Summer Work Fuels High Hopes for PHS Girls

Success is one thing, but I think it goes hand in hand with the team environment.”

For Peninsula girls swim and dive coach Hunter Hobbs, success isn’t measured by podium finishes at the end of the season. It’s measured by how many swimmers show up before the season even starts.

Hobbs took over Peninsula’s swim program before the 2025-26 season as just a 20-year-old, after serving as an assistant under Athena Petterson and swimming for the Seahawks from 2019 to 2023. Since then, he’s worked to build a culture where enjoying the sport is just as important as competing in it — a formula that helped propel the Seahawks girls to a ninth-place finish at last year’s Class 3A state championship and has the Peninsula team believing they can climb even higher this fall.

More Seahawks girls spent this summer in the pool than ever before, whether through club swimming or offseason workouts, Hobbs said.

“We have so much community aquatic involvement now. When I came into the program, we had a few athletes that did it, but now even seeing that out of our junior varsity swimmers is really exciting.”

The extra time in the water has changed the program even before the first practice of the 2026-27 season.

“It definitely eases our burden as coaches,” Hobbs said. “We can start from further along with most of our swimmers.”

Hobbs estimates that at least five incoming freshmen were swimming throughout the summer, while many returning athletes have trained year-round. But he doesn’t credit the trend solely to Peninsula’s recent success.

“Success is one thing, but I think it goes hand in hand with the team environment,” he said. “High school swim is supposed to be a fun experience at the end of the day.”

Last season, several athletes from cut sports joined the girls swim teams because it offered a no-cut opportunity. Hobbs said many stayed because they immediately felt accepted.

“They were telling us how excited they were because they thought all the girls on the team were so nice and welcoming,” he said. “Trying to swim for the first time is a scary thing, especially when you’re a teenager, and you’ve never gotten in the pool a ton.”

That atmosphere returns largely intact, and so does the talent that made Peninsula a top-10 state team.

Senior sprinter Lee Gjertson leads a Seahawks squad that brings back nearly every key contributor from last year’s state team. Gjertson won district titles in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle before placing ninth in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 50 at the state championships.

Hobbs expects Gjertson to build on an already impressive résumé.

“She seems poised. She seems focused,” he said. “I think she’s much stronger and at a higher level of fitness than she was going into last year.”

Sophomore Boe Ballard returns after finishing 12th in the 100 freestyle as a freshman, while juniors Reese Miller and Sophia Evers are back after qualifying individually for state and helping Peninsula’s relay teams place seventh in the 400 freestyle relay and ninth in the 200 freestyle relay.

He also expects freshman Leila Roddy to make an immediate impact after watching her compete with Harbor Aquatics this summer.

“I can tell she’s going to be a force for us this year,” Hobbs said.

One of the Seahawks’ biggest surprises this fall may come on the diving board. Peninsula could field between 10 and 12 divers this season, which Hobbs believes may be one of the largest diving teams in the South Sound Conference.

“I’ve never heard of a dive team that big, at least in our area,” he said. “I’m excited to walk into our dual meets and postseason meets with not only a strong swim team, but a strong dive program too.”

The first dual of the season for the Seahawks is Sept. 8 at 3:30 p.m. when they host Capital. The 2026 Girls State Swimming & Diving Championships take place Nov. 13 and 14 at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

Hobbs isn’t interested in predicting where Peninsula will finish in November; what he does know is that the program is moving in the right direction.

“Our goal is to do better than last year,” Hobbs said. “I know the girls are just as motivated as I am to make that happen.”