TOPEKA — Another 6A state swimming and diving championship meet, another sweep of the relays by Blue Valley North on the way to a team title.

Blue Valley North seniors Margo Hauser and Sarah Blake each completed a four-gold medal performance to help lead the Mustangs wins in seven events on the way to a repeat as the 6A state champions for girls swimming and diving.

The Mustangs racked up 375 points to win this year’s title at Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka on May 24. Shawnee Mission East took state runner-up with 244 points while Olathe East finished third with 216.

“I think the kids had had a lot of high goals and I think they accomplished many of them here at the meet,” said Rob Cole, Blue Valley North head coach. “I think they were just prepared mentally to come in and get the job done.”

Blue Valley North’s points total ties them with Blue Valley West’s 2021 squad for the most points by a 6A champion since 2016. The last 6A squad to finish with a higher total was Shawnee Mission East at 386 in 2016, which was the last of six championships in seven years for Lancers under Cole before he took over both Blue Valley North programs in 2017.

With the Mustangs’ boys team clinching a three-peat back in February, Cole has accumulated a total of 11 state titles as a head coach.

In addition to their team state championship and seven wins in 12 events, Hauser was also named the 6A Swimmer of the Meet for her performance.

Hauser won the 200-yard individual medley and the 500-yard freestyle races as an individual. She also swam the second leg of the team’s 200-yard medley relay and the anchor of the team’s 400-yard freestyle relay.

Hauser said she was a little surprised when her name was announced for the award. Her performances mirrored that of her own teammate, fellow senior Sarah Blake. Olathe South senior Kira Jacobs also joined Hauser and Blake in earning double gold as individuals.
 

“I think that Sarah and Kira both also had amazing performances,” Hauser said. “I think that any of us could have (received the award). All of us deserved that award, so I think that they also should be recognized for the amazing meet they had had. But it is exciting to get it.”

Hauser had previously swam the 500 free and 100 breaststroke as her two individual events for each of her first three state outings. Starting with third in the 500 free and fourth in the 100 breaststroke as a freshman, Hauser improved a spot each year on her way to winning her first individual gold in the 500 free last season.

Her state runner-up performance in the 100 breaststroke also happened to put her nearly three seconds behind the champion, Blue Valley West’s Annika Finzen, who was completing her own double-gold performance for the fourth time in her career.

Despite Finzen graduating from the event, Hauser decided that she did not want to close out her high school career with her swims backloaded at the state meet. 

“One of the things is just the time between events and how much rest I would have,” Hauser said. “In the past I’ve done the 500 free and the 100 breaststroke and it’s just been a really tight turnaround.”

In terms of choosing her replacement race for the 100 breaststroke, Hauser did not necessarily see any easy pickings.

“All of the events this year had really great competition, which is always super exciting, makes for a really good race,” Hauser said. “I think I couldn’t go wrong with any of the events I could have picked. But overall, it just came down to timing and what I felt most confident in.”

Behind her top seed time for the 500 free, Hauser’s best races on the 6A leaderboard heading into state were her second best times in both the 100 breaststroke and the 200 individual medley.

Although her time of 2:05.38 trailed Olathe South senior Mia Jacobs by 0.21 seconds, Hauser finished with prelims as the frontrunner even as she swam a 2:05.56. While Jacobs never returned to a sub-2:06 time during her state races, Hauser pushed her best time down to another 1.58 seconds to run away with first place.
 

Sophomore Maddy Timson, Hauser, freshman Molly Stevens and senior Siena Masilionis finished with a time of 1:47.19, nearly five seconds ahead of runner-up Olathe East in the 200-yard medley relay.

Senior Sarah Blake duplicated the same haul of four gold medals. Blake took first in the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles.

Blake was not able to replicate her season best time of 23.48, or even her 23.62 from prelims, but she still delivered a 23.75 in the 50 free finals to repeat as the 6A champion in that race.

Blake also finished prelims with the best time in the 100 free with a 51.68, but would not have the same lead in the finals. Mia Jacobs closed in on that mark with a 52.74, followed closely by Blue Valley North senior Charlotte Barton at 53.72. Blake ended up pushing down her best time by 0.41 seconds to win the race. She took second in this event last year.

