PREP BOYS SWIMMING: Concord wins fourth-straight sectional title

Feb. 19—DUNLAP — Concord continue its recent domination in boys swimming Saturday, capturing a fourth-straight sectional championship at their home pool.

The Minutemen scored 447 points, clearing second-place Wawasee by 128 points. Northridge, Goshen and Elkhart rounded out the top five of the team standings.

Along with the team title, Concord was able to automatically qualify for next week's state meet in six of the 11 swimming events. They started off the meet by winning the 200-yard medley relay, as the quartet of seniors Brayden Sollars and Austin Zimmerman and sophomores Reid Sollars and Cole Stevenson won in a time of 1:36.15.

Stevenson then advanced to state in the 200-yard individual medley. Even though he finished second in the race to Northridge sophomore Sawyer Lehman, Stevenson's time of 1:51.80 was good enough to reach the state standard in the event. Lehman's winning time was 1:51.73, making it the closest win of the day.

Concord advanced two individuals in the 100-yard breaststroke, with Stevenson's second place time of 56.16 seconds and Brayden Sollars' third place showing of 56.75 seconds making the state standard for the event. Stevenson then advanced to state in a fourth event when he teamed up with Reid Sollars, Brunner and freshman Ivan Blystiv to win the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:14.66.

Both Brunner and Blystiv picked up individual wins as well. Brunner won the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 4:39.38, while Blystiv reigned in the 100-yard butterfly (52.08 seconds).

Goshen's fourth place finish as a team was fueled by a strong day from Levi Moser. The junior won the 200-yard freestyle (1:42.27), advanced to state with a second-place showing in the 500-yard freestyle (4:42.02) and was part of a new school record time in the 200-yard freestyle relay, joining seniors Jeremy Stutzman and Maxim Yegorov and junior Skye Steury to win the race in a time of 1:27.71.

Because of the RedHawks' strong performance, head coach Laura Rupp was voted Sectional Coach of the Year by her peers.

Elkhart senior Lucas Byrd also had a strong day. The Indiana University commit qualified for state in two individual events: the 50-yard freestyle (1st place, 20.69 seconds) and 100-yard breaststroke (1st place, 55.76 seconds). He was then joined by sophomore Gabe Kazmierczak, junior Christian Khamkueang and senior Gavin Sommer on the 200-yard medley relay team that posted a state-advancing time of 1:36.31.

Kazmierczak also won the 100-yard backstroke event with a time of 51.56 seconds to advance to state in that race for the Lions.

NorthWood senior Joe Hahn nabbed two automatic qualifying times as well, finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle (21.03 seconds) and winning the 100-yard freestyle (46.96 seconds).

Despite finishing in second place as a team, Wawasee did not get any automatic qualifiers to the state meet. The Warriors did earn two at-large spots, however, once the final sectional results were collected Sunday morning.

This upcoming week is the final one for the boys swimming and diving season. It starts with the diving regionals this Tuesday at Mishawaka High School, where the top eight divers will advance to the state meet. Swimming prelims then begin Friday at 6 p.m. at the IU Natatorium, with the top 16 times advancing to Saturday's finals.

The diving prelims and semifinals will start at 9 a.m. Saturday. All swimming and diving finals then begin at 1 p.m.

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2023 BOYS SWIMMING SECTIONAL AT CONCORD — Full list of qualifiers for state meet, plus final team standings

Note: some swimmers qualified for state as at-large entrants, thus they were not listed as automatic qualifiers in the story above.

Divers advancing to diving regionals Tuesday at Mishawaka: Nick Hardy, Elkhart, 419.15 points; Nathan Gaby, Goshen, 352.25; Alan Arriaga Perez, Concord, 326.80; Kael Bestul, Goshen, 325.20.

200-yard medley relay: Concord (Reid Sollars, Brayden Sollars, Cole Stevenson and Austin Zimmerman), 1:36.15; Elkhart (Gabe Kazmierczak, Lucas Byrd, Christian Khamkueang and Gavin Sommer), 1:36.31

200-yard freestyle: Levi Moser, Goshen, 1:42.47; Tommy Brunner, Concord, 1:43.54

200-yard individual medley: Sawyer Lehman, Northridge, 1:51.73; Cole Stevenson, Concord, 1:51.80; Gabe Kazmierczak, Elkhart, 1:55.43

50-yard freestyle: Lucas Byrd, Elkhart, 20.69 seconds; Joe Hahn, NorthWood, 21.03

100-yard butterfly: Ivan Blystiv, Concord, 52.08 seconds

100-yard freestyle: Joe Hahn, NorthWood, 46.96 seconds; Sawyer Lehman, Northridge, 47.86 seconds

500-yard freestyle: Tommy Brunner, Concord, 4:39.38; Levi Moser, Goshen, 4:42.02

200-yard freestyle relay: Goshen (Levi Moser, Maxim Yegorov, Jeremy Stutzman and Skye Steury), 1:27.71

100-yard backstroke: Gabe Kazmierczak, Elkhart, 51.56 seconds; Nathan Harper, Wawasee, 52.50 seconds; Jeremy Stutzman, Goshen, 53.36 seconds

100-yard breaststroke: Lucas Byrd, Elkhart, 55.76 seconds; Cole Stevenson, Concord, 56.16 seconds; Brayden Sollars, Concord, 56.75 seconds

400-yard freestyle relay: Concord (Tommy Brunner, Ivan Blystiv, Reid Sollars and Cole Stevenson), 3:14.66; Wawasee (Nathan Kryder, Cade Garden, Zack Kryder and Nathan Harper), 3:17.00

Team standings:

1. Concord, 447

2. Wawasee, 319

3. Northridge, 293.5

4. Goshen, 278

5. Elkhart, 243

6. NorthWood, 218

7. Angola, 144.5

8. East Noble, 122

9. DeKalb, 49

10. Jimtown, 13

11. Fremont, 2

12. Eastside, 0

Sectional Coach of the Year: Laura Rupp, Goshen

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.