The BV West boys’ swim team presented a strong showing at the season-concluding state meet in Topeka this Friday and Saturday, finishing 7th out of 24 teams in the 6A class. Almost every swimmer dropped time in an individual event or swam a season-best relay split.

Two of their relays were seeded out of the top ten, but ended up finishing in the top ten in both. The 200 medley relay of backstroker Kevin Glenn, breastroker Chase Lane, butterflier Jason Garlett and freestyler Dawson Duran finished 7th with a time of 1:40.57. Soon after, Glenn, who is only a freshman, finished 4th in the 200 individual medley with a lifetime best time of 1:56.83. Sophomore Trevor Sinclair added a little bit of time in the 50 freestyle, but still finished 16th with a 22.98.

After the 15 minute break following the 50 freestyle, sophomore Chase Lane raced to a 56.41 in the 100 butterfly. Although he added half of a second, he had achieved his best time the day before. Sinclair then finished 14th in the 100 freestyle in a time of 49.94, breaking the 50 second barrier for the third time that meet.

The consolation final of the 500 freestyle featured freshman Sam Foster and sophomore Lucas Park. Both achieved best times in prelims and had earned their top 16 seeds. Sam Foster broke the 5 minute barrier for the first time, swimming a 4:59.45 and winning the heat. Park had dropped 5 seconds the day before, but added in finals, settling for a 16th place finish. The 200 freestyle relay of juniors Trevor Baier, Dylan Logsdon, and Dawson Duran, was anchored by Sinclair. They won the consolation final with a 1:32.26 improving on their 10th seed.

The 100 backstroke featured Glenn in a close race. He was behind in the first half of the race, but had a strong second 50, outsplitting the field. He finished 3rd, only 0.03 behind the second place finisher and 0.73 behind 1st. Soon after, Lane nearly broke one minute in the 100 breastroke with a 1:00.02. Lane dropped a whopping 3 seconds from his previous best time from the EKL (Eastern Kansas League) meet only two weeks ago. Lane finished 5th. During the awards, Lane flexed on the podium to celebrate his impressive finish.

“I really surprised myself on how well I performed to say the least,” Lane said. “I was able to drop three seconds due to working hard in practice and grinding out race pace sets during the break from EKL to state. I also visualized myself swimming all my events perfectly in my head before I ever swam them.”

To close out the meet, the 400 freestyle relay of Glenn, Park, Baier, and Sinclair finished 10th. The relay was highlighted with a 48.94 anchor split from Sinclair. Not only did he break the 50 second barrier for the first time, he dove under 49 seconds.

Glenn scored 31 individual points with his 3rd and 4th place finishes. As a freshman, it was his first year being able to represent BV West at such a high level.

“With the team getting 7th knowing that we will be better next year is very encouraging for me to swim again,” Glenn said. “It means a lot to represent West because you are representing your whole school and not just yourself.”

The team’s 7th place finish improves on their 8th place finish last year. On top of that, seven of the eleven swimmers who competed this weekend are underclassmen. All of the individual point scorers are also underclassmen. As a young team, the meet will serve as good experience for first-time state qualifiers and encouragement to improve on their finish again next year.