Auburn senior Matt Nordlie will celebrate his 18th birthday in a unique way this weekend.

Nordlie, a member of the Trojans swimming team and the school’s lone state competitor, will be competing in the 50-yard freestyle at the 4A swimming and diving championships at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way today and Saturday.

“I’ll be 18 on the day of state,” Nordlie said. “Happy Birthday!”

Nordlie qualified for state at the West Central District 4A meet last weekend, posting a 22.73-second finish in his specialty at the Rogers High School Pool in Puyallup.

For Nordlie, the state appearance is the culmination of a prep career that began four years ago.

“I’ve been competing all of high school,” he said. “I started swimming two years before high school but I never competed.”

Initially, Nordlie got into the pool just to stay in shape.

Once he dived in with the Auburn varsity team, however, he found he was a natural sprinter.

“My first meet was in my freshman year,” he said. “Some friends got me into it, but I was just doing it for exercise. I was getting chubby. I didn’t know I could sprint, but I got 25 seconds in the 50 free as a freshman, which is pretty good.”

Although Nordlie has found success swimming, he said it is not his favorite sport. Previously, he competed at soccer and speed skating – with the Auburn Skate Connection.

During the fall season he competes with the Auburn water polo team and during spring and summer he can be found playing lacrosse with the Lake Tapps Titans.

“I can only stay with one sport for so long,” Nordlie said. “I do water polo before swimming. This is my fourth year doing it in high school.

“I wanted to try hard all (swimming) season, but I am glad for it to be over,” he said.

Nordlie also found success with the water polo team this season, helping the Trojans take home some hardware at the state tournament last fall.

“It’s the first time in all four years we’ve done well since I’ve been here,” he said. “We finished sixth (at the state tourney).”

Nordlie added that although he enjoys water polo and swimming, his real passion is for lacrosse.

“It starts up right after state and I can’t wait,” he said. “We’re going to Canada right after state for an elite tournament. It’s going to be people that played this year and some from last year.”

First, however, it’s off to the state swim meet.

Last season, Nordlie competed at state as part of the Auburn relay team. This year, he’ll be the only Auburn swimmer at the meet. And although he will be the only Trojan in the pool, he won’t be alone.

“I think a few of my guys are going to come with me to state,” Nordlie said. “And Ryan (Atwood) from Riverside will be there with me.”

Atwood, a senior from Auburn Riverside, also qualified for state in the 100-yard breaststroke. He advanced to the state meet with a time of 1:03.89 at the district meet.