in the 50 free, respecitively.

Stanchi also took a fifth place finish in the 100 back and was part of the Bellevue 400 free relay that finished seventh.

“The seniors left it all in the pool,” Carney said. “They realized it was their last meet. They had all their energy going and they delivered huge.”

Mercer Island won its fifth straight Class 3A championship, amassing 396 team points to Bellevue’s 188.

“Honestly, it felt like we got first,” Carney said. “Everybody knows Mercer Island is so far ahead of the rest of the competition that the battle for second felt like the championship.”

Newport scored 44 points and finished 17th in Class 4A.