Our boys swimming team showed up and showed off their skills in an incredible way at last weekend’s 5A-1A State Swim Championships! The state competition in Topeka is known for stacking larger teams against smaller teams and letting the swimmers battle it out in the water. The result? The best finish in school history as Collegiate racked up 278 team points to take the runner-up team trophy.
The team was led by senior Derek Yang, who was voted Swimmer of the Meet by Class 5-1A coaches for his double-gold performance in his individual races. A well-earned honor, Yang was the only swimmer in Kansas this season to crack 21 seconds in 50-yard freestyle, winning his first individual gold medal with a season-best time of 20.79 seconds. He also took the gold in the 100-yard butterfly.
Collegiate also grabbed points in the relay part of the competition. The team won its third straight state title in the 200 medley relay with Yang swimming a leg on each one. For this year’s title, he was joined by Karim Sandid, Nathan Lynch, and Paul Mines. They won with a season-best time of 1:37.10. The 200 free relay team, which included Luke Cremin, Paul Mines, Harry Ling, and Derek Yang, took the silver, while the squad of Cremin, Ling, Lynch and Sandid took fifth in the 400 free relay.
Yang wasn’t the only swimmer to leave with individual medals. We saw junior Nathan Lynch win his first ever individual title in the 100 yard breaststroke and take 4th in the 200 yard IM. Junior Harry Ling (fourth in 500 free, fifth in 200 free), sophomore Luke Cremin (fifth in 500 free, seventh in butterfly), senior Paul Mines (sixth in 200 free, eighth in 100 free) and freshman Karim Sandid (eighth in 500 free, eighth in breaststroke) also left with medals from the state meet.
After Derek Yang was announced Athlete of the Meet, he and Nathan Lynch were named to First-team All State. Luke Cremin, Harry Ling, and Paul Mines were named to the Second-Team All-State. The honors didn’t end with the swimmers. After seeing all that our swim team accomplished this year, it was no surprise when the Spartans’ coach, Kamren Hall, was awarded Coach of the Year.
When asked about the season's success, Coach Hall said,"Our team's achievements at this year's state championships speak louder than words ever could. We led the board with the most state titles, were the only team to place all our swimmers in A finals, and set a school record with a second-place finish in a field dominated by 5A schools. These achievements are a testament to the outstanding performance and spirit of our team."
Congratulations on an incredible year, Spartans!