Blue Valley North’s Sam Disette breaks swimming record at state meet
Sam Disette took care of a Kansas high school boys swimming state record Friday. On Saturday, he’ll go for state titles.
Disette, a Blue Valley North junior, shattered the state record in the 50-yard freestyle and recorded the fastest time in the 100 freestyle during the Kansas Class 6A preliminaries at the state meet at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Disette, who swam the 50 freestyle in 20.67 seconds, said he knew he would break the 21-year-old state record of 20.74 this weekend.
“This whole year I’ve been working for it. I’ve remembered the time and wrote it down many times,” Disette said. “It means a lot to me coming in the first day. It gives me motivation for (Saturday) to go faster.”
Saturday’s finals will be a battle between perennial powers Shawnee Mission East and Blue Valley North, which have claimed five of the last six state titles. Both schools qualified numerous athletes for the finals session — several with top times.
In addition to Disette, BV North had Ryan McMonigle lead the way in the 100 backstroke and combine with Jackson Rhodes, Marshall Wietharn and Mitch Fisher for the top time in the 200 medley relay. BV North’s Will Vance leads all competitors in the 200 individual medley.
“I thought my kids swam well,” BV North coach Derek Berg said. “We had a lot of good time drops, a lot of good races. This is a fast meet, and we contributed to that. SM East is a tough team to beat, but my kids will be motivated.”
For SM East, Aidan Holbrook set the top time in the 500-yard freestyle and teamed with Ian Longan, Evan Root and Hayden Linscott for the fastest pace in the 400 freestyle relay.
“Everybody had their best personal times, and we’re looking forward to coming back (Saturday) and improving,” SM East coach Wiley Wright said. “Hopefully we have a shot to repeat as state champs or finish in the top three.”
Lawrence Free State junior Jordan Portela posted the top time in the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle and is the two-time defending state champion in both events.
Kansas Class 5A-1A
St. James Academy senior Anderson Maginn seems to be peaking at the right time.
Maginn recorded the fastest time in the Class 5A-1A 200 individual medley prelims on Friday with a time of 1 minute, 59.13 seconds.
“I just wanted to go out there and set the pace and come back and have an especially good race,” Maginn said. “(St. James coach Kellee Hercules) has set us up to have a really fast meet, and you can see it really starting to pay off.”
Maginn also anchored the Thunder’s 200 freestyle relay team to the second-fastest time.
Three other Kansas City-area swimmers enter Saturday’s finals with the second-fastest prelim time on Friday — Gabe Pena of Turner in the 50 freestyle, Max Hernandez-Nietlin of Bishop Miege in the 100 butterfly and Ryan Downing of Bonner Springs in the 200 freestyle.
This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Blue Valley North’s Sam Disette breaks swimming record at state meet."