2026 GIRLS SWIMMING AND DIVING PREVIEW
 

CLASS 6A
 
2025 State champion: Blue Valley North
 
2025 State runner-up: Shawnee Mission East
 
2025 Review: After winning its first state championship in 18 years in 2024, Blue Valley North renewed its lease as the reigning title holder, earning victories in seven of the 12 events at the state meet to roll up 375 points – 10 more than the Mustangs scored at state two seasons ago. Seniors Margo Hauser and Sarah Blake led the way with four gold-medal performances, with Hauser selected as the 6A swimmer of the meet after repeating as the 500-yard freestyle champion to go with victories in the 200 individual medley, 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay. Blake defended her state title in the 50 freestyle and added victories in the 100 freestyle, 200 free relay and 400 free relay. Blake, classmates Siena Masilionis and Charlotte Barton, and newcomer Liddy McCoy also set the 200 free relay meet record in 1:36.21, cutting .11 off the record time the Mustangs’ team of Blake, Masilionis, Barton and Lillie Mock set in 2024. Hauser teamed with Maddy Timson, Molly Stevens and Masilionis for the medley relay victory, while Hauser, Blake, Barton and McCoy capped the meet with a victory of almost 11 seconds in the 400 free relay. The Mustangs finished 131 points ahead of Shawnee Mission East, which got its top finish from Emmy Barrett, who took second in the 100 backstroke. Diver Irene Gettya showed her freshman state victory was no fluke, posting a personal-best, 11-dive score of 519.20 to win her second title in as many seasons. That helped Olathe East finish third in the team competition, one spot ahead of 2024 runner-up Blue Valley Northwest, which got a pair of runner-up finishes from Maggie Dahl in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Olathe South, which finished fifth, had the state meet’s other individual double-gold winner in Kira Jacobs. Jacobs completed a long-awaited title quest in the 200 free, topping Dahl with a time of 1:53.07. She also reclaimed a school record from her twin sister Mia with a victory in the 100 backstroke, swimming 58.19 to edge Barrett by .21. A pair of sophomores, Mill Valley’s Abigale Stidham-Ebberts and Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Fia Boshart, also became first-time individual 6A champions. Stidham-Ebberts won the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.80 and Boshart improved on her second-place finish as a freshman in the 100 butterfly, winning in 56.25.
 
