photo by: Contributed photo

Bishop Seabury junior Ian Blake after winning a state title during the Class 5A-1A state swim meet last Saturday on Feb. 20, 2021. Blake, who is the first male swimmer in school history for BSA, also netted a runner-up finish in another individual event. Photo from Avi Blake.

Bishop Seabury swimmer Ian Blake capped off his junior campaign with a state title and a runner-up finish in another event last Saturday at the Class 5A-1A state swim meet.

Blake won the 100 butterfly as an individual and secured a second-place finish in the 100 breaststroke while competing in the final meet of the season at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center.

It was an impressive jump for Blake, who netted ninth in the 100 breaststroke during last year’s state swim and dive meet.

Blake posted a time of 52.28 to win the 100 butterfly, which was nearly a full second faster than Andover junior PJ Damico’s time of 53.20 seconds. For comparison, Blake entered the state meet with a seed time of 54.0 seconds.

In the 11th event of the meet, Blake beat his seed time again by recording a mark of 57.57 in the 100 breaststroke. It was nearly four seconds faster than his seed time of 1:01.56. Blake only trailed St. James Academy senior John Amrein’s mark of 55.27 in the finals, which was good enough to set a state record.

Blake, who was the lone participant for the Seahawks, scored 37 total points between those two events. It was enough for Bishop Seabury to finish 18th out of 33 scoring teams. Andover won the team title with a total score of 234.5 points.

Class 5A-1A state swim meet

Saturday at Shawnee Mission SD Aquatic Center

BSA results

100 butterfly: 1. Ian Blake, Bishop Seabury, 52.28

100 breaststroke: 2. Ian Blake, Bishop Seabury, 57.57