Lawrence High swimmer Zach Andregg competes during the 500-yard freestyle at the 2009 6A Boys' State Swimming and Diving Meet Saturday, Feb. 21, 2009, at the Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka.

Topeka ? Two city swimmers cemented their spots among the state’s elite by placing in the top eight of Saturday’s Class 6A state swimming meet at Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka.

Free State senior Nolan Frank finished fifth in the 100 breaststroke, and Lawrence High freshman Zach Andregg took seventh in the 500 freestyle, highlighting the second-day showing by the city’s two largest high schools.

Despite finishing in similar spots in their respective races, the two waterbugs did so in very different manners.

First up was Andregg, swimming in the championship heat of the day’s longest race.

From his spot in Lane 1, Andregg jumped out to a steady start and stayed consistent throughout the endurance event. The LHS freshman rarely deviated from his 28- to 29-second split times during the 10 laps of the race.

Andregg finished the race in seventh place with the second best time of his season: 4:57.50.

Although he never challenged for the top spot, what he accomplished moments after the big race outshined all of his 500-freestyle competitors.

Thirty seconds before the clock struck 2:49 p.m., Andregg dragged himself out of the pool and onto the deck, breathing heavily the entire way. Rather than returning to the locker room to rest, he hopped to the back of the line for the consolation heat of the 200-yard freestyle relay, where he was scheduled to swim the anchor leg for LHS.

Two minutes and five seconds after pulling himself from the water, Andregg went back in. Amazingly, his split time of 25 seconds in the relay blew away the steady times he swam just minutes earlier.

“I’m kind of shocked I was able to go that fast after the 500,” Andregg said. “But I didn’t really think about it, I just went as fast as I could and gave it all I had.”

The result was a 15th-place finish for the relay that also had Will Pendleton, Jonathan Gabler and Skylar Koerner.

Free State also had a relay team place 15th on Saturday, as seniors Julian McCafferty, Eric Gruber and Alec Wroten — along with sophomore Tony Libeer — capped their careers in style with a strong finish.

Frank was without question the highlight of the day for the Firebirds, though. And his moment to shine passed by much quicker than Andregg’s.

After a strong push off the wall to begin his race, Frank leveled off, holding down fourth place after one lap and finishing fifth in 54.28 seconds. Frank admitted that his time — although a season best — wasn’t what he had hoped for, but said the fifth-place finish did not diminish the experience.

“It’s just so great to be here, swimming against the best swimmers in the state,” Frank said. “Was it the time I wanted and did I finish where I wanted to? No. But it was still awesome to be here.”

Frank, who finished 10th at state in 2008, said he expected his improvement to continue during the next two seasons.

“The guys who finished first and second are both sophomores, too,” Frank said. “So it’s going to be a good time for the next couple of years. I’m just going to focus on myself and work hard to get my time as low as it can go.”

In other city action Saturday, Andregg also placed 11th in the 200 individual medley. His 2:04.93 was more than a second faster than his Friday prelim time of 2:05.99.

Also, in diving, Lawrence High’s Matthias Reiber finished 15th overall, with 295.30 points, improving two spots on his 17th-place finish from a season ago.

“Scoring in the top 16 in diving is impressive,” LHS coach Kent McDonald said. “We needed points wherever we could get them. We were counting on some diving points and he got them.”

One other note of interest for Free State fans came in the 500 free, where Olathe East’s Austin Acheson broke Alex Brunfeldt’s state-record time of 4:35.02 with a swim of 4:34.54.

Brunfeldt, a former Firebird, set the record as a senior during the 2004 state meet, which FSHS won.