photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State's Weston Graber swims the 50-yard freestyle in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

TOPEKA — The Free State and Lawrence boys swim and dive teams placed first and second, respectively, in the Topeka High Invitational on Tuesday.

The Firebirds and the Lions competed against 10 other teams, nine of which were non-Sunflower League teams. That allowed the swimmers who have already qualified for state the chance to see where swimmers from the other half of the state are at, and the Lawrence swimmers did well — Free State finished with 507 points, while Lawrence scored 290. Olathe South, the only other Sunflower League team in the meet, took third at 282 points.

“A lot of people showed up for themselves,” Free State coach Janna Skinner said. “They’re still trying to work hard at practice and find out what they can drop before we start to taper. Our practices, we’re still trying to grind out some yardage, which isn’t always fun at this point in the season, but we’re still dropping times.”

Lawrence had a slower day after having not gotten in the pool since the snow storm on Friday, but the Lions were still able to drop some times and have a solid showing.

“You could just tell the boys lost feel of the water a bit,” Lawrence coach Elle Weber said. “They felt it too. So that was unfortunate. But overall, it was still a really good meet.”

Diving came first, which consisted of only Free State and Lawrence’s divers. Free State’s Gavin McIntosh won with 444.95 points, while fellow Firebird Constantine Shipley scored 373.05 points for second. Lawrence’s Cale Ward placed third at 360.40, and Free State’s Oliver Coles finished fourth at 340.30.

Free State’s top 200-yard individual medley team won the event at 1 minute, 48.64 seconds. Free State also won both the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:35.98 and the 400-yard freestyle at 3:32.12. Skinner said the relay teams have continued to drop times, and that she believes both relays can still get faster in the next couple of weeks.

The Lions were the runners-up in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:39.76 and took sixth in the 400-yard freestyle relay at 4:00.67. Weber said the 200-yard freestyle relay is going in the right direction for dropping time and qualifying for state.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Free State’s Owen Carnagey won and dropped a second off his time with a 1:54.79 swim, while Lawrence’s Lawson Donly was the runner-up at 1:59.24. Firebird Ewan Campbell took fifth at 2:08.03, and fellow Firebird Owen Metz placed ninth at 2:22.26. All four swimmers dropped time, led by Metz who dropped three seconds.

Lawrence’s Junu McCall took fourth in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:37.96, with Firebirds Jason Song placing sixth at 2:40.18 and Ethan Lynch finishing seventh at 2:42.22. Lions Torin Yung placed 13th at 3:01.57 and Logan Kohart came 15th at 3:19.04.

Firebird Anderson Bateman won the 50-yard freestyle at 22.18 seconds, followed by Eli Kempf at third in 24.24 seconds. Lawrence’s Alex Oral placed fourth at 24.29 seconds, with fellow Lion Garrett Rhea taking seventh at 25.28 seconds. Hank Walter from Free State finished 11th at 26.07 seconds, while Lawrence’s Mateo Klish placed 12th at 26.35 seconds.

Firebird Sam Bauch won the 100-yard butterfly at 54.92 seconds, dropping nearly half a second. Bauch told Skinner before the race that he was focused on technique in the race and not necessarily pushing for speed to win. Still, he cut time and won the event. Fellow Firebird Gavin Koonce took seventh at 1:09.35. McCall took eighth at 1:09.88, and Kohart finished 12th at 1:23.79.

Bateman got his second win in the 100-yard freestyle at 48.76 seconds He dropped 0.42 seconds and was the only swimmer to finish in under 50 seconds. Carnagey placed third at 52.71 seconds, while Donly finished fifth at 54.80. Lawrence’s Armando Romero-Perez finished 13th at 59.86 seconds.

Metz placed fourth in the 500-yard freestyle at 6:26.43, dropping 3.27 seconds off his time. Lawrence’s Thurston Saint Onge placed sixth at 6:50.69, which was nearly three seconds faster than his seed time. Fellow Lion Aiden Bierschbach placed eighth at 7:04.18, while Firebird Weston Graber took ninth at 7:09.28.

Campbell was the runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke at 59.84 seconds, which was the first time he finished under a minute this season. Lawrence’s Romero-Perez placed fifth at 1:13.62, while Firebird Cooper Trummel placed sixth at 1:14.28. Lynch finished seventh at 1:14.67 and Yung took 11th at 1:19.34.

The final individual race was the 100-yard breaststroke, which Oral was the runner-up in at 1:09.62. Firebird Graysen Koonce finished third at 1:12.97, while Song took eighth at 1:16.95. Klish dropped over a second from his time to take 12th at 1:20.35, while Saint Onge finished 15th at 1:26.76.

Lawrence and Free State will have a Saturday invitational at the Shawnee Mission Aquatic Center for both teams’ final meet ahead of the Sunflower League swim meet, which begins on Thursday, Feb. 5 at the Shawnee Mission Aquatic Center.

Weber said the Lions will taper for a couple of days ahead of the League meet before a longer taper for the state meet. Free State has pushed the pace at practice and is hoping to reap the benefits with a taper ahead of the Sunflower League meet.

“I think they’re ready to taper and see what they can do,” Skinner said. “This is a great pool. They get the experience of having a fast pool late in the season… I think it builds our confidence going into leagues.”

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Max Seusy swims the 200-yard freestyle in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/J

Free State’s Jason Song swims the 200-yard individual medley in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Torin Yung swims the 200-yard individual medley in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Alex Kohart swims the 200-yard individual medley in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State’s Jack Larsen swims the 50-yard freestyle in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Garrett Rhea swims the 50-yard freestyle in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State’s Gavin Koonce swims the 100-yard butterfly in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Junu McCall swims the 100-yard butterfly in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State’s Avery Pike swims the 100-yard freestyle in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Isaac Reed swims the 100-yard backstroke in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Free State’s Ewan Campbell swims the 100-yard backstroke in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Alex Oral swims the 100-yard breaststroke in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Lawson Donly swims the 200-yard freestyle in the Topeka High Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in Topeka.