BK back-to-back: Bishop Kenny boys repeat at Class 2A high school swimming championship
Maybe there's room for more than one state swimming dynasty in Jacksonville.
Bishop Kenny repeated as state Class 2A boys champion at Saturday night's Florida High School Athletic Association meet at Sailfish Splash Aquatic Athletic Center in Stuart, highlighting an all-around excellent night in the pool for Northeast Florida swimmers.
Stanton also brought home three individual titles, with Mehdi Elaoufir closing his high school career with a pair of victories and Rylie Darkatsh entering the area's history books with her third straight girls diving victory.
Bishop Kenny's boys used exceptional depth, a 50-yard freestyle win for Barrie Snyder and a clean sweep of the relays to record 295.5 points for first place, well clear of Rockledge at 188 points and Pompano Beach at 122. The championship is the school's third in boys swimming, following past triumphs in 2004 and 2021.
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Bishop Kenny's girls team also fared well, placing third overall behind Tampa Academy of the Holy Names and Gulliver Prep. Rachel Howard led the Crusaders' girls with a fourth place in the 100 butterfly, while their relay teams came in second, third and sixth.
The boys victories started for Bishop Kenny with the 200 medley relay, where Carter Wright, Evan Larson, Zach Jones and Snyder combined to swim 1:32.94. They also topped the podium in the 200 free relay, with Wright and Snyder joining Owen Kerkezi and Graham Evans for first place in 1:26.58, and the 400 free relay, with Larson, Evans, Kerkezi and Jones touching in 3:10.01.
Kenny's points kept flowing all night: Highlights included Snyder's 20.96 to win the 50 free, a 2-3 finish for Jones and Larson in the 200 individual medley, Jones' fourth place in the 100 butterfly and a 2-4 for Wright and Larson in the 100 breast.
They weren't the only local victors.
Stanton's Elaoufir, bound for Florida State, dominated the boys 200 IM in 1:49.98 and won the 100 free in 45.15, helping the Blue Devils to a fourth-place team finish and becoming the first double boys swimming champion from a Gateway Conference school since Paxon's Tyler Watson in 2018.
Then, in girls diving, Darkatsh recorded 430.85 points to take first ahead of Beachside's Olivia Riegler. Also the champion in 2020 and 2021, Darkatsh joins Nease's Kirsty Shepler (2006-08) as back-to-back-to-back girls diving champions from Northeast Florida.
Beachside, in its first state meet, picked up second-place finishes from Peter Manelis in the boys 100 fly and breaststroke, while several other local swimmers achieved high finishes: West Nassau's Brody Singley came in second in the boys 500 free and third in the 200 free, Paxon's Cameron Watson was runner-up in the boys 200 free and fourth in the 100 free and Fernandina Beach sophomore Neriah Giedrys took fourth in the girls 100 breast.
In all, Northeast Florida schools captured five of the eight FHSAA swim titles this year. Bolles swept the Class 1A boys and girls championships for the 32nd consecutive year, Ponte Vedra repeated as Class 3A girls champion and Nease finished atop the Class 3A boys standings.
Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: High school swimming 2022: Bishop Kenny repeats as state boys champion
