BV West’s Daniel Fecteau is The Star’s All-Metro Kansas boys diver of the year

Blue Valley West’s Daniel Fecteau aspired to make history in his high school diving career.

He followed in the footsteps of his brother, who had previously been a diver for the Jaguars. But Fecteau wanted to make his own marks in the high school ranks.

Now, four years later, Fecteau ends his senior year and heads off collegiately to dive at 10th-ranked Louisville with the knowledge that he won three consecutive one-meter diving state championships. He also set two school records and is the back-to-back winner of The Star’s All-Metro Kansas boys swimming diver of the year award.

“Being able to have my name up in the school was definitely one of my goals going in,” Fecteau said. “I was able to get that my junior year, and then to be able to break (records) from meet to meet this year was phenomenal.”

Fecteau went undefeated this season and broke his own school records for six- and 11-dive scores. His best six-dive score was 378.5 points and his best 11-dive score was 553.60 points. He also shattered the Kansas Class 5-1A state meet record with a score of 533.55. It was 117.2 points higher than the second-place finisher and 73.1 points higher than the previous state meet record set by Wichita Collegiate’s Adam Lower in 2011.

“My high school career has been a complete blast,” Fecteau said. “It was full of ups and downs with long practices, but was rewarding — especially being able to commit to a nationally ranked school in Louisville.”

Fecteau said limited resources in Kansas might make the transition at Louisville to new three- and 10-meter platforms a bit of a challenge, but he is up for the test.

“My largest strength is my willingness to practice the dives that others would not dare to,” Fecteau said. “I will be challenged with platforms I have not been able to do or even approach, but I am definitely excited to start completely new.”

The STAR’S 2014-2015 ALL-METRO KANSAS BOYS SWIM TEAM

200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY

Blue Valley North (Ryan McMonigle, junior; Jamie Cohen, senior; Sam Disette, sophomore; Brian North, senior). The Mustangs won the Class 6A state title and set a state meet record when they finished in 1 minute, 34.11 seconds. The time also qualified them for All-American honors.

200 FREESTYLE

Jordan Portela, Lawrence Free State, sophomore. Even though it’s only his second year with the Firebirds, Portela has already made a statement, repeating as state champion in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly. He also was a member of the record-setting 400 freestyle relay.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY

PJ Musser, Blue Valley Northwest, junior. Musser picked up a pair of individual Eastern Kansas League and Class 6A titles in the 200 individual medley and 100 freestyle. His winning time in the 200 IM was 1 minute, 51.21 seconds.

50 FREESTYLE

Jack Ziegler, Lawrence Free State, senior. He fell just .04 seconds shy of setting a state record, but still walked away with an individual Class 6A state title in the 50 freestyle in 20.78 seconds. He also helped set a state record in the 400 freestyle relay.

ONE-METER DIVING

Daniel Fecteau, Blue Valley West, senior. The Louisville-bound diver won three consecutive state titles and two program records. This year’s score of 533.55 points also shattered the Class 5-1A state meet record.

100 BUTTERFLY

Ryan Sweat, SM South, senior. Sweat placed second in the Class 6A state race with a time of 50.41 seconds, which was his personal record. He also finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 52.25 seconds.

100 FREESTYLE

Dylan Walters, Olathe East, senior. Walters placed second in the 100 freestyle at the Class 6A state meet with a time of 46.56 seconds, which set a school record. He also finished second in the 200 freestyle.

500 FREESTYLE

Aidan Holbrook, SM East, freshman. Though he was one of the Lancers’ youngest contributors, Holbrook played a big part in their Class 6A state championship with an individual title in the 500 freestyle. He finished with a personal record in 4 minutes, 42.80 seconds.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY

Blue Valley North (Brian North, senior; Will Vance, junior; Sam Boyd, senior; Sam Disette, sophomore). The Mustangs helped secure a second-place finish in the Class 6A state meet by winning the 200 freestyle relay in 1 minute, 26.79 seconds.

100 BACKSTROKE

Ryan McMonigle, Blue Valley North, junior. McMonigle helped the Mustangs wrap up a second-place team finish with his individual title in the 100 backstroke. He finished in 51.50 seconds and also was a member of the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

100 BREASTSTROKE

Ben Schmatz, SM East, senior. As the lone returner from the Lancers’ 2012 championship team, Schmatz helped lift SM East to another team state title with a 100 breaststroke state title. He finished in 57.84 seconds.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY

Lawrence Free State (Evan Eskilson, freshman; Jack Ziegler, senior; Nolan Stoppel, senior; Jordan Portela, sophomore). The Firebirds won the Class 6A state title and set a state meet record in 3 minutes, 8.07 seconds, which was 1.4 seconds faster than the previous record.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 6:33 PM with the headline "BV West’s Daniel Fecteau is The Star’s All-Metro Kansas boys diver of the year."