Why Wichita swimming community can’t help but root for Maize champion Zach Rife
The numbers said Zach Rife missed history by a blink.
When his time in the 200-yard freestyle flashed on the jumbotron inside Shawnee Mission Aquatic Center on Saturday, it read 1 minute, 38.61 seconds — three hundredths of a second shy of the Class 6A state-meet record. For a swimmer looking to build a legacy and etch his name into the record book, it was the kind of near-miss that can make one feel sick.
It did, in fact, wreck his coach.
“To come that close, that’s hard to swallow,” Maize coach Tedd Gibson said. “Shoot, it wrecked me. I wanted to throw up. So I knew my emotions and I figured he was probably feeling the same way, but this kid gets out of the water with a big smile on his face and he just said he gave it his best shot and that’s all he could do. He’s just a different kind of kid. Special.”
That mentality, feeling gratitude over regret, is at the center of why Rife isn’t only respected in the Wichita high school swimming world. He’s adored.
Because if you only look at the medals, you’ll miss the full story. Yes, the Maize senior authored his second straight double-gold weekend at the Kansas state swim and dive championship, sweeping the 200 free and 100 free for the second straight year and being named Athlete of the Meet. Yes, he capped a decorated career with top-three finishes in both events all four years, including back-to-back state titles in 2025 and 2026.
But the reason why other teams’ swimmers idolize him and rival coaches root for him is the way he carries the excellence.
After his final race Saturday, a swimmer from Derby, one of Maize’s 6A rivals, walked up and asked for Rife’s personalized name cap, the kind not every program even has. Rife only had two from this season. He didn’t hesitate. He handed it over to a competitor.
“Everybody can see what he does in the water,” Gibson said. “But then when he gets out, he’ll talk to kids who are inexperienced or aren’t as good. He doesn’t hold himself over anyone. That’s why guys who should be our rivals, they all love Zach. You saw a lot of other teams and coaches cheering for him because he’s such a good kid.”
Rife, who is signed to Nebraska Omaha, put on a show in his signature event, the 200 free. In the final, he went out a touch slower than he did in prelims, but made up for it with a dominant middle stretch of the race. Coming off the final turn at the 175-meter mark, Gibson could tell the final burst wasn’t there. Not because the effort dipped, but because the tank had been completely emptied.
Rife still brought it home in 1:38.61, a lifetime best that won by more than five seconds and secured his second straight 6A title in the event. Afterward, his smile told the story: the pursuit of the record mattered, but the result didn’t define him.
He followed it with another emphatic win in the 100 free, touching in a personal-best 45.70 to claim the title by more than seven-tenths of a second.
The hardware didn’t stop there. Rife also anchored two Maize relays that reached the podium, teaming with senior Kellen Doty and freshmen Parker and Kellan Kidwell, who are twins, to place third in the 400 free relay and fifth in the 200 medley relay. Doty finished fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.88) and seventh in the 100 butterfly (53.99), while Kellan Kidwell also took seventh in the 200 individual medley (2:01.45).
Other Wichita-area swimmers delivered their own medals and moments in 6A: Campus junior Cash Pegg-Westerhaus took fifth in the 50 free (21.70) and eighth in the 100 free (48.73); Campus senior Kenton Holmes placed fifth in diving; Derby junior Tatum Johnson finished eighth in diving; and Wichita Heights sophomore Apostolos Kiosses took eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.63).
Yet the loudest appreciation seemed to follow Rife, not just for what he won, but for how he works. Gibson calls his work ethic a thing of legend around the Maize program. He refuses to lose, whether it be in practice or in races. He’s also the first to help inexperienced swimmers with correct technique or pointers, whether they’re from Maize or somewhere else.
That’s the through line Wichita swimmers recognize. Rife’s talent is obvious the second he dives in. And his character is obvious the second he climbs out.
“There are talented kids all over, but they’re not always good kids,” Gibson said. “Zach is not only a great swimmer, he is just a really good human being. We sure are going to miss him around here.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2026 at 6:19 AM.
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