As the final results of the Lawrence High home swim meet came off the printer, members of the LHS boys swim team slowly began to inch their way toward coach Kent McDonald.

With 542 total points, McDonald earned his first victory as the Lions’ head man Thursday.

Members of the team were so elated, they hoisted McDonald on their shoulders like they just won the Stanley Cup, then threw him in the air. McDonald landed in the pool – still dressed in his red Lawrence High swimming shirt and black pants.

What’s the need for dunking a coach with a water cooler when you have an entire pool at your disposal?

“They came to me after the meet was over and said, “We won the meet and you’re going in,” McDonald said of his swimmers. “I fought it as long as I could – but it was kind of fun, too.”

Lawrence’s team total was enough to hold off Topeka Seaman’s 485 points, and Topeka High’s 476. Topeka West (268) and Olathe North (180) rounded out the meet.

“Since we won at the end, we all got excited and told him we were going to push him in,” junior Zach Henderson said. “Well – we took his cell phone. Then we pushed him in.”

The Lions won five of the 12 events. The foursome of Henderson, seniors Marcus Barnoskie and Jeff Standing, and junior Alex Boyer won the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1 minute, 37.41 seconds. The time was good enough to qualify for the Class 6A state meet.

“We’ve been working on stroke and dive and really wanted it,” Henderson said. “We made sure we got angry, then just went out and did it.”

The 200 free relay was the first LHS relay team to qualify for state this season.

Henderson also won the 100 butterfly and placed second in the 200 freestyle. He said the butterfly, widely regarded as a difficult event, was his favorite stroke.

LAWRENCE HIGH'S ZAC HENDERSON competes in the 100-yard butterfly during a five-team meet. The Lions won Thursday's gathering in the LHS natatorium.

“The butterfly’s pretty mental,” Henderson said. “You just have to block out the pain, because it’s a pretty painful stroke. The dolphin kick off each wall is a pretty big key.”

Boyer contributed to the Lions victory with a victory in the 200 free and 100 free.

On the diving side, sophomore Skyler Criswell wowed the judges with what he called a back one-and-a-half half-twist dive. He placed second in the one-meter diving event with 200 points. Criswell’s personal-best score was enough to qualify him for the state meet.

“I’ve only learned it in the last three days,” Criswell said of the dive. “It was really shaky at the beginning – technique was really bad – but I figured out a special trick to twist really easily.”

McDonald especially took note of Criswell’s state qualification.

“Pole vaulters do the same thing,” McDonald said of Criswell. “They’re wild and they like to take chances and do crazy things, and that’s the way he is. Plus, it helps being mentally strong.”