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PHOTO BY ROCKY ROSS

MEDAL DETECTOR. Scarlet Cann of Stadium High School sprints to the finish in the 200-yard freestyle at the WIAA State Swimming Championships. (Right) Cann enjoys her moment on the victory stand.

Yes She Cann: Stadium’s swimmer captures victory that is a school first

By Rick Walter

Everyone she meets gets around eventually to asking Scarlet Cann why she does it. They want to know why she spends four to five hours a day – every day – swimming.

“Why do you do it?” they ask. “You must be crazy.”

Cann always has the same answer, “Because it is so much fun.”

That usually silences them. But if they persist she tells them about the passion and love that she and other competitive swimmers like her have for the sport.

And now she can tell them about the 2008 WIAA 4A State Championship.

In an electrifying race in the 200-yard freestyle, Cann became the first girl swimmer from Stadium High School ever to win a first-place medal at state.

Cann, who finished third in the race last year, won the race in a time of 1:51.76 over Garfield’s sophomore Fiona Majeau, who finished with a time of 1:51.81.

The closeness of the race, just five-one hundredths of a second, surprised Cann, mostly because Majeau’s previous best time was a full two seconds higher.

But from her position in lane two, she was fully aware of how close Majeau, in lane four, was keeping the race.

“Normally I don’t try to start exceptionally fast in the 200. I am saving my energy for the last lap. But I decided I wanted to just get off fast. I was nearly dying on the last lap. I knew it was close, but I didn’t realize how close. I told myself to just push hard; I just sprinted as hard as I could.”

Cann did indeed start fast. Hitting the water like a startled trout, her first lap was 25.57. Her second lap was 27.75. Her third lap was 28.32.

She had built a slight lead over Majeau (25.94, 28.14, 29.26). But Majeau had saved something for the last 50 yards, and Cann’s winning touch came just a fingertip ahead of her opponent, on a final lap of 29.62 to Majeau’s 28.47.

“I was really proud of the way I finished,” she says.

“Going out as fast as I did, I really had to hold onto my will to the finish.”

Throughout her entire career at Stadium High School, Cann has never lost in a dual meet.

Another thing Cann can tell inquirers about is the drive she has for achievement, and the satisfaction that comes from it. Cann, whose weekly training regimen also includes landwork (running, pushups, pull-ups), accomplished the Iron Women feat she had challenged herself with at the start of the season – qualifying for state in all eight individual races. She also qualified in three relays. Swimmers are limited to two individual races in the state meet. Cann finished fifth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.61.

Now becoming the first girl swimmer from her school to take a first place in state can be added to the accolades.

There is no rest, however.

She is still swimming every day from 3:15 to 6:30  p.m. for King Aquatic Club and is preparing to go to an international meet in Portland the second week in December.

“I just like to swim and swim and swim,” she says.

Another Tacoma-area team, Fife, had an outstanding state meet in the 2A division.

Fife swimmers won three first-place individual medals and a first place in the 200 medley in 2A competition.

Nakayla Chan won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:53.39 and the 100 butterfly with a personal best time and meet record of 1:06.78. Alicia Cleveland won the 200 IM with a time of 2:14, and the 200 medley relay team of Chan, Cleveland, Megan Harkness and Jessica Trinidad won with a meet record of 1:56.01.

Cleveland credited working really hard on her technique on turns with a “faster time than I thought I would swim.”

Chan said the highlight of the meet for her was the 200 relay.

“We really wanted that race, and we were up to the challenge,” she said a couple days after the race. “My voice is still hoarse from screaming during that one.”

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