Redmond’s Blackmon shines at 4A state swim meet

Mustang medals in the 100 fly and 50 freestyle.

By Andy Nystrom • February 17, 2019 12:30 pm

Redmond High’s Aidan Blackmon dove into the pool four times on Saturday and emerged with a pair of medals.

At the 4A state swim and dive meet at the King County Aquatics Center in Federal Way, the Mustang took fourth in the 100 butterfly (50.76), fifth in the 50 freestyle (21.68) and competed in two relays.

Last year as a freshman, he also placed fourth in the 100 fly and was glad to be back on the podium.

“It feels pretty good, because most of the people up there are juniors and seniors. You’re the young one, so like, you prove something to other people that you can hang with the big guys,” Blackmon said with a smile.

“Fly is just really fun and it’s the only stroke in the 100 where I don’t get tired. I can just all-out sprint all of it,” he added.

Following the fly — his third event of the evening — Blackmon noted that his lower body was tired, but his upper body was fine as he thought ahead to tackling another relay later.

He figures that swimming is about 60-70 percent mental and he doesn’t let the big crowd and tough competition get in his way of achieving success. He relaxes his mind when he prepares for races.

In other Redmond action, the 200 medley relay (Peter Fitch, Thane Suen, Blackmon and Jason Fu) took 11th in 1:39.80; the 400 freestyle relay (Blackmon, Fu, Suen and Fitch) took 15th in 3:20.89; and Fitch placed 16th in the 200 individual medley in 2:02.11.