Kansas high school state swimming: Kapaun 4-time champion values team over individual

When asked to reflect on a storied high school swimming career, Kapaun Mt. Carmel senior Frank Alberti didn’t think about his individual accomplishments.

His legacy had been cemented this past weekend at the KSHSAA boys swimming state championship meet in Topeka, as Alberti won his fourth straight Class 5-1A title in the 100-yard backstroke and his second straight title in the 200-yard individual medley.

But the six individual gold medals wasn’t the favorite part of his career, which will continue in college at Illinois-Chicago.

“I feel like when people ask me about my high school career, I’m going to say, ‘Man, it was so much fun,’” Alberti said. “It’s great to win as an individual, but there’s nothing like celebrating with the team. It’s so much more meaningful to me.”

Just as much as the records he set and the races he won, Alberti cherishes the team dinners before a meet and the weekly poker games with teammates.

Team bonding has been important to Alberti ever since he realized its value in the absence of it during his freshman year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“As I’ve gotten older and I’ve seen older kids leave for college, I realized how big of a role they played in my life,” Alberti said. “They made it feel like home and made me want to come to practice every day. So as I became older, I wanted to step into that leadership role the best I could and try to make the younger kids on our team now feel the same way.”

Teammates gravitate toward Alberti, in part because of his vibrant attitude and natural leadership abilities, but also because of his talent. His words and encouragement carry a different kind of weight because they come from one of the best swimmers in Kansas.

That has helped foster a positive culture within a rising program, which won its third straight City League championship this season and claimed a third-place trophy at the state meet.

“Frank does such a good job of making sure all of the boys feel appreciated and loved no matter what,” Kapaun coach Alec Lebeda said. “He leads by example, but he’s also a goofy kid and a pleasure to be around and he did a really good job of making sure everyone was included and felt invited. There were no cliques on the team. Frank was the ultimate competitor and ultimate leader for us.”

Aside from organizing and often hosting team-bonding events, Alberti also made it a point this season to “celebrate the little victories.”

Alberti was effusive in his praise for teammates throughout the season, whether it was swimming a state-cut time, winning a race or shaving a second off a personal-best time. He always found a positive for everyone.

“I just wanted everyone to really enjoy the meets and enjoy spending time with each other,” Alberti said. “I really leaned into finding the little wins and celebrating them. I think encouraging them throughout the season really helped when it came time for city and state and it made it that much more enjoyable to celebrate with the team. It’s so fun going out to dinner after the meet and everyone talking about their races and how they did.”

In his final high school meet, Alberti made sure to put on a show. He easily defended his medley title with a season-best time of 1 minutes, 55.56 seconds, then completed his 4-for-4 quest in the backstroke with the fastest time in the state this season, 50.45, to win by more than four seconds.

A pair of sophomores, Henry Studnicka and Rob Richardson, joined him on the podium, as Studnicka placed second in the backstroke and third in the 200 free and Richardson took seventh in the 200 free and eighth in the backstroke.

Alberti also helped Kapaun claim a silver medal in two relays, combining with Studnicka, Richardson and Nathan Thengvall to place second in the 200 medley and 400 free relays. Alex McLain, Allen Turner, Colton Hill and Jack Judkins took eighth in the 200 free relay.

“It was a really special last meet,” Albeit said. “Winning (the backstroke) four years in a row, that’s like every high schooler’s dream. All of the hard work and effort that has been put into it really paid off and made this year pretty special.”

Northwest’s Brock Wallace doubles up one more time as state champion

After becoming a first-time state champion last year, Northwest senior Brock Wallace ended his career by successfully defending his Class 6A titles in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke.

Wallace, who is signed to swim at Cleveland State next year, was dominant in both of his races. He posted the best time in Kansas this season with his winning time of 1:51.51 in the medley, then edged the field by more than a full second in the backstroke with a season-best time of 50.54.

But this year, he wasn’t the only state champion from Northwest. He was joined at the top of the podium by junior Giani Benoit, who prevailed in the diving finals to earn a gold medal.

Andover repeats as Class 5-1A boys swimming champions

Behind the strength of 10 individual medalists and two relay wins, Andover successfully repeated as team champions in the Class 5-1A state meet.

Senior Eli Conard was the lone individual gold medalist, winning the 100 free and finishing runner-up in the 50 free. He also anchored both of Andover’s winning relay teams to finish with a three-gold day and another team title.

The Trojans accumulated 374 team points, which was nearly 100 more than second-place Collegiate’s 278 score.

Other medalists for Andover included senior David Gott (third in 100 butterfly, third in 100 back), senior Ian Diefenbach (second in 100 free, sixth in 100 back), sophomore Eric Witt (third in 200 IM, third in 100 breast), freshman Clark Young (second in 500 free, fifth in 100 breast), junior Braden Larson (third in diving), freshman Brett Ziser (fifth in 100 free, sixth in 50 free), senior Luke Neugent (sixth in 500 free, seventh in 200 IM), sophomore Baul Lee (eighth in 200 IM) and sophomore Henry Lasater (eighth in diving).

Conard was joined by Gott, Ziser and Diefenbach to edge Collegiate in a competitive 200 free relay, while it was Conard, Ziser, Witt and Diefenbach who won the 400 free relay title. Gott, Young, Neugent and Witt also teamed up for a fourth-place finish in the 200 medley relay.

Other 5-1A Wichita-area state medalists

Andover Central was led by two runner-up finishes by senior Jackson Lee in the 200 free and 100 butterfly, while other medalists included Tyler Voros (third in 100 free, seventh in 50 free), Ethan Finney (sixth in 200 IM) and Ayden Fooshee (seventh in 100 free). Finney, Fooshee, Lee and Voros also teamed up to take third in the 200 medley relay and fourth in the 400 free relay. Maize South sophomore Riggs Patterson took fourth in the 100 breaststroke, then anchored the 400 free relay with Lawson McKibbin, Jaydon Hartman and Gabriel Griffith to place eighth. In diving, Andale freshman Gage Cooper placed second and Bishop Carroll junior Zach Stephen took seventh. Hutchinson placed seventh in the 400 free relay with the team of Zion Hayes, Trent McClelland, Lakin Franz and Logan Most. Winfield had three medalists in Parker Mah (fifth in butterfly), Brandon Kendall (sixth in butterfly) and Corden Cuington (eighth in 50 free). Mah, Kale Jewers, Kendall and Cuington also teamed up for an eighth-place finish in the 200 medley relay.

Other 6A Wichita-area state medalists

Maize was led by a pair of double-medalists in sophomore Zachary Rife (third in 200 free, third in 100 free) and junior Kooper Johnson (third in 200 IM, sixth in 100 breast). Johnson and Rife teamed up with Aidan Turner and Kellen Doty to place sixth in the 200 free relay and with Owen Johnson and Doty to take fifth in the 400 free relay. Derby had a dual-medalist in junior Jared Hays (fourth in 200 free, eighth in 500 free). The City League also featured an array of medalists in South senior Miquel Boira-Diaz (fourth in 100 butterfly), Southeast senior Jeremy Johnson (sixth in diving), East senior Kaleb Barker (sixth in 500 free) and Heights junior Thatcher Schmitz (seventh in 100 back).