Andover Central boys swimming wins back-to-back Kansas high school team championships
It’s becoming a happy tradition for the Andover Central boys swim and dive team.
For the second straight year, the Jaguars emphatically won a Class 5-1A state championship by winning the final race of the day with its 400-yard freestyle relay team last Saturday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka.
Once again, Andover Central topped Kapaun Mt. Carmel, its chief rival for the team title, in the final race with the Jaguars’ combination of Brian Nguyen, P.J. Damico, Jackson Lee and Lucas Krueger putting the finishing touches on the program’s back-to-back state title run.
It was fitting that Krueger was the one to finish it off the Jaguars, as he delivered the best state meet of his career and won his first individual state title in the 500 free in a season-best time of 4:44.54, while also adding a fourth-place finish in the 200 free. His brother, Noah Krueger, was also a double medalist, taking third in the breaststroke and fifth in the 200 individual medley.
Andover Central wasn’t the biggest team, but it does have the deepest roster of top-notch weapons that were once again on display at the state meet. The Jaguars had all three of their relays finish in the top three and five swimmers came away with two individual medals.
Damico also added two medals (fourth in backstroke, fifth in butterfly), as did Nguyen (third in 200 IM, third in 500 free) and Lee (third in butterfly, fifth in 200 free). Ethan Finney was the other medalist, taking fifth in the 500 free.
Besides the title-winning 400 free relay team, Andover Central took runner-up in the 200 medley relay with Damico, Nguyen and the Krueger brothers and third in the 200 free relay with Noah Krueger, Finney, Lee and Beau Blankenship.
Wichita Collegiate’s Adam Sandid wins record-setting state title
After proving himself as one of the state’s best sprinters last season, Wichita Collegiate’s Adam Sandid showed off his range in his junior year.
Sandid added to his state title collection, which included the 50 free and 100 free titles from last season’s Class 5-1A state meet, by not only winning the 5-1A title in the 200 free this season, but shattering the state meet record by nearly a full second with his winning time of 1:39.92.
That wasn’t the only gold medal Sandid came away with, as he played a vital role in both of Collegiate’s title-winning relays on the day. He anchored the 200 free relay, which also included Derek Yang, Paul Mines and Joe Gadalla, which won in runaway fashion in 1:26.15, then swam the third leg on the 200 medley relay, which included Evan Yang, Gadalla and Derek yang, that won in a season-best time of 1:35.38.
For good measure, Sandid added a second-place finish in his other individual event, the 100 free, less than a second away from a four-gold day. His efforts helped the Spartans finish third place as a team.
Derek Yang was also a double medalist, taking third in the 50 free and fourth in the butterfly, as was Gadalla, who added a fourth-place finish in both the 50 free and breaststroke, while Eric Yang took eighth in the backstroke.
Alberti wins first state title to lead the way for Kapaun
After dethroning Wichita East for the City League title, Kapaun Mt. Carmel came less than 23 points away from the state title and finished runner-up in the team race. The Crusaders had all three of their relays place in the top-four, then had five individual swimmers come away as double medalists.
Sophomore Frank Alberti led the way, winning the backstroke state title in a season-best time of 51.50 and adding a runner-up finish in the 200 IM (1:56.26). He was joined on the podium by senior Austin Schmidt, who took third in the 200 free and fourth in the 100 free, senior Tommy Higgins, who took fourth in the 200 IM and fifth in the breaststroke, junior Brandon Kinman, who took fifth in the backstroke and sixth in the butterfly, and senior Jackson Burrus, who was third in the backstroke and eighth in the 200 IM. Cooper Burrus, another senior, took fourth in diving.
The 400 relay team of Kinman, Jackson Burrus, Alberti and Schmidt highlight the relays with their second-place finish, while Burrus, Higgins, Kinman and Alberti teamed up for a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay and Schmidt, Jack Judkins, Sam Knapp and Higgins teamed up for a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay.
Wichita North’s Lane Werth becomes first-time state champ
Wichita North senior Lane Werth completed his ascent to the top of the podium in the 500 free, capturing his much-anticipated gold at the 6A state meet with a season-best time of 4:44.71 in the event. Werth also placed third in the 200 free.
Derby senior Will McCabe also had an outstanding meet, taking runner-up in both of his individual races (1:54.25 in the 200 IM and 46.95 in the 100 free). McCabe also swam legs on Derby’s medal-winning 200 medley (seventh) and 400 free (eighth) relay teams, as he was joined by Brendan Swindle, Jared Hays and Jack Tayrien on both relays.
Wichita Northwest sophomore Brock Wallace was another standout performer from the City League, taking third in the 200 IM (1:56.17) and fourth in the backstroke (52.29). His teammate, freshman Giani Benoit, took fourth in diving, while fellow City League racers Javan Titus (second in the breaststroke) of Wichita Heights and Aidan Jones (seventh in the 50 free) of Wichita Southeast also took home medals.
Maize South’s Regan Richardson pulls off sprinting sweep
Maize South junior Regan Richardson earned the coveted sweep of the 5-1A sprints, winning in season-best times in the 50 free (21.17) and 100 free (45.65). Richardson also cemented his status as one of the most outstanding swimmers of the meet by anchoring two of Maize South’s relays, which came away with a second-place finish in the 200 free and fourth-place finish in the 400 free.
After finishing runner-up in the event last season, Independent’s Matthew Janssen would not be denied in his senior year and won the 200 IM title in a career-best 1:55.91. He also finished runner-up in his other individual event, the breaststroke, while teammate Daniel Jekov concluded his career with a pair of runner-up finishes in the backstroke (51.59) and the 200 free (1:44.10).
Andover finished fourth in the team race on the strength of all three of its relays scoring points, highlighted by the third-place finish from the 400 free relay team of Jonathan Gott, Luke Neugent, Ian Diefenbach and Sam Ellis. Gott also collected a pair of individual medals (fourth in the 500 free and seventh in the 200 free), while Ellis took eighth in the 100 free and Diefenbach placed eighth in the 200 free.
Bishop Carroll took seventh as a team, as three of its divers (Dalton Fisher, Jude Brewster and Jaxon Trower) took home medals and senior Quade Harris was a double medalist, finishing eighth in the 50 free and the butterfly.
Maize senior Luke Taylor was a double medalist, finishing runner-up in the 500 free (4:49.39) and sixth in the 200 free, while freshman teammate Kooper Johnson finished sixth in the 500 free race. Another area medalist from AV-CTL Division I was Newton senior Andrew Barron, who took sixth in the backstroke.
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