Free State’s Nolan Frank competes in the 200-yard individual medley. Frank’s top finish was fourth place in the 100-yard backstroke on Saturday at the state swimming and diving championships in Topeka.

Topeka ? Disappointed probably wasn’t the right word, but following Saturday’s Class 6A boys state swimming and diving championships at the Hummer Sports Complex, Free State junior Nolan Frank couldn’t help but feel like he’d let an opportunity get away.

During his fourth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.86 seconds, he’d managed to corral his second straight state medal and improve upon his fifth-place showing in the event last year, but had fallen short of the school record he’d had his eye on for much of the season.

“The school record, that was my goal,” said Frank, who took solace in the fact that he’ll have one more chance at it as a senior in 2011. “But I came in and swam what I felt was a solid race, so I’m satisfied.”

School record or not, Frank proved to be the Firebirds’ top contributor Saturday.

Competing in four events — the 200-yard individual medley, 200-yard medley relay, 100-yard backstroke and 400-yard freestyle relay — Frank bounced back from a long day of preliminary races on Friday to lead Free State to a 69-point, 12th-place overall finish, six spots ahead of rival Lawrence High (30 points).

Shawnee Mission East took the team title with 292 points.

“I just feel like after all these events in two days, it’s amazing how well he did,” said Free State coach Annette McDonald, who praised the way her team came out Saturday after showing significant drops in time from the day before.

The Firebirds’ 200-yard medley relay team of Frank, Tony Libeer, Ethan Fisher and Dalton Munk improved slightly from Friday’s preliminary round, finishing eighth Saturday in 1:44.68, and Fisher added 11th- and 13th-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle, respectively, improving his time in both events.

Despite a lack of bodies in Saturday’s finals, Lawrence High managed a solid performance thanks largely to Zach Andregg.

The sophomore paced the Lions with a fourth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle finals (in a time of 4:47.32) and narrowly missed a second medal with a ninth-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley (2:01.75).

In addition, the Lions’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Nathan Evers, Kyler Thomann, Jonathan Gabler and Andregg finished 14th overall, edging Free State (Tony Libeer, Nick Norman, Will Libeer and Munk) by two spots in the process.

“It was pretty disappointing yesterday,” said Lawrence High coach Kent McDonald of a number of his swimmers missing out on the top-16 cut for Saturday’s finals. “We had several 17th- and 18th-place finishes. But we came back today and moved up, so it was a good day.”

For the area’s top two performers, who’ll both return next season, it was difficult not to begin looking ahead to next year’s state meet — even as their hair was still drying from this year’s version.

Asked whether he planned to take an extended break following Saturday’s meet, for instance, Andregg smiled.

“I’m going back to club (swimming) on Monday,” he said. “And it’s doubles on Monday — one practice in the morning and one practice at night.”