Wichita Collegiate may not have the depth to challenge the likes of Andover Central and Kapaun Mt. Carmel for the team title at this weekend's Class 5-1A state swimming and diving championships at Topeka's Capitol Federal Natatorium.
 
But what the Spartans lack in quantity they more than made up for with quality during Friday's preliminaries.
 
And it revolved around junior Adam Sandid. Last year's Class 5-1A state champion in the freestyle sprints with a sweep of the 50 and 100 titles, Sandid showed Friday he can go the distance as well.
 
He began his pursuit of double gold with a blazing time of 1 minute, 41.32 seconds in the 200-yard freestyle that blew away the field by more than three seconds and topping his previous season best by more than a second. Sandid then came back in the 100 freestyle and posted the top qualifying time by nearly a second with a 46.28 that was just under his season best.
 
Sandid also helped Collegiate started the meet with a bang, teaming with Evan Yang, Joseph Gadalla and Derek Yang to dropped three seconds off their previous season best in the 200 medley relay with a 1:36.58 that was a second and a half faster than Andover Central.
 
For good measure, Sandid, Gadalla, Derek Yang and Paul Mines posted the fastest qualifying time in the 200 freestyle relay by more than four seconds with a 1:26.10 to give the Spartans four top seeds going into Saturday's finals – the most of any school in 5-1A.
 
Other top qualifiers in Class 5-1A included:
 

• Bishop Seabury's Ian Blake battled through a strained rotator cuff to post the fastest qualifying time in both of his events. The defending state champion in the 100 butterfly, Blake topped his season best by just more than two seconds with a 51.95, a second faster than top-seeded Luke Perkins of Shawnee Heights (52.95). Blake then came back in the 100 breaststroke with a 58.15, more than a second and a half faster than Collegiate's Gadalla.
• Wichita Independent's Daniel Jekov posted a 52.23 in the 100 backstroke to just edge defending state champion Frank Alberti of Kapaun Mt. Carmel for the top prelim time with Alberti right behind in 52.27 and Crusader teammate Jackson Burrus not far back in 52.95.
• Wichita Independent's Matthew Janssen qualified first in the 200 individual medley in 1:58.10, more than a second ahead of Andover Central's Brian Nguyen (1:59.32).
• Nguyen came back strong in the 500 freestyle, qualifying first in 4:53.13, nearly three seconds ahead of teammate Lucas Krueger. Both capped the prelims by joining PJ Damico and Jackson Lee for the top mark in the 400  freestyle relay in 3:16.31.
• Maize South's Regan Richardson just nipped Blue Valley Southwest's Jack Hanahan for the fastest time in the 50 freestyle. Richardson won his heat in 21.44, a mere .04 seconds faster than Hanahan won his. Five swimmers were under 22 seconds.

KRISTOFF'S RECORD SPARKS OLATHE EAST TO FAST START IN CLASS 6A
 
Bidding to capture the program's first state championship since 2009, Olathe East got off to a strong start during Friday's Class 6A preliminaries at Topeka's Capitol Federal Natatorium.
 
The Hawks had the top qualifying marks in four events with senior Keaton Kristoff having a hand in three of those. The defending state champion in the 500 freestyle, Kristoff went a different way this season at state and looked pretty good doing it.
 
Record-setting, in fact.
 
Kristoff blazed to a time of 49.30 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke, which broke the Class 6A state record of 49.54 set by Blue Valley West's Kevin Glenn at last year's state meet. Kristoff was nearly three seconds ahead of the field and shaved 
 
Earlier in the meet, Kristoff cruised to the top time in the 200 individual medley by nearly three seconds with his time of 1 minute, 53.67 seconds with Derby's William McCabe second in 1:56.53, a new school record. Kristoff also teamed with John Costello, Micah Leslie and Gavin Frigon to qualify first in the 200 medley relay to start the meet with the Hawks' time of 1:35.09 just more than a second faster than Shawnee Mission East.
 
Leslie, the defending state champion in the 100 butterfly, showed he's the one to beat for the crown in the event again this year. He easily was the top qualifier with his time of 49.52, nearly a full second ahead of Blue Valley West's Aidan White (50.41).
 
Leslie also threw himself deep in the mix for the 50 freestyle title with a 20.63 prelim swim. That was just .02 seconds behind top qualifier Drayden Bell, who is the three-time reigning champion in the event.
 
In addition to positioning himself for the career sweep in the 50 free, Bell is also going for his third straight 100 freestyle title and had no trouble posting the fastest qualifying time in that event, his 44.74 more than two seconds faster than Derby's McCabe.
 
Other top qualifiers in Class 6A included:
 

• Blue Valley North's Sam Peterson just edged Wichita North's Lane Werth for the top time in the 200 freestyle. Peterson finished in 1:43.32 while Werth was right behind in 1:43.69. The two flipped the script in the 500 freestyle with Werth qualifying first in 4:50.04 and Peterson second in 4:51.40.
• Shawnee Mission East's 200 freestyle relay team of Bo Kimmel, Aaron Ralston, Will Roberts and Coleman Stephens qualified first in 1:28.55, just under a minute faster than Blue Valley North. East's Evan Deedy was the top qualifier in the 100 breaststroke in 57.41, nearly a second faster than Wichita Heights' Javan Titus (58.24).
• Olathe Northwest posted the fastest mark in the 400 freestyle relay with Paul Turberg, Jake LaRue, Noah Branstrom and Andrew Evans clocking a 3:15.48, a second and a half faster than Blue Valley North.

The state finals will be held Saturday with Class 5-1A beginning at 9 a.m. and Class 6A starting at 3 p.m.