Alex Brunfeldt

Free State High

Class: Junior.

Sport: Boys swimming.

The week: Brunfeldt’s season was a blur of broken school records and first-place finishes, but at last week’s state swimming and diving meet in Manhattan, he outdid himself, becoming the school’s first-ever state swimming champ. Brunfeldt won the 400-yard freestyle with a time of 4:41.55, which was just off his school record. He also snagged third in the 200 free and 400 freestyle relay, which he swam with teammates Anthony Portela, Chris Sellon and Chris Wolff.

Comment: “The big thing is his work ethic,” FSHS coach Annette McDonald said. “He needed to put in extra because he’s a distance swimmer. While the other guys were resting or doing sprint work, he was doing intervals or some other distance stuff to maintain his endurance. He’s just a remarkable athlete.”

Eric Pingleton

Mill Valley

Class: Senior.

Sport: Wrestling.

The week: Pingleton wrapped up his third trip to the state wrestling meet last weekend by rolling to the 189-pound title at the Class 4A regional tournament in Hoyt. He improved to 37-0 this season, taking a forfeit in the title match against Kansas City Piper’s Nick Jobe. Pingleton is about as big and strong as they come at 189, and he’ll get to display it as a No. 1 seed when the state tournament begins today at the Kansas Coliseum in Wichita.

Comment: “He’s very good on his feet, he’s hard to keep down and he’s pretty decent on top too. He’s solid in all three areas, though I don’t know if he’s dominant in any of them. But he doesn’t make mistakes,” Jaguars coach Travis Keal said. “He’s obviously been pretty good this season, but he hasn’t hit his goal yet, which is to win a state championship.”