FREE STATE HIGH'S CHASE TORGERSON competes in the 400-yard freestyle relay at the state swimming and diving championship. Torgerson actually made his biggest impact Saturday in a different event, winning the state title in the 100 backstroke at the Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka.

Topeka ? As Chase Torgerson waited outside the pool before the 100-yard backstroke finals Saturday, his coach, Annette McDonald, stood about 25 yards away at the side of the pool with her knees shaking and her heart racing.

“I think she gets overly nervous for me,” Torgerson said. “I think she takes a lot of the nervousness and puts it on herself so I don’t have to worry about it.”

McDonald’s sharing of Torgerson’s nerves obviously worked, as the Free State High senior won the state championship in the 100 backstroke at Capitol Federal Natatorium.

Torgerson entered the state competition as the favorite and the top seed; however, he trailed Bryson Cramer of Olathe East by 0.02 seconds after Friday’s preliminaries. Torgerson beat Cramer two weeks ago at the Sunflower League meet, and since then, Cramer has been watching tape of the meet as motivation to beat Torgerson at state.

In the first two laps of the backstroke final, it appeared Torgerson might not live up to his top seed as he trailed two swimmers, one of whom was Cramer. But on the third lap, Torgerson took the lead for good.

“Normally, I try to push the third 25 the hardest,” he said. “For the first 50, I’m not an out speed kind of guy.”

McDonald said Torgerson won the race because of his turns, especially his final turn when he stretched the distance he spent under the water. When he came up and as he swam the final leg, he said he didn’t know if he had the race won.

“I was confident in my mind,” Torgerson said. “I didn’t know where anybody else was. I guess you could say it was a relief to finish, look up and see I won.”

Another Free State swimmer who shared his best for last at state was junior Mitch Moore. Moore had only the eighth-best time after Friday’s prelims in the 100-yard breaststroke. He improved his time by more than a second in the finals and placed fourth.

“Just yesterday, I felt like crap, and so I thought that I would today, but it was just ridiculous, something happened, and I beat the school record,” Moore said.

Moore has come a long way this season. Six months ago, he said, he was ready to quit swimming. Swimming wasn’t fun anymore, he said, and his times were no longer improving, and he didn’t know if he had the time. Friday he was having one of those moments.

“My schedule’s been crazy, and I’ve been really tired and I think that just carried over to yesterday,” he said.

On the way back to Lawrence on Friday, the team stopped for dinner at a Hardees/Taco Bueno/pizza place. Moore had all three, and he credited the big meal with his performance and change in approach Saturday.

“It was a blast,” he said. “One of the best swimming days I’ve ever had. I wasn’t nervous. I was just in the zone.”

Free State sophomore Cameron Case also had a career day. Case improved one spot in the finals from his preliminaries in both the 200-yard individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle. Case placed seventh in the 200 medley and won the consolation final in the 500 freestyle, finishing ninth overall.

As a team, Free State finished ninth overall. Senior Blaine Juhl, the Firebirds’ lone diver at state, finished 12th. He was the first Free State diver ever to qualify for state.

The only Lawrence High swimmer to participate Saturday was junior Alex Boyer. Boyer finished 12th in the 500-yard freestyle and 13th in the 200-yard freestyle.