Recap of Wichita-area success at Kansas high school boys state swimming and diving
It didn’t take long for Maize swimming coach Tedd Gibson, a fan of superheroes, to come up with a nickname for junior Zach Rife in the water.
“I started calling him ‘Hulk’ because he just goes out there and smashes things,” Gibson said. “He’s not going to overthink it. He’s not going to try to get cute with it. He’s just going to go out there and smash it in those freestyles.”
In true Hulk fashion, Rife saved his best for last to smash the competition and come away with a pair of Class 6A gold medals from the Kansas high school boys swimming and diving state championship meet this past Saturday at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center.
After finishing third place in both of his races for his first two years at the state meet, Rife broke through as a junior to win the 100-yard freestyle in a season-best time of 46.10 seconds and the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1 minute, 40.60 seconds. His time in the 100 free finished as the fastest time in Kansas this season.
“It was a really great feeling to finally get to the top of the podium,” Rife said. “I just worked a lot on my pace in practice, so I had a really good sense of how fast I was going each 50 and knowing what I needed to do to get the time that I wanted.”
Motivated by his past close calls at the state meet, Rife didn’t want to leave anything to chance this season. His work ethic, already strong, took another jump this season and coaches noticed Rife was even more aggressive in the water.
In the 200 free race, Rife recorded the fastest split in all four 50-yard segments of the race.
“So many times you get kids who get caught up in the little intricacies of the race and maybe get lost in the crowd,” Gibson said. “He doesn’t let there be a crowd. If you’re on him, you better have another gear because he’s going to get to his. He doesn’t wait for anybody to move on him. He makes his move first and just gets it done.”
After Rife posted a career-best time of 1:40.02 in Friday’s preliminaries, Wichita Swim Club coach Mitchell Wagner, who trains Rife in club, was blown away by Rife’s progression. He thought a 1:39 race could be in the works for the finals, and even though Rife just missed that mark, the coach knows it’s coming soon.
“He’s been really consistent pace-wise and he’s been training it really well,” Wagner said. “He’s cut like three seconds off it and I think that difference has just been his mentality in training. When he’s in the pool, he’s putting in the work. We knew back in December when he went 1:40 that he was going to be one of the top in the state. It was like, ‘Oh wow, this guy is going to do something big.’ And he did.”
Rife wasn’t the only Maize swimmer to have a big weekend, as senior Kooper Johnson came away with a pair of silver medals in the 200 IM (1:54.01) and 500 free (4:43.51). The duo also picked up two more medals on relays, as they teamed up with junior Kellen Doty and senior Landon Brungardt to take eighth (1:41.81) in the 200 medley relay and with Doty and senior Dustyn Schmidt to take sixth (1:30.75) in the 200 free relay.
Andover wins third straight title through team effort
After losing such a talented senior class last season, Andover boys swimming coach Kelsie Biebighauser knew the Trojans would have to rely on a teamwide effort to repeat as state champions.
She changed the practice schedule for the swimmers so they would work alongside the divers, which created even more team continuity. And when she was setting her lineup for the state meet, everyone was open to doing whatever was best for the team.
It all paid off this past weekend when Andover won its third consecutive Class 5-1A team championship with 318 points, as the 108-point victory margin was actually Andover’s largest during its 3-peat run. And the Trojans did it with just one gold medal in the 12 events, relying on their depth (nine different individual medalists and all three relays with a medal) to win again.
“The whole mantra this year in practice has been each person doing what they needed to do because we all knew that we were going to have to pull together as a team to make it happen this year,” Biebighauser said. “There was a lot of nervous, anxious feelings going into state this year because they didn’t know what was going to happen, opposed to last year. So it added some excitement and motivation and they performed so well.”
No one embodied the team-first attitude more than sophomore Clark Young, a distance swimmer in club who volunteered to swim the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke at state to give Andover the best shot at points.
All Young did was win the 200 IM title in a season-best time of 1:56.49, then finish runner-up in the breaststroke with another season-low time of 59.41.
“Clark is just an all-around spectacular swimmer and he did whatever I asked of him and never complained,” Biebighauser said. “He has the most positive attitude that you could imagine and he is just a profound person who can power through, no matter how tired he is feeling. And it comes from that distance background.”
Andover had three other double medalists in freshman Blake Royse, who took second in 500 free (4:53.15) and fourth in 200 free (1:47.63), sophomore Brett Ziser, who was third in 100 butterfly (54.00) and seventh in 50 free (22.43), and junior Baul Lee, who was fifth in 200 IM (2:04.04) and seventh in 100 breaststroke (1:03.19).
Meanwhile, Andover’s diving trio of junior Henry Lasater (fifth, 360.15), sophomore Jace Lessard (sixth, 344.35) and senior Braden Larson (seventh, 341.25) helped the team with major points in the event, while juniors Evan Gauldin (100 backstroke, seventh, 58.41) and Jakob Pease (500 free, eighth, 5:07.83) were both individual medalists in the pool.
