He almost quit the sport. Then this Andover swimmer found his storybook ending
The ice bag was taped to his leg like armor.
Eric Witt stood on deck at the Shawnee Mission Aquatic Center with the kind of stillness you only see when an athlete is preparing for something bigger than a stopwatch. The Class 5-1A state swim and dive championship was coming to a close and Witt’s world had narrowed to one problem.
His groin still didn’t feel right.
Earlier in the week, the Andover senior felt a pop in practice and knew immediately it was bad. A pulled groin isn’t exactly the kind of injury you can tough out in swimming. Not in the breaststroke, anyway, where the kick requires a violent whip with power generated in the thigh.
In the prelims, he tried to swim anyway. Witt said it felt like his groin exploded, comparing the pain to like a knife stabbing him in the inner thigh every time he kicked.
Forget chasing the state title, which he was the favorite to win all season. He didn’t know if he’d even be able to swim this past Saturday.
That’s what made the ice bag so symbolic. It wasn’t just an attempt to numb the pain, but it was the quiet stubbornness of a senior who had already decided this was the end. Witt wasn’t planning to swim in college. He wasn’t chasing a scholarship. He wasn’t trying to extend a career.
This was a matter of willpower in the final competitive open race of his life.
And after everything that had brought him back to Andover’s pool this season — a year away, a crossroads and a decision to walk away from a sport he once assumed would define his future — Witt wasn’t going to allow an injury to rob him of the one thing he still wanted: a storybook finish.
“I wanted to show myself that I could do it,” Witt said.
Why Eric Witt almost gave up swimming for Andover
Competitive swimming isn’t something most kids casually drift away from.
It’s too consuming. Too repetitive. Too demanding.
So when Witt hit a national-qualifying time last summer — 2 minutes, 22.53 seconds in the long-course 200-meter breaststroke at Wichita Swim Club, in his home pool — it should have opened doors.
It did. College opportunities came with it. Recruiting interest. The kind of validation swimmers chase for years. But for Witt, it clarified something he didn’t expect: He didn’t want that to be his next chapter.
Witt grew up thinking there was no question he would swim in college. It was the assumed path. But when he started surveying his future, he realized he had larger goals outside the pool. He didn’t doubt he could be successful as a swimmer, but he had other dreams now. Bigger ones.
He wants to be a doctor. He plans to enroll at the University of Kansas. He wants to pour the time and energy that swimming demanded into school, volunteering, building a resume and preparing for medical school.
That decision is what made his senior year so uncertain.
He had skipped his junior year of high school swimming to pursue his national goal, which he accomplished. But once he decided he wasn’t swimming in college, Witt wasn’t initially interested in returning to his high school team for one more season. He thought he might walk away from swimming altogether.
That’s where his mother, Lucy, stepped in. She didn’t guilt-trip her son. She gently nudged, the way parents do when they sense their kid might miss out on an opportunity that they won’t get back.
She convinced him to return to Andover’s team for his senior season. And after winning an individual gold, a relay gold and helping the Trojans win their fourth consecutive Class 5-1A team state championship, Witt felt a deep sense of gratitude this past weekend.
“I’m so happy that she asked me to do this and I made this decision,” he said. “I’ve made so many great memories with my team that I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise.”
How Eric Witt overcame injury to become state champion
After the injury last Monday, Witt didn’t practice in the pool for the rest of the week. While his competitors were preparing in the pool, his preparation consisted of two things: rest and ice.
He was so focused on getting his leg right for Saturday’s finals that he skipped Friday’s team dinner to stay in his hotel room and keep icing. While his teammates laughed and ate together, Witt sat alone with a bag of ice, trying to convince his body to cooperate one more time — so he could help his team.
As he climbed up for the start of the 100 breaststroke, Witt tried to quite his nerves. Not from a fear of losing, but a fear of what pain was coming.
“It’s funny to look back on now, but to be honest, I didn’t really care about what place I got,” Witt said. “Even if it was eighth place, I wasn’t worried about it. I just wanted to help my team. I was more nervous about the pain.”
After entering with the fastest time in Kansas this season, Witt checked in fourth in the prelims. But that wasn’t a true measure of his speed. It was the time of a swimmer trying to protect an injury, dragging himself through the race just to qualify.
