Free State High junior Evan Yoder competes in the 200 yard individual medley event at the Sunflower League Boys Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday afternoon in Olathe.

Free State seniors Jordan Portela and Evan Yoder have swam together for the past 10 years on their club team.

On Wednesday, they signed up for four more years.

Portela and Yoder signed their letters of intent to swim at the University of Minnesota, celebrating at their signing ceremony in the Free State conference room.

“I made my decision independently of his but it’s obviously a plus going there with him,” said Yoder, who committed 20 days after Portela’s decision.

Portela is one of the top swimmers in state history, winning eight state titles and setting four Sunflower League records. Free State coach Annette McDonald presented him with all three of his state Athlete-of-the-Meet awards.

He chose the Golden Gophers over Arizona State and Florida State, opting to go to the same school where his older brother and sister swam. He faxed his National Letter of Intent at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

“It’s great,” Portela said. “After committing, just kept talking with the coaches and everything and looked forward to this day. Coach McDonald was nice enough to present and prepare all this for us, which was great.”

Yoder combined with Portela to win a state title in the 200 medley relay last season, finishing second in the 200-yard individual medley and sixth in the 100 breaststroke.

He said he picked Minnesota over Missouri State and Drury based on academics and the atmosphere of the team.

“The coaches are really great up there,” Yoder said of his decision. “The school is really good in general. That was the big thing and then the team when I went up there and visited, they are a really great group of guys.”

While both Portela and Yoder made their own decisions to swim at Minnesota, they took their official visit together at the end of September and knew there was potential they could continue to be teammates.

“Huge bonus, honestly,” Portela said. “Since I made my decision first, I knew I loved the school. I loved all the things about it. But just to be able to swim with one of my teammates that I’ve already been swimming with prior to college for 10 years is just a huge bonus to it.”