Nerves tingling; hearts racing, the Manhattan swim and dive team took their top competitors to state.

The state meet took place on Friday and finished with the finals on Saturday. The Indians were able to finish 13th place out of 32 teams. Manhattan had two relays and one individual swimmer make it to the finals as well as one diver.

“All season our team has been training and training so we were confident we could make finals,” sophomore Suman Wang said.

The medley relay team that made it to the finals consisted of senior Trey Hafen, junior Preston Harrison, sophomore Suman Wang and freshman Xander Say which finished in 12th place.

The 400 free relay took 13th place with Harrison, junior Wyatt Balman, sophomore Cole Dudley, and Say making up that team.

“I’m really proud of how all the swimmers worked this year, in practices and at meets I could just see that we all had a will to win,” head coach Alex Brown said. “I believed in our team from the start and I am very proud with the outcome.”

A lot of preparation went into the state meet and all the swimmers were a little nervous before the meet, but they all also felt prepared.

“I was a little nervous going into it because if you don’t make top 16 then you don’t make finals and last year none of our relays made it to finals,” Wang said. “We were all so confident in our abilities though and that is what calmed my nerves.”

On the individual side of the meet, Harrison took a second place medal in the 100 butterfly and the fourth place medal in the 100 backstroke, although he feels like he can still improve.

“I finished in fourth on the backstroke but I didn’t swim it as well as I could have,” Harrison said. “My time to qualify for the finals would have placed first so I didn’t swim the best I could.”

As well as finishing in fourth and second, Harrison was granted with the first team All-State honor. Harrison also finished the season setting school records in the backstroke and the butterfly.

With the season over, now the Indians will look forward to next year. Because they will only lose a few seniors and the underclassmen gained much needed experience, the Indians should come back next year stronger than ever and looking to fight for first place.