The Manhattan High boys swim team closed out their season tying for third place at State on Feb. 16 and 17 at Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka. The tie with Washburn Rural was the first time since 2000.
“My State experience was amazing. We had a job at hand and every person on our team stepped up and played their role to accomplish what we wanted,” junior Max Steffensmeier said. “The overall season was great, our team dynamic was amazing and we pushed each other so hard and the results showed…It was my team that set me up for success, racing each other every day and taking our efforts to the next level.”
The team finished the meet with 200 points, tying for third place with Washburn and putting them behind Blue Valley North and Shawnee Mission East. Senior Mariano Palacian placed second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle, breaking the school record in the 50 free with a time of 21.6. The rest of the team also placed in multiple events such as juniors Ethan Balman placing fifth in 100 fly, Willow Graves placing fourth in 100 breaststroke, Sam Staedtler 19th nineteenth in the 50 yard freestyle, Steffensmeier placed fifth in the 200 IM and Kaiser Wymer placed 15th in the 200 freestyle.
Palacian wasn’t the only one who broke a record, as the relay team in the 200 freestyle that consisted of Balman, Staedtler, Palacian and Wymer placed fifth with a time of 1:28:52.
The relay team in the 400 freestyle that had Graves, Palacian, Steffensmier and Wymer placed fourth with a time of 3:17:91.
“Both me and the team really came out strong on finals day,” Palacian said. “We had a lot of time drops from everyone and you could tell how hard we were pushing ourselves and we were pumped.”
“My goal for this team was to win league and get top five at State…Although we didn’t win League, we got third at State, which I never thought was possible…this year’s State was competitive in a way that I didn’t expect, but it is something for me to push for next year,” Steffensmier said. “I feel like I did well this season, I was just getting the team hyped up and always making sure the vibe was up, competitive and ready to achieve. Next season we are going to go even harder and we are all hungry for even better results.”
Now that the Boys season is over many of them are still planning to stay just as competitive and active in the off season.
“The hard training we had before state and the preparation we did before really was the key to our success,” Wymer said. “Next season I hope that we win league and we cement our names into MHS history.”
“Next season I think we can not only break more school records but I think we have a chance at some state records,” Balman said. “We all plan to not only constantly grind all year until next season without stopping but we’re grinding twice as hard and we’re not taking breaks until we’re satisfied with our times or reach our goals which are constantly getting better.”
