This past weekend, Feb. 16-18, the MIHS Boys Swim and Dive team placed first in the 3A Boys Swim and Dive Championships for the third consecutive year. This is the team’s 12th State win since 1998.
The team had a strong meet, beating second-place Lakeside, by 42.5 points. The team also won 2 events, the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. In addition, they placed in the top three in six other events, and had two MIHS divers compete, Shane Kornblum and Rhett Hounsell, who placed 11th and 20th respectively.
“There were many personal records broken as we had 273 lifetime best swims done over the season,” Coach Craig Nigsor said. “We set two new team records with Matt Williamson getting the 500 [freestyle] record, and the team of Evan Liu, Matthew Shield, Matt Williamson and Colin Carmichael setting the 400 freestyle relay record.”
In addition to all the newly set records, Matthew Williamson, Evan Liu, Emmet Ralston, Matthew Shield, Coy Hounsell, and Colin Carmichael achieved All-American times in their races, either in individual events or relays.
“The biggest highlight was definitely winning State. Winning Districts and KingCo was great too, but State was big for us,” senior captain Emmet Ralston said. “[This] senior class … has never lost a State championship.”
Even though the senior class has only won three titles in their four-year swimming career, the State championship in 2021 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The MIHS Boys Swim and Dive had a record-setting State meet, but also a great season in general. They placed first at the Kentridge Invitational as well as at 3A KingCo and Districts, with many races making school history.
“There are a lot of amazing things this team has done this year and I could list it all out, but truly I just had fun watching everyone swim fast and have fun,” Ralston said.
