Two Homer naiads made it into the Alaska Swimming and Diving Championship's final round Saturday at Bartlett High pool, earning enough points to qualify the team for a tie for 14th place in the giant meet that drew swimmers from across the state.

Service High School girls took first place, as did Dimond High School boys.

Sophomore Marie Schmidt placed sixth in the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 5:29.19, after earning a spot in the final Friday with a time of 5:32.33. Each time topped her best of the year until then.

"That was her best time ever," Head Coach Anna Borland-Ivy said. "She had a really good swim."

Junior Donna McNulty finished the 500 free in eighth place with a time of 5:40.92. That was slower than her Friday qualifying time of 5:33.13, which Borland-Ivy said had been her best time of the year and only a fraction of a second off her best time for the 500 free ever.

McNulty also swam the 100-yard breaststroke event, finishing sixth with a 1:11.72. She had qualified Friday with her best time of the year at 1:10.82.

"She had a really good meet, though it just didn't all happen at finals," Borland-Ivy said.

Only one swimmer qualified for the state meet among Homer Mariner boys. Richard Ginter swam in the 200-yard individual medley, but did not finish among the top eight, and so did not compete in the finals Saturday.

He had qualified for the meet ranked eighth in the state after posting a Region III time of 2:09.92 a week earlier.

"I feel like we had a good season. Most of our kids did not swim year-round. Some skied. For a three-month program, we did darn well," Borland-Ivy said, adding that many of her swimmers are planning on swimming through the winter for Kachemak Swim Club to better their chances in the high school season next year.

Homer also sent two divers (1-meter) to the meet: sophomore Lindsey Seneff for the girls and sophomore Garret Hall for the boys.

Neither was able to reach the finals, but each improved over last year's championship spots.

Seneff finished 15th place in the state, moving up five spots over her 20th place finish in 2008. Meanwhile, Hall, who was 16th last year, finished the 2009 season at 13th in the state.

"We had a good season," Coach Harmon Hall said. "I started with six divers, and wound up sending three to regions, and two to state."

That's pretty good for a small town with only six divers, he said, adding that he is expecting a larger team next year with the arrival of some of this year's crop of middle-schoolers.

Hall said he is planning a diving clinic for sometime in June.