Kansas high school boys swimming state: Wichita-area swimmers bring home championships

Collegiate senior Adam Sandid put the finishing touches on one of the most illustrious careers in Kansas high school swimming history with a four-gold performance in his final state meet at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center this past Saturday.

Sandid successfully defended his Class 5-1A title in the 200-yard freestyle and won the 100-yard butterfly race for the first time, then swam a leg on Collegiate’s winning 200-yard freestyle relay and 200-yard medley relay teams.

On top of the nine state championship swims, Sandid also leaves as the state meet record-holder in the 200 free and 200 free relay, both of which he set last year. He is committed to continue his swimming career at Johns Hopkins.

“Adam owns basically all of our school records at Collegiate and his name will definitely go down in history as one that people will look up to for a long, long time,” said Collegiate coach Kamren Hall, who was named the 5-1A Coach of the Year.

While Sandid wasn’t able to replicate his record pace from last year in the 200 free, he still won with the fastest time (1 minute, 41.33 seconds) in Kansas this season. He also won two state titles in the 100 free and one in the 50 free.

Sandid added a new stroke to his title collection this year, as he was dominant from start to finish to claim the 100 fly title in a time of 50.42 seconds, nearly a full two seconds faster than the field.

He also teamed up again with juniors Derek Yang and Paul Mines, who were on the record-setting 200 free relay team last year, as well as sophomore Harry Ling to repeat as state champions in the event with a time of 1:27.43, nearly three full seconds faster than second place. Sandid then paired with Yang, Mines and freshman Luke Cremin to win the 200 medley relay in 1:36.71.

“Adam just has incredible dedication and he works hard with his training, both in and out of the pool,” Hall said. “He combines his natural talent with his competitiveness and his technique and endurance. That’s what makes him such a well-deserved victor. Not only that, but he has such a positive attitude around his teammates and he’s always pushing everyone else to do their best. He cares about the team’s success, not just his individual success.”

Sandid helped Collegiate finish third place in the 5-1A team standings with 216 points, while the Spartans also collected major points from Yang, who finished runner-up in both of his individual races in the 50 free and 100 free. Sophomore Harry Ling (500 free, sixth) and sophomore Nathan Lynch (100 breast, third) also were individual medalists.

Andover is the new swimming capital of Kansas, as Trojans win first team title

It’s safe to say that the city of Andover is a hotbed for swimming in Kansas right now.

After the Andover Central boys team won the last two Class 5-1A team state championships, the Andover boys took their turn on top of the podium with their first title performance in program history.

Andover accomplished it without a single individual champion, as the Trojans used their depth to rack up 311 team points behind eight different medalists and all three relays placing, edging out Andover Central’s 262-point output.

“At the end of the meet, the boys were saying that Andover is the swimming capital of Kansas right now,” Andover coach Kelsie Biebighauser said. “There was just utter joy and shock and maybe not disbelief, but you feel like you’re outside yourself. You can’t believe all of this is happening. The boys have been dreaming about it all season and then they went out and did it.”

It was a fitting ending to the state meet for Andover’s 400-yard freestyle relay team to not only capture the team’s lone race victory of the day, but also do so in record-breaking fashion.

Junior Eli Conard, senior Jonathan Gott, junior Ian Diefenbach and senior Sam Ellis teamed up to cut more than four seconds off their season-best time to win the race in 3:10.89, which edged out the previous record set by Independent (3:11.60) by less than a second. It was the fastest race in state meet history, as Andover Central’s team also broke the previous record with a runner-up time of 3:11.27.

“It honestly took a second to realize what was going on,” Biebighauser said. “We were staring at the screen to see who finished first, then saw the time and I started screaming, ‘That’s the state record!’ They all had to drop one second from their leg and every single one of them did it. They just had the mentality going into the race and they wanted it and they went out and got it. It was the perfect end to the meet.”

Jonathan Gott, a senior, led the way with a runner-up finish in the 500 free and a fourth-place finish in the 200 free, while his brother, David Gott, a junior, was right behind him with a runner-up finish in the 100 back and a fifth-place finish in the 200 IM.

Other individual double-medalists included Ellis (fourth in 100 free, fourth in 100 back) and Conard (fourth in 50 free, sixth in 100 fly), while Diefenbach (seventh in 200 free), sophomore Braden Larson (fourth in diving), junior Luke Neugent (fourth in 500 free) and freshman Eric Witt (eighth in 100 breast) all won medals as well.

David Gott, Witt, Conard and Ellis teamed up to take third in the 200 medley relay, while David Gott, Ethan Ellis, Witt and Diefenbach took fifth in the 200 free relay.

“The boys were ready to go this whole year,” Biebighauser said. “They’ve been talking about this the whole year and they were ready to show this weekend that we’ve got quality and quantity. It was just a great finish for everyone and it was so awesome to see everyone cheering for everyone else.”

Meanwhile, Andover Central ended with one individual champion and a total of six individual medalists on top of all three relays finishing top-3.

