King and Thomas end run at state levels
PHOTO COURTESY OF OA ATHLETICS
Oldenburg’s Nash King had a great send off and lots of support ahead of his appearance last weekend at the IHSAA Boys Swimming and Diving State Finals.
Oldenburg Academy freshman Nash King and Milan senior Dylan Thomas were both sent off in grand fashion by their respective school and then did both programs proud this past weekend, finishing up their swim seasons at the IHSAA Boys Swimming and Diving State Championships in Indianapolis.
King and Thomas both made the trip to the IU Natatorium on Friday morning and extended their stay through Saturday night after qualifying for championship heats.
The Top 16 in each event as part of Friday’s preliminary round qualified for championship races on Saturday. King started the fun with regards to our coverage area duo and performed well on Friday in the preliminaries of the 500 freestyle, placing 10th out of 32 total swimmers in a time of 4:40.46. That time not only solidified his spot for Saturday, but also allowed him to once again break his own school record in the event, this time around doing it by nearly two whole seconds.
Had he been able to sustain such a time on Saturday, King would have found himself in the Top 10 of the finals but a bit of a setback in regards to time had the freshman back around his qualifying time to get into the state meet as part of last weekend’s sectional. King’s championship heat saw him place 14th in a time of 4:43.29. Carmel’s Gregg Enoch won the 500 free event at 4:19.55.
Thomas was making his third trip to the state finals and for the first time in those three trips, the Milan senior found himself in a championship heat on Saturday.
Friday’s preliminary heat saw Thomas sneak himself into the finals field, putting together a time of 51.44 seconds in the 100 backstroke to place 15th out of 32 swimmers. That time was just shy of his school record mark of 51.10 seconds set in the sectional last week. He would hover around that same mark on Saturday in the final race of his high school swim career and finish 16th to end his career. Thomas’s time in that final heat sat at 52.63 seconds and he was less than a second off of finishing as high as 12th in the race. Center Grove sophomore Henry Lyness won the 100 back championship in a time of 48.06 seconds.
Bloomington South’s David Kovacs, who battled Thomas in the sectional, finished runner-up at 48.71 seconds.
In terms of team standings, King and Thomas grabbed three points and one point respectively for their school. Carmel won its 10th-straight state championship and did so in overwhelming fashion. The Greyhounds scored 409 points and runner-up Penn totaled 165 points. Fishers, Zionsville and Bloomington South rounded out the top five.
While Thomas’s career comes to a close at Milan, King will have three more years at Oldenburg to work towards repeat bids to the state finals. With the boys swim season now in the books, local programs look towards the summer swim slate which will see many familiar names be a part of that action.
