Free State senior Jordan Portela and Lawrence High junior Stephen Johnson are very familiar with one another from swimming club together, so Portela knew he would have to fight through his fatigue in order to win the 200-yard freestyle at the Sunflower League Championships at Indoor Aquatic Center.

Portela did just that, breaking his own league-meet record by swimming to a time of 1:41.00 on his way to winning the event. Johnson placed second despite also breaking Portela’s old record with a time of 1:42.48.

“I’m not tapered at all, so I knew the back half was going to hurt,” Portela said. “I knew I needed to get out fast and hold on the rest of the race. It’s tough, but it’s really nice to have those competitors.”

Despite fighting through an illness that only allowed him to practice twice leading up to the meet, Portela won three races and led the Firebirds to a second-place finish on Saturday afternoon.

“I saw great swims,” coach Annette McDonald said. “Overall, I think the guys were strong and positive. They’re chasing down Shawnee Mission East. We’re a little closer than we thought we’d be, so that means we stepped it up.”

Despite Portela breaking his own league records in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly (49.55), Shawnee Mission East topped Free State by 78 points in the team standings. The Lancers have won the league every year since 2004.

“Our goal was to take second,” said Portela, who swam in Free State’s winning 200 medley relay, which broke a league record in 1:36.58. “We knew Shawnee Mission East just had too many people (to beat). Overall, we’re really happy with our races.”

Outside of Portela, McDonald was very pleased with the results from senior Evan Yoder and junior Evan Eskilson. She also cited senior Sydney Lin’s fourth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke as finish as an example of the team stepping up. Senior Chad Bourdon was champion in the one-meter dive with 425.30 points.

She said Lin improved on his time from two days ago by five seconds, and swam a state-qualifying time.

“I am so proud of these boys,” McDonald said. “They work really hard, they’re dedicated, they’re focused, and they have a little fun. Overall, we’re a really strong team.”

Entering Saturday, Lawrence High coach Kent McDonald anticipated that Johnson, junior Alex Heckman and two of his relay teams could do well at league.

But the results were even better than the LHS coach anticipated in the Lions’ sixth-place finish at the league meet. The Lions took second in the 200 freestyle relay and third in the 400 freestyle relay. Johnson won the 500 freestyle. Heckman had two top-three finishes.

When Johnson finished second in the 200 freestyle, he broke a school record.

“We started off the season as the 200 free being the one he wanted to set the record in,” Kent McDonald said.

Overall, McDonald said he wasn’t sure the Lions could have done much better in any races than they did, especially given their lack of numbers.

“Our relays did really well,” McDonald said. “They were actually better than I expected. The other teams have enough people to where they could let their better people rest yesterday and let their top people swim today. We don’t have that luxury.”

Sunflower League Championships

Saturday at Lawrence Free State

FSHS, LHS results

Team scores: Shawnee Mission East 320, Lawrence Free State 242, Olathe East 183, Shawnee Mission South 133, Olathe South 128, Lawrence 110, Olathe Northwest 106, Leavenworth 63, Shawnee Mission West 38, Shawnee Mission Northwest 34, Shawnee Mission North 32, Olathe North 6.

200 medley relay — 1. Free State, 1:36.58; 10. Lawrence, 1:52.08

200 freestyle — 1. Jordan Portela, FS, 1:41.00; 2. Stephen Johnson, L, 1:42.48; 10. Chad Anderson, FS, 1:53.62.

200 individual medley — 1. Evan Yoder, FS, 1:54.81; 6. Corey Schultz-Bever, FS, 2:10.70; 7. Matthew Wilkus, FS, 2:10.50; 14. Ben Aldridge, FS, 2:22.88.

50 freestyle — 3. Alex Heckman, L, 22.02; 10. Aidan Goertz, FS, 23.38; 14. Patrick Oblon, L, 23.61; 18. Jared Miller, L, 24.48.

One-meter diving — 1. Chad Bourdon, FS, 425.30; 10. Skylar Eklund, FS, 321.90.

100 butterfly — 1. Jordan Portela, FS, 49.55; 9. Jake Viscomi, FS, 58.06; 15. Treyton Trujillo, L, 1:03.61; 16. Finn Daly-Nesbitt, FS, 1:03.62.

100 freestyle — 2. Alex Heckman, L, 47.93; 4. Evan Eskilson, FS, 49.18; 11. Aidan Goertz, FS, 51.69; 16. Cameron Hodge, FS, 53.94; Jakob Busch, L, 54.71.

500 freestyle — 1. Stephen Johnson, L, 4:44.93; 9. Chad Anderson, FS, 5:14.38; 18. Trenton Hartman, FS, 5:54.86.

200 freestyle relay — 2. Lawrence, 1:32.33; 5. Free State 1:33.26.

100 backstroke — 4. Evan Eskilson, FS, 55.20; 8. Jake Viscomi, FS, 59.99; 18. Finneas Daly-Nesbitt, FS, 1:10.20.

100 breaststroke — 1. Evan Yoder, FS, 58.97; 3. Corey Schultz-Bever, FS, 1:03.08, 4. Sydney Lin, FS, 1:05.98; 13, Matthew Wilkus, FS, 1:07.25.

400 freestyle relay — 2. Free State, 3:14.34; 3. Lawrence 3:22.35.