2026 Contenders: There was really no doubt where the Class 6A team title favorite resided last year. Blue Valley North entered the season with limited graduation losses, and with talented veterans in Margo Hauser and Sarah Blake leading the way, the Mustangs put together a successful title defense in dominant fashion. Both quadruple gold-medal winners have graduated along with Siena Masilionis and Charlotte Barton, who each won four state medals a year ago. Junior Maddy Timson, part of North’s reigning 200 medley relay championship team, is focusing on club swimming this year, leaving the Mustangs with a pair of sophomores among their top returnees in Liddy McCoy, who was part of a state-meet record-setting 200 freestyle relay, and Molly Stevens, who collected a medley relay gold and medaled with McCoy in the 100 butterfly last spring. The Mustangs also return a two-time state medalist in junior diver Olivia Clifton. Shawnee Mission East will try to close the gap on North with the return of seniors Georgia Boyd and Natalie Jones. Both won four state medals last season, with Boyd taking sixth in the 500 free and eighth in the 200 free. Jones provides the Lancers with an anchor in the sprint freestyles, while junior Vada Walsh is back after finishing seventh at state in the 100 backstroke and helping a pair of relays to third-place finishes. Olathe East was one of three teams to finish with more than 200 points at last year’s state meet, and the Hawks return 6A’s top diver in junior Irene Gettya, who will go for her third state title this season. Senior Libby Barney had a breakthrough state meet a year ago with third-place finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyles, and sophomore Katharine Costello took second in the 100 backstroke while helping two relays post top-five finishes. Blue Valley Northwest has two of 6A’s top distance freestylers in seniors Maggie Dahl and Aahana Basak. Dahl is the top returnee in the 200 and 500 freestyles after taking second at state in both a year ago, while Basak is a two-time state placer in the 500. The Huskies will be without triple state medalist in Natalie Churchill, who elected to bypass the high school season. The graduation losses of double-gold medalist Kira Jacobs and her twin sister Mia create a void in the pool for Olathe South, but the Falcons return one of the state’s top divers in Leighton Saunders, last year’s Sunflower League runner-up to Gettya. Olathe Northwest finished sixth at state last season and returns a talented senior in Angela McCoy, who finished second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 200 individual medley, an event in which she returns with the state’s top time. Sophomore Evy Wyrick is a returning medalist in the 500 free. Shawnee Mission Northwest returns the top butterfly swimmer in junior Fia Boshart, who won the event at state last year after finishing second as a freshman. The versatile Boshart has also placed at state in the 100 breaststroke and 200 freestyle. Blue Valley West earned state podium finishes in four events last season and returns contributors to all of those. Senior Emma Huebner finished eighth in the 200 IM and sophomore Caitlyn Chopra was seventh in the 100 breast. Both return from the Jaguars’ medal-winning medley relay. Sophomore Avery Johnson earned all-state honors after taking fourth in the 500 free. Junior Helena Mattes has piled up state medals in each of her first two seasons for Free State. She was fourth in the 100 breast and fifth in the 200 IM, and helped two Firebird relays earn medals. Mill Valley returns an individual state champion in junior Abby Stidham-Ebberts, who won the breaststroke after taking second in the 50 free. Senior Claire Cooper has won individual medals at state the last two seasons and has been a key part of the Jaguars’ medal-winning relays. Washburn Rural senior Audrey Appuhn has been a regular on the state medal stand, taking third in the breast and sixth in the 200 free last season. Jordan Kleeman earned three state medals last season for Wichita East, including a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly. The reigning Greater Wichita Athletic League champ in that event also took fifth at state in the 100 backstroke. Derby’s Ridlee Parkhurst is one of the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail’s top returnees. She finished sixth in the 100 breast and seventh in the 200 free at state. Olathe West welcomes back one of the top sprint freestylers in Eliza Killough, who was third in the 50 free. While Gettya is the favorite in 6A diving, Olathe North senior Avery Metcalf was the runner-up to her last season after finishing eighth as a sophomore. 
 

CLASS 5-1A
 
2025 State champion: Andover
 
2025 State runner-up: Blue Valley Southwest
 
2025 Review: Led by a senior trio who got their first taste of state victory as freshmen, Andover won its second 5-1A team title in four years by unseating two-time defending champion Blue Valley Southwest. The Trojans won four events, claimed a pair of state meet records and scored 304 points to outpace Southwest’s 276.5. Andover’s Mari Griffin, Kiersten Elliott and Sophia Mandanis opened the finals by teaming with Griffin’s younger sister, Hollyn, to set a meet record in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing in 1:46.09 for the Trojans’ fourth consecutive state victory in the event. The same quartet also won the 400 freestyle relay, giving Andover the bulk of its margin of victory over Southwest, which took the 200 free relay title. Griffin also rebounded from a narrow loss to Wichita Trinity’s Aleca Howard in the 200 individual medley to win her third career gold in the 100 backstroke with a meet-record 54.88. Elliott collected Andover’s other gold, winning the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.75 after top-four finishes in the event her first three seasons. Southwest was led by Willow Weninger’s triple-gold performance, one of which came in the 200 freestyle relay, where she teamed with Ashlyn Bolyard, Sophia Sponseller and Molly Hartweger to set a meet record of 1:38.53. Weninger also defended her state titles in the 200 and 500 freestyles, while Bolyard was victorious in the 100 butterfly. Those performances helped the Timberwolves finish second by 61.5 points over Lansing, which was anchored by Makaila Hayes’ runner-up finish in the breaststroke as well as second-place finishes in the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay. Another state-meet record fell in the 50 freestyle, where Hillsboro’s Lauryn Vogt claimed it all to herself after tying Winfield’s Kathy Echiverri’s 26-year-old mark in a 2024 state victory. Vogt, the 5-1A swimmer of the meet, swam 23.57 in the prelims, then dropped to 23.39 in the finals to defend her title in the event. Vogt also vacated her 100 butterfly title from the previous year and won the 100 freestyle in 50.28 to outpace runner-up Howard, whose victory in the 200 IM was the third of her state career. In diving, Emporia’s Allisyn Weiss won her second state title, surpassing her 11-dive score from the 2024 meet with a 453.75 total. St. Thomas Aquinas and Kapaun Mt. Carmel rounded out the top five in the team competition, with Aquinas edging Kapaun 119-118 for fourth.
 
