Free State swimmers cruise to victory

Free State swimmer Jack Ziegler salutes a friend in the crowd before competing in the 50-yard freestyle even during a Free State High School swim meet Thursday at FSH. Ziegler took first in the event.

Jordan Portela’s teammates just laughed. Opponents just shook their heads. No one is surprised by the two-time boys swimming state champion anymore.

In the final event of the Free State Invitational on Thursday, the Firebirds were trailing Washburn Rural in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Down by more than four seconds, the sophomore Portela raced down Washburn Rural’s anchor John Fritsch, and made his move in the final 25 yards to win the race by 0.29 seconds.

It was the exclamation point on the Firebirds’ victory in their five-team invitational at the Indoor Aquatic Center. The win put a stamp on Senior Day, with Free State recording 589 points over runner-up Washburn Rural’s 453.

“Jordan never surprises me,” said senior Josh Terrell, who swam the third leg of the relay. “I tried my best to give him that space because I know he’s tired. But … I know he’s going to win just because how competitive and strong and fast he is.”

Portela, who also won in the 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly on Thursday, knew Fritsch’s usual times and what he needed to do to secure a victory. He swam his leg in a blazing 47.35 seconds.

“I’ve done similar things like that before,” said Portela after being asked if he thought he could catch Fritsch. “It just gets my heart pumped when I’m behind the blocks. My teammates did great, too. That last race, I really like anchoring the relay because it just puts pressure on me and I like being in that situation.”

The Firebirds won every relay, and also won seven of the nine individual events. Terrell won the 100 breaststroke and narrowly lost to senior teammate Jack Ziegler in the 100 freestyle, losing by 0.26 seconds.

Terrell has only been swimming for the last four weeks, following a seven-month layoff because of a torn shoulder.

“I can’t believe where I’m at right now,” he said. “I’m very happy with how the season is going.”

Ziegler also won in the 50 freestyle, junior Chad Bourdon won in the one-meter dive, and freshman Evan Eskilson took first place in the 200 freestyle. Eskilson has won four of the six individual events he’s entered this year with two second place finishes.

“Our younger guys are stepping up and swimming some faster times,” FSHS coach Annette McDonald said. “Our divers did really well. Chad taking first there, that was really exciting to see him do so well today. I’m really happy.”

“Actually some of the guys are swimming faster than we were planning at this point in time,” McDonald added, “so that’s really exciting.”


Team scores: Free State 589, Washburn Rural 453, Turner 279, Bonner Springs 245, Kansas City Washington/Sumner 37

Free State results

200 medley relay — 1. Evan Eskilson, Evan Yoder, Jordan Portela, Jack Ziegler, 1:40.73; 3. Ethan Kallenberger, Josh Terrell, Ty Hartman, Brandon Bunting, 1:48.17; 7. Bradley Collicott, Sydney Lin, Matthew Wilkus, Sam Oliver, 1:58.82.

200 freestyle — 1. Evan Eskilson, 1:51.27; 3. Cooper Schmiedeler, 2:01.03; 5. Carson Ziegler, 2:10.49.

200 individual medley — 2 .Ethan Kallenberger, 2:16.99; 3. Matthew Wilkus, 2:21.73; 4. Brett Carey, 2:21.78;

50 freestyle — 1. Jack Ziegler, FS, 21.72; 2. Nolan Stoppel, 23.24; 5. Brandon Bunting, 24.19; 8. Sam Oliver, 25.21; 11. Ty Hartman, 25.59; 12. Sydney Lin, 26.18; 17. Bradley Collicott, 27.20; 18. Cooper Catlin, 27.22; 20. Andrew Ferguson, 27.47; 23. Atticus vonHolton, 27.61; 27. Kyle Sadosky, 27.86; 29. Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, 28.12; 32. Adam Ziegler, 28.38; 33. Cameron Hodge, 28.62; 49. Calvin Koch, 30.20; 50. Evan Bangalan, 30.25; 62. Tyler Bryant, 32.92.

One-meter diving — 1. Chad Bourdon, 262.35; 3. Eli Garcia, 207.65; 4. Skyler Eklund, 203.70; 5. Brandon Wilson, 174.50.

100 butterfly — 1. Jordan Portela, 51.20; 2. Evan Eskilson, 56.89; 5. Matthew Wilkus, 1:04.83.

100 freestyle — 1. Jack Ziegler, FS, 48.99; 2. Josh Terrell, 49.25; 5. Nolan Stoppel, 52.23; 6. Brandon Bunting, 54.06; 7. Cooper Schmiedeler, 54.26; 11. Carson Ziegler, 56.26; 14. Ty Hartman, 59.10; 18. Andrew Ferguson, 1:03.22; 20. Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, 1:03.26; 21. Kyle Sadosky, 1:03.47; 24. Cameron Hodge, 1:03.73; 27. Adam Ziegler, 1:04.81; 32. Calvin Koch, 1:09.24; 37. Evan Bangalan, 1:12.28; 38. Tyler Bryant, 1:14.92.

500 freestyle — 2. Evan Yoder, 5:14.51; 3. Brett Carey, 5:35.87; 4. Cooper Catlin, 6:47.97.

200 freestyle relay — 1. Nolan Stoppel, Cooper Schmiedeler, Brandon Bunting, Jack Ziegler, 1:36.05; 2. Sam Oliver, Matthew Wilkus, Brett Carey, Carson Ziegler, 1:41.02; 6. Bradley Collicott, Kyle Sadosky, Cameron Hodge, Sydney Lin, 1:49.87; 10. Andrew Ferguson, Adam Ziegler, Calvin Koch, Finneas Nesbitt-Daly, 1:55.13; 13. Evan Bangalan, Tyler Bryant, Chad Bourdon, Skyler Eklund, 2:01.06.

100 backstroke — 1. Jordan Portela, 53.64; 3. Ethan Kallenberger, 1:01.11; 7. Bradley Collicott, 1:08.21.

100 breaststroke — 1. Josh Terrell, 1:01.91; Evan Yoder, 1:05.73; 4. Sydney Lin, 1:09.30.

400 freestyle relay — 1. Nolan Stoppel, Cooper Schmiedeler, Josh Terrell, Jordan Portela, 3:25.09; 3. Evan Eskilson, Carson Zieger, Ty Hartman, Evan Yoder, 3:41.57; 4. Cameron Hodge, Kyle Sadosky, Adam Ziegler, Brett Carey, 4:10.56.