Andover coach Kelsie Biebighauser felt the uncertainty when it was Witt’s time to race.
“There’s so much nerves because you know their goals and hopes and dreams are riding on that one moment,” Biebighauser said. “We weren’t sure what was going to happen.”
The horn sounded. Witt dove in. And on his first hard kick, he felt something that changed his outlook immediately: relief.
He still wasn’t 100%, but the pain was nowhere near what it had been the day before. His leg was numb enough from the ice and sheer adrenaline that he could attack the race like he normally would. He surged. He snapped through the water with purpose and when he touched the wall, the scoreboard told the story he’d been chasing all year: 58.06 seconds, first place.
“I was so surprised,” Witt said. “It was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. And to have my whole family there to watch it, that’s never happened before. I’m just so excited to make myself proud, my team proud and my family proud.”
For the first time in Witt’s high school career, his entire family made it to watch him compete together. Lucy watched from the stands, fighting back tears — first in fear, because she knew what her son was about to endure, and then in joy.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew what the gold medal really meant: This is why he needed to come back. After this past weekend, Witt agreed.
“Everything that led up to that moment, I don’t think I would change anything,” Witt said. “It allowed me to show my perseverance and my grit and how if I really set my mind toward something, I can achieve it.”
Andover boys swimming captures fourth straight Kansas state title
Witt’s win was the emotional heart of Andover’s latest title, but it also fit neatly inside the bigger picture of what the Trojans have become: a dynasty with relentless depth and a team-first mentality.
Andover won its fourth straight Class 5-1A state championship in dominant fashion, racking up 379.5 points to easily outpace Kapaun Mt. Carmel (225.5) in second place. The Trojans produced three gold medals, 15 individual medalists and all three relays scored top-eight points.
The Trojans’ depth was so strong this season that the team made an internal goal before the season: not just to win another state title, but to qualify more swimmers than ever before. They did with 18 different swimmers competing at the state meet, a new program record, which allowed Andover to score the second-most points at the 5-1A state meet in its 16-year history, narrowly missing the record of 381 set by Blue Valley in 2011.
“They encourage each other and push each other to want to do better,” Biebighauser said. “We had a bunch of kids right on the bubble that just got over. And then we had a few who were within a second of qualifying and didn’t quite make it, but they’re already talking about how they want to swim all summer and train harder. It’s awesome because they just want to keep setting the bar higher and higher.”
Witt wasn’t the only state champion, as junior Clark Young successfully defended his title in the 200 individual medley in a time of 1:53.74, edging Witt (1:54.26) in second place. Young later took second in the 500 free (4:43.31), while sophomore Blake Royse placed second in the 200 free (1:44.12) and fourth in the 500 free (4:44.90).
Freshman Henry Christensen added a big splash to the lineup, taking second in the 50 free (21.65) and third in the 100 free (47.89). Senior Baul Lee placed fifth in the 200 IM (2:03.50), while senior Jakob Pease took seventh in the 500 free (5:17.40). Sophomore Connor Borchers placed eighth in the 100 butterfly (54.98) and fourth in the 200 free (1:51.51).
On the boards, Andover stacked points in diving as well: junior Jace Lessard finished fourth (377.9), senior Henry Lasater took fifth (372.55) and junior Logan Sailsbury placed eighth (325.45).
Senior Evan Gauldin, Young, Witt and Christensen placed second in the 200 medley relay (1:35.99), while Gauldin, Borchers, Royse and sophomore Mitchell McCracken placed sixth in the 200 free relay (1:32.85). And in the 400 free relay, Royse, Young, Witt and Christensen teamed up to win gold in 3:13.79, nearly five seconds clear of the field.
Even the swimmers who didn’t bring home medals mattered in the final math. Other state qualifiers for Andover included junior Carter Anderson, junior Lane Vincent, sophomore Alex Rosen, sophomore Corbin Williams, freshman Easton Rusch and freshman Ye-Sup Shin.
Wichita-area 5-1A state swimming medalists
Andale: Junior Gage Cooper continued his diving dominance by winning his second straight Class 5-1A state championship in the 1-meter with a finals score of 474.55, holding off Bishop Miege’s Justin Pullen (445) in a tight battle at the top.
Andover Central: Senior Tyler Voros delivered a pair of podium finishes in the sprints, taking third in the 50 freestyle (21.78) and then tying for third in the 100 freestyle (47.89).
