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It’s easy to envision eighth grader Kaia Casey atop the podium at the state meet in the very near future.

She almost ascended to it last weekend at her first state swim and dive meet, but she finished in second place in the 500 yard freestyle. 

Her seed time was three seconds behind Visitation’s Katie Miller, but when it came time to dip their toes in the water, Casey nearly chased the Blazer down. Miller won the title with a time of 5:02.64, but Casey was less than one second behind with a mark of 5:03.23.

What makes Casey’s seemingly inevitable climb up the podium obvious is the fact that Miller is a senior. Emma Rudowsky, who finished in third, was over three seconds behind Casey and is a junior, and Lola Schottler of Orono came in fourth in 5:11.66, but is also a junior. The only competitor in the finals close to Casey’s age is Becker’s Grace Mork, a freshman, who came in fifth, but was 12 seconds behind Casey in 5:15.24.

Casey also just missed the podium in the 200 freestyle. She swam a 1:57.72 in the prelims, and that was the ninth best result, which meant she didn’t make the championship finals, which only features the top eight.

But, Casey dominated the consolation finals, winning the heat with a time of 1:56.44. That time would’ve placed her in sixth place in the championship final.

The two event debut was impressive for Casey, and she has a high bar set for her freshman year already.

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