Free State High wasn’t the only swimming and diving defending state champion Thursday afternoon at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center at FSHS.

The Blue Springs (Mo.) Wildcats, Missouri’s 2004 champs, headed west as part of a five-team meet in which they showed a pool prowess that even the host school couldn’t match, topping the Firebirds’ 523 points with a score of 608.

Washburn Rural came in third with 446, followed by Topeka Hayden (270) and Bonner Springs (195).

“We called them,” Blue Springs coach Bill Shalley said of Thursday’s get-together at Free State. “We want the best competition.”

And so, although both teams’ top swimmers will take part in Saturday’s MoKan Invitational, the two elite programs had a dual of sorts. Every favorite-at-state swimmer had a counterpart.

“What they do is they learn how to race,” FSHS coach Annette McDonald said. “All the guys had to look at the heat sheet and set a goal. What was important was to race well and to learn.

“I think they embraced the competition. I saw some faster swim times.”

Case in point: Right before the 100-yard freestyle event, Free State senior Anthony Portela was feeling some butterflies.

“I’m kind of nervous. The race, it’s going to be close,” he said, draped in a robe with his name embroidered on it, looking like a boxer before a bout.

Free State High's Chris Sellon tries to stretch his lead in the 500-yard freestyle event. He finished second in 4:52.18 on Thursday at FSHS.

Portela wound up not only winning the event, but also setting a school record in the process with a time of 48:01, eclipsing his own mark of 48.71 from last year. Two swimmers from Blue Springs, however, took second and third place. Such was a typical scene Thursday, except the Show-Me Staters usually finished first.

Out of the 12 events, Blue Springs won eight of them. To Free State’s credit, it won the other four. The Firebird foursome of Portela, senior Nathan Schriner, senior Chris Sellon and sophomore Chase Torgerson won the 200 medley relay, posting a time of 1:42:09.

Free State junior Andrew Ashley won the diving event with a score of 185, although the Blue Springs divers didn’t make the trip while getting ready for Saturday. Portela also won the 100 breastroke with a time of 1:02:12.

Torgerson broke his own school record of 56.68 in the 100 backstroke, but still ended up second with a time of 56.40.

“You really can’t do much against them because they have so much depth,” said Schriner about Blue Springs, the first school not from St. Louis to win the Missouri title in 35 years.

Free State High's Andy Dalager has all eyes on him during the diving competition. He finished fourth in the five-team event Thursday afternoon at the Lawrence Indoor Aquatic Center at FSHS.

Now the top performers from Free State and Blue Springs prepare for Saturday’s MoKan Invitational at Kansas City Central (Mo.).

“It’s just a fast meet,” McDonald said. “This is a meet where we focus on what we want to do well on in our individual events.”

Schriner called the event “a good indication of how we’ll do in state.”

Thursday’s event was the last home meet of the regular season for the Firebirds, but Free State will serve as host of this year’s Sunflower League championships Feb. 4-5.

“They say it’s our last meet, but technically there’s one more meet here to be comfortable in,” said Sellon, who also finished second in the 500 freestyle and third in the 100 backstroke.