Senior Noah Krueger delivered his crowning achievement, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in a season-best time of 58.63 seconds to claim his first individual gold. He also finished third in the 200 IM, while sophomore Brian Nguyen also delivered a strong state meet with a second-place finish in the 200 IM and third-place finish in the 100 backstroke.

The other medalists for the Jaguars were junior Jackson Lee (second in 100 butterfly), sophomore Ayden Fooshee (fifth in 500 free), senior Beau Blankenship (seventh in 50 free) and freshman Tyler Voros (seventh in 100 free).

Nguyen, Krueger, Lee and Blankenship teamed up to finish second in the 200 medley relay, while the squad of Nguyen, Voros, Krueger and Lee broke the state meet record time in the 400 free relay with their season-best time of 3:11.27 to finish second place. Fooshee, senior Giuseppe Buffolino, Voros and Blankenship also took third in the 200 free relay.

Kapaun’s Frank Alberti wins two more gold medals

Kapaun junior Frank Alberti strengthened his claim as the premier backstroke artist in the state with his third straight state championship in the event, claiming the 5-1A title once again with a time of 51.41 seconds. His prelim time of 51.14 finished as the fastest time in Kansas this season.

But perhaps even more impressive was that Alberti did something he’s never done before: double up his gold medals.

Alberti entered with the third-fastest time in the 200 individual medley field, but pulled off an exhilarating, come-from-behind victory in a career-best time of 1:53.95 that also ended as the fastest time in the state. He trailed entering the final turn, but won the sprint in the final 25 meters to just out-touch Andover Central’s Brian Nguyen (1:54.33).

“My favorite thing about his race was that he came out really aggressive with that butterfly,” Kapaun coach Alec Lebeda said. “I’m a huge fan of his underwaters, which helps start the race off real nice. His backstroke is obviously his strongest stroke and his underwaters on the breaststroke were really good. That left an all-out race between him and Brian, which was awesome to see.”

While Alberti, a 4-time state champion and 11-time state medalist, led the way, the Crusaders had another double medalist in freshman Henry Studnicka, who placed in the 200 free (sixth) and 100 back (fifth). Kapaun’s other individual medalists were senior Sam Kanpp (100 fly, seventh), senior Brandon Kinman (100 back, eighth) and senior Radek Ruzicka (100 breast, sixth).

Kapaun placed third in the 400 free relay with Studnicka, freshman Robby Richardson, Kinman and Alberti, while the 200 free relay team of Ruzicka, Richardson, Knapp and Studnicka took seventh.

Northwest’s Brock Wallace doubles up as state champion

Brock Wallace has long been considered one of the better swimmers in Wichita. He proved this season that his name belongs near the top of the list.

The Northwest junior completed his ascendancy to become a double state champion, winning the Class 6A titles in the 200 IM and 100 backstroke.

“He has been on this upward trajectory for a long time, but I’m not sure he was quite the person everyone in the city was looking out for,” Northwest coach Courtney Fast said. “But he put in the work and this was his goal and he achieved it.”

Unlike many of the other top swimmers in Wichita, Wallace does not have the luxury of training with other state-medalist teammates. He’s had to do modified training the entire season, strapping on a resistance trainer to make the sets more difficult for him in the water.

“He’s not a big, flashy swimmer; he just puts in the work and has had to earn everything he’s gotten,” Fast said. “He just comes in and does his work every single day.”

Wallace was on the podium for both of his races his first two years at the state meet, but his junior season was something special.

He delivered his best time of the season to win the 200 IM in 1:54.95, nearly a full second better than the field. The backstroke race was closer than expected, as Blue Valley West’s Grayson Moyer was ahead by four tenths of a second halfway through, but Wallace pulled out the win down the stretch in 51.51 seconds, less than three tenths of a second quicker than Moyer, who finished in 51.77.

“He got out of the water and I told him that he almost gave all of us heart attacks,” Fast said. “He said, ‘I almost gave myself a heart attack.’ He’s a back-half swimmer, so we knew he just had to hang in there for the first 50 and then he would finish strong. He closed that gap right where he needed to.”

The City League had two other 6A state medalists in East senior Jackson Kleeman (100 butterfly, second) and Northwest sophomore Giani Benoit (diving, sixth). The other area medalist was Derby sophomore Jared Hays (200 free, fourth), while Hays also was the anchor on Derby’s 200 free relay team, which placed seventh and also included junior Gavin Morton, senior Aiden Thornburg and junior Trent Black.

The other Wichita-area 5-1A state medalists were Bishop Carroll senior Tyler Rump (100 breast, fourth) and sophomore Zach Stephen (diving, fifth), Buhler senior Ben Helus (diving, second) and El Dorado junior Jay Tipton (100 back, seventh), while Carroll’s 200 medley relay team of Rump, senior Vincent Poggi, sophomore Caleb Seiler and junior Zach Holmes placed eighth.