Bishop Carroll: The relay quartet of junior Connor Hatcher, sophomore Camden Rump, freshman Max Scrafford and sophomore Xavier Woolheater earned a state medal by finishing seventh in the 400 freestyle relay (3:34.21).
Buhler: Senior Hudson DeWeese came away with a state medal in the 200 individual medley, placing seventh in 2:05.99.
Collegiate: The Spartans stacked medals across relays and individual events, led by a runner-up finish from senior Luke Cremin in the 100 butterfly (51.74). Cremin also placed fifth in the 50 freestyle (22.00), while junior Karim Sandid was second in the 100 freestyle (47.38) and sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.11). Sophomore Jayden Mai added a third-place medal in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.11). In the relays, Cremin, Mai, Sandid and junior Charlie Ling teamed up for third in both the 200 medley relay (1:37.95) and the 200 freestyle relay (1:28.99).
Eisenhower: Junior Dylan Patterson went double gold for the second straight year, showcasing expanded range by winning the 200 freestyle (1:40.77) by more than three seconds and then capturing the 500 freestyle title in 4:37.83, pulling away from Andover’s Clark Young (4:43.31). He won the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle at last year’s state meet.
El Dorado: Freshman Sam Christy stole the spotlight with a state championship in the 100 backstroke (51.73), edging Louisburg’s Colin Brown (53.52), and also added a third-place medal in the 100 butterfly (51.96). Senior Brody Todd chipped in with a fifth-place finish in the 200 freestyle (1:52.25).
Hesston: Sophomore Tanner Copeland earned a pair of medals with a fourth-place finish in the 100 backstroke (55.00) and a sixth-place showing in the 100 butterfly (53.40).
Independent: The Panthers produced multiple medalists, led by freshman Elijah Kitchen taking sixth in the 200 individual medley (2:05.56) and eighth in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.79). Senior Owen Scott added a sixth-place medal in the 50 freestyle (22.09).
Kapaun Mt. Carmel: The Crusaders’ biggest medals came in relays, highlighted by a third-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay as senior Rob Richardson, senior Gabe Kappelmann, junior Allen Turner and senior Henry Studnicka touched in 3:18.93. The Crusaders also took fourth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:29.15) behind Richardson, senior A.J. McLain, Turner and Studnicka, plus fifth in the 200 medley relay (1:42.35) with sophomore Kolbe Mace, senior Will McCarthy, Kappelmann and McLain. Individually, Studnicka doubled up with third in the 200 IM (1:57.60) and third in the 100 backstroke (53.67), while Turner placed sixth in the 100 freestyle (48.70). Other medalists included Mace (eighth, 200 IM in 2:06.34), McCarthy (seventh, 100 breaststroke in 1:02.74), freshman Hank Kochenderfer (eighth, 500 freestyle in 5:20.53), Kappelmann (seventh, 100 butterfly in 54.46) and Richardson (eighth, 100 freestyle in 49.65).
Maize South: The Mavericks landed multiple medals on the relay side, led by a fourth-place finish in the 400 freestyle relay (3:28.08) from junior Jaydon Hartman, junior Diego Carias, junior Elliott Mansfield and senior Blaine McVay. The Mavericks also placed sixth in the 200 medley relay (1:42.56) behind McVay, junior Donovan Sheern, Hartman and Mansfield. Individually, sophomore Brody Herrman took seventh in diving (327.5), while McVay added a sixth-place medal in the 100 backstroke (56.45).
Newton: Junior Tanner Scott climbed onto the podium with a third-place finish in diving, scoring 381.55.
Wellington: Freshman Owen Camblin earned a state medal with a seventh-place finish in the 100 backstroke (56.52).
Winfield: The Vikings’ relays led the way, with junior Brant Myers, senior Corden Cuington, senior Parker Mah and junior Asher Merritt placing fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:39.73) and then taking fifth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:30.78). Myers also medaled individually with sixth in the 200 freestyle (1:52.89) and fifth in the 100 backstroke (55.36), while Cuington placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.79) and seventh in the 50 freestyle (22.19). Mah added a fourth-place medal in the 100 butterfly (52.70).
This story was originally published February 23, 2026 at 6:02 AM.
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