Cole said Blake was able to make those improvements from prelims to finals in both of those races because she is a swimmer who is very consistent and very coachable.

“She's about as steady as you can be,” Cole said. “She steps up, either she's on her time, gets a little bit off, or just a little bit under. She's super consistent. 

“She is super coachable. She wants to know how she can improve every race, just by a few feet difference, just by doing something a little bit different. She made some nice adjustments from yesterday to today to accomplish that.”

Blake would win two more gold medals as part of the Mustangs’ 200 and 400 free relay teams.

Blake, Masilionis, freshman Liddy McCoy and Barton broke that 200 free relay state record with a time of 1:36.21. Blake, Masilionis and Barton previously set the record last year with Lillie Mock rounding out their quartet which swam a 1:36.32.
 

The Mustangs closed out state with Blake, Barton, McCoy and Hauser winning the 400 free relay with a time of 3:31.24, nearly 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Olathe South.

“I was just really proud of myself and the whole entire team,” Blake said. “We work really hard. We have doubles and we just put a lot of time and effort into training. I think (the repeat state championship win) was well deserved for how much we put into it.”

In addition to her three golds and one silver from the last two years, Blake also earned a pair of third-place finishes in those same individual events. As a freshman, Blake took fourth in the 100 free, one spot behind her sister Caroline Blake. In the 50 free that year, the older Blake finished as the state runner-up while the younger sister finished sixth.

Barton swam those final two relays alongside Blake this year. In addition to Barton’s gold medals in those races, she also took fifth in the 200 free with a time of 1:57.32.

“I've been with some of these girls — Margo, Sarah, and Siena since freshman year — seeing how everyone's improved so much just makes me so excited for everybody and so proud of everybody,” Barton said. “This team works really hard and I'm just really proud.”

Masiliones echoed Barton’s sentiment: “I feel very honored to be a part of such an incredible team. There's so many incredible individual swimmers in Kansas, but being part of a team where you have so many incredible people and being able to put together such a strong relay is something that I just feel so lucky to be a part of. 

“I'm just so proud of all these girls.”

Timson followed up her performance in the opening relay with a pair of fourth-place finishes in her individual events. She swam the 200 IM with a time of 2:09.77 while posting a time of 59.85 in the 100-yard backstroke final.

Timson said she was happy with how she performed in the relay, although she was hoping for slightly better times in her individual races.
 

“They were good, but they definitely weren't what I hoped for,” Timson said. “But I'm still happy with how I raced and I'm just hoping to improve more for next season.”

Masilionis took fifth in both of her individual events, going 24.68 in the 50 free and 54.40 in the 100 free.

Before finishing her first state outing with two gold medals and a state record in her relay performances, McCoy took fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 58.30 and sixth in the 200 IM with a time of 2:11.26.

For McCoy, the highlight of her first state outing was definitely the 200 free relay.

“I just couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to share a state record with,” McCoy said. “It was so much fun, and we really got each other excited beforehand. We went in with a lot of confidence that we could break it, so it was really fun that we ended up doing it. We all swam really well individually.

“I think it was just a really fun moment to share with this great team.”

Stevens followed up her gold medal in the opening relay by earning fifth place in the 100 fly with a time of 59.31. She also took 10th in the 500 free with a time of 5:32.81.

Junior Olivia Clifton took fifth in the one-meter diving event with a score of 372.00. Junior Allie Braun finished 11th in that event with a score of 345.15.

Sophomore Hannah Chan took 10th in the 100 free with a time of 56.24. Chan ended up suffering a disqualification in the prelims of her other event, the 100-yard breaststroke.

Although the Mustangs will graduate Hauser, Blake, Barton, Masiliones and Katie Rees, Cole still sees a roster that might be able to build itself up next season to have a chance at chasing a three-peat.

“Next year we’ll be in the hunt and I think that’s all we can be,” Cole said. “I can’t say that we’ll be the best team at the start of the year, but we may be fortunate to be by the end.”