For South Whidbey High School sophomore Ashley Lynch, 13 isn’t an unlucky number.

Lynch placed 13th in the 200-yard freestyle in the Washington 2A state swim and dive meet Saturday, Nov. 10, at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Lynch came into the meet with the 17th-best time, 2:11.19, but posted a 2:09.88 in the preliminaries Friday, good for 13th.

She repeated the 13th place in the finals when she swam 2:09.97 Saturday.

Briann Hoffman of North Kitsap won the event in 1:56.64.

Lynch’s preliminary time is a personal record by two seconds. She lowered her PR by nearly two seconds in the district meet preliminaries last week, then took off two more seconds in the district final.

Lynch reached her pre-season goal of qualifying for state.

“That has been a big dream of mine since I watched my sister (Ally) swim at state two years ago,” Lynch said.

“Going into state, I wanted to get a personal best and walk out knowing I tried my absolute best,” she said.

“My performance at state was exactly what I wanted.”

“I’m super excited to see what next year brings,” she added.

South Whidbey does not have an official swim team, so Lynch and three teammates, Katie Zundel, Sarah Zundel and Anna Bennett, practiced and competed with Kamiak High School during the regular season.

South Whidbey is a 1A school, but Washington combines all schools 2A and smaller in one state meet.

Lynch’s time was the best in the event by a 1A athlete.