2026 Contenders: Andover made its way back to the top of Class 5-1A last season with seniors Mari Griffin, Kiersten Elliott and Sophia Mandanis as the headliners. Griffin, now swimming at Arkansas, and Elliott each collected individual gold for the Trojans at state. But Andover got solid contributions from underclassmen who will try to help the Trojans make another title run. Sophomore Hollyn Griffin, Mari’s sister, collected a pair of relay golds and set a school record in a fourth-place finish in the 500 freestyle. She also took fifth in the 200 individual medley. Griffin was among five freshmen who scored state points for the Trojans. Alli Zerger also reached the podium, finishing third as part of the Trojans’ 200 freestyle relay and eighth in the 100 butterfly. After winning 5-1A team titles in 2023 and 2024, Blue Valley Southwest sets its sights on reclaiming the crown after a 2025 runner-up finish. Senior Willow Weninger returns as a strong favorite in the distance freestyles after winning the 200 each of her first three seasons and the 500 each of the last two years. Weninger was part of meet record-setting 200 freestyle relay last year along with Ashlyn Bolyard, Sophia Sponseller and Molly Hartweger. Bolyard is not competing this season, but Sponseller, a third-place state finisher in the 100 butterfly, and Hartweger are back. Sophomore Hayden Houseworth also returns after finishing seventh in diving. Lansing climbed from fifth two years ago to third last season. The Lions have depth that could take them higher with seniors Makaila Hayes and Mary Archambault leading the way. Hayes is the state’s top returnee in the 100 breaststroke after finishing second last season, and was a key part of Lansing’s 200 and 400 freestyle relays, which posted top-three finishes. Archambault medaled in the 50 free and 100 fly each of the last two seasons, and swam on state runner-up relays in the 200 medley and 200 free. Junior Katelyn Johannes also swam on the medley relay and finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke, while sophomore Piper Kobs made a huge splash in her debut season, setting school records in the 500 free and 100 back while medaling at state in the 200 free and back. St. Thomas Aquinas has one of the state’s best distance freestylers in Ridley Newell, a three-time state place in the 500 free and two-time medalist in the 200 IM. Newell helped the Saints finish fourth among a cluster of teams that included Kapaun Mt. Carmel, which returns a two-time state diving medalist in senior Gabby Kinman. Andover Central made a significant climb last season, finishing sixth in 5-1A. Senior Sienna Hurst played a key part, winning three state medals, including sixth in the 50 free and eighth in the 100 free after medaling in the 100 breaststroke as a sophomore. Senior diver Sydney Schumaker and junior Madelyn McCluskey, who won three state medals last season, are back for Maize South. Schumaker finished third in the 1-meter competition, which Schumaker boosted two Maverick relays to podium finishes along with her seventh-place finish in the 100 free. After tying and setting the 5-1A meet record in the 50 freestyle the last two seasons, Hillsboro senior Lauryn Vogt is back to defend that title and is also the reigning 100 free champ. Vogt, who swam 23.39 in the 50 last season, has signed with the University of Kansas. One of those chasing Vogt has been Elisabeth Howell of Leavenworth, who helped the Pioneers secure a top-10 team finish last season with fourth-place efforts in the 50 and 100 free. Howell also medaled at state in the 100 and 200 free as a sophomore. Senior Genevieve Wilhite has been knocking on the door of an individual state title since her freshman season for Bishop Carroll. She took fourth in the 200 freestyle and 100 backstroke last year to raise her career state medal count to 10. Another senior, Maggie Bailey, returns after finishing seventh in 5-1A in the 200 IM. Basehor-Linwood returns one of the state’s top distance freestyle standouts in senior Jadyn Bruch, who took third in 5-1A the 200 and 500 last season and is the reigning United Kansas League champ in the 500. Norwich’s Kimberlyn Grim is back after finishing just ahead of Bruch in the 200 free at state, taking second. Grim also finished fifth in the 100 back.