Andover also collected medals in all three relays, as Gauldin, Young, Ziser and senior Luke Farley teamed up to take third in the 200 medley relay (1:39.87), while Royse, Lee, Young and Ziser were third in the 400 free relay (3:21.33) and Gauldin, Lee, Farley and freshman Mitchell McCracken combined to take seventh in the 200 free relay (1:31.68).
Collegiate senior leads team to fourth straight relay title
Collegiate senior Nathan Lynch cemented his place as one of the best swimmers in program history, winning his second straight title in the 100 breaststroke and helping the Spartans win their fourth straight title in the 200 medley relay at the 5-1A state meet.
Lynch finished with a season-best time of 58.15 to win his second breaststroke title, which was the fastest time in Kansas this season. He also finished with a silver medal in the 200 IM with a time of 2:00.22.
He was joined on the gold-winning 200 medley relay team (1:38.82) by sophomore Karim Sandid, junior Luke Cremin and senior Harry Ling. The same four swimmers also took second in the 400 free relay in a time of 3:18.07.
Sandid and Ling were also double individual medalists, as Sandid took third in the breaststroke (1:00.35) and fourth in the 100 free (48.28) and Ling was fourth in the 500 free (5:01.44) and seventh in the 200 free (1:49.86).
Wichita-area divers sweep 6A, 5-1A state titles
Wichita Northwest senior Giani Benoit won his second straight Class 6A championship in diving. After winning the title last year with a score of 455.25, the City League champion and school record-holder upped his winning total to 475.90 this season.
Meanwhile, Andale sophomore Gage Cooper notched his first win at the state meet to claim the 5-1A title in diving. He finished runner-up at last season’s state meet, but Cooper ascended to the top of the podium this past weekend with a winning score of 427.45.
Other Wichita-area state medalists in boys swimming
City League champions Kapaun Mt. Carmel added its fourth second-place trophy from a state meet with five individual medalists and all three relays on the podium. Junior Henry Studnicka led the way with a silver medal in the 200 free (1:45.97) and 100 backstroke (55.23), while sophomore Allen Turner (fourth in 200 IM, 2:03.65; sixth in 500 free, 5:05.92) and junior Rob Richardson (sixth in 200 IM, 2:04.80; sixth in 100 backstroke, 57.99) also doubled up in medals.
Other individual medalists included junior Gabe Kappelmann (sixth in 100 butterfly, 55.40) and freshman Kolbe Mace (eighth in 100 backstroke, 59.03). Richardson, Turner and Studnicka teamed up with junior A.J. McLain to take third in the 200 free relay (1:30.36), while Turner, Kappelmann, Richardson and Studnicka combined for fifth in the 400 free relay (3:24.83) and Mace, Kappelmann, and McLain paired with junior William McCarthy to take seventh in 200 medley relay (1:44.57).
Winfield was led by senior Brandon Kendall, who took second in the 100 butterfly (53.82). Meanwhile, senior Kale Jewers and junior Parker Mah were both double medalists, as Jewers was seventh in the 200 IM (2:06.41) and 500 free (5:07.62), while Mah took fourth in the 100 butterfly (54.09) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (57.61). The other individual medalist was sophomore Brant Myers, who was eighth in the 100 butterfly (56.63). The foursome of Jewers, Kendall, Mah and junior Corden Cuington teamed up to take fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:42.48) and fifth in the 200 free relay (1:31.41).
All three relays for Buhler picked up a medal, as the combination of junior Hudson DeWeese, senior Jonah Gardner, senior Marshall Birney and senior Payton Frees took fifth in the 200 medley relay (1:43.90), sixth in the 200 free relay (1:31.51) and sixth in the 400 free relay (3:26.57). Gardner (100 breaststroke, sixth, 1:03.13) and DeWeese (200 IM, eighth, 2:09.58) were also individual medalists.
Andover Central junior Tyler Voros picked up a pair of individual medals, taking second in the 100 free (48.05) and sixth in the 50 free (22.33). Senior Ayden Fooshee added an eighth-place medal in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.29), while the duo teamed up with senior Bryce Haislett and senior Xavier Van-Hiel to take sixth in the 200 medley relay (1:44.03).
Other Wichita-area medalists in the 5A meet included Newton senior Abram Wall (100 free, sixth, 49.08) and Bishop Carroll senior Zach Stephen (diving, eighth, 325.95). The Maize South 200 medley relay team of junior Blaine McVay, sophomore Donovan Sheern, sophomore Jaydon Hartman and senior Kaiden Dalton took eighth in 1:46.17.
Other Wichita-area medalists from the 6A meet included Derby senior Ayden McFarren (100 breaststroke, third, 1:00.60), Campus junior Kenton Holmes (diving, fourth, 413.40) and Heights senior Thatcher Schmitz (100 backstroke, sixth, 54.64). The Campus 200 free relay team of senior Joe Holland, sophomore Dax Blount, senior Seth Sharon and sophomore Cash Pegg-Westerhaus also took fifth.
This story was originally published February 24, 2025 at 12:21 PM.
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