The KHSAA State Swimming Championships presented by UK HealthCare begin on February 18-19 at the Lancaster Aquatics Center, University of Kentucky.
The boys meet is Friday, with preliminaries beginning at 10:15 a.m. and finals at 6:45 p.m. The girls meet is Saturday with the same schedule.
All fans must note that advance tickets are not being sold and the facility has a limit of 500 patrons. Additional information is here.
Northern Kentucky will have a vast array of swimmers in the preliminary rounds. There are 40 qualifiers in each event, 22 are at-large entries, which Northern Kentucky gets plenty of.
Here is a look at some of the top storylines for swimming fans to note this weekend:
Kruger hopes for smooth sailing to titles
Notre Dame junior Lainy Kruger is Northern Kentucky’s best hope for a state championship this weekend.
Kruger is the top seed in both the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke after winning both events at the regional meet.
Kruger won the regional title in the 100 breaststroke by 6.15 seconds. She is the defending state champion in that event. Her time of 1:02.25 was just a tenth of a second off her meet record from last year.
Kruger won the 200-yard freestyle in 1 minute, 47.84 seconds, claiming a 7.1-second win over second place and shattering a meet record set in 2016 by former Pandas great Sophie Skinner.
Seeding-wise, she has 1.07-second edge over second place in the 100 breaststroke and a commanding 3.12-second advantage in the 200 freestyle.
She was the most outstanding swimmer of the Region 7 meet. Sadie Hartig and Riley Quinn were also all-region picks. Hartig is seeded to win a medal in both of her events.
Raiders rule them all
Ryle is ready to rule the pool after a championship performance at the Region 7 meet.
Ryle won the girls championship and the combined team championship for the second straight season, and narrowly missed a clean sweep in the boys standings after finishing second to Highlands by 29.5 points.
The girls team was led by Reese Yauger and Bethany Weber, who were both named to the all-tournament team.
Yauger, just a freshman, won the 200 individual medley and finished second in the 100 butterfly. She also helped the Raiders to the championship in both freestyle relays.
Weber, a senior, won the 100 freestyle and and finished second in the 200 free and combined with Yauger to win the 400 free relay.
Yauger is seeded fifth in the state in the 200 IM based on regional performances throughout the state, and 16th in the butterfly.
Weber is seeded third in the 100 freestyle and sixth in the 200 free.
The Ryle boys team was led by all-region performers Roman Furuta, Parker Coop and Chase Knopf.
Furuta won the 100 butterfly at the regional meet and finished second in the 200 IM.
Coop finished third in the 200 freestyle and 500 free. He is seeded ninth at state in the 500.
Knopf won the 100 free at regionals and finished second ahead of Coop in the 200 free.
The trio helped the Raiders win all three relays.
Ryle is seeded to win a medal in five of the six total relays at state, the only exception being the 200 medley relay in which the girls team is seeded ninth.
Highlands wins boys title
The Bluebirds held on to their crown in the boys team standings, winning the regional title.
Highlands senior Sam Jones was the male swimmer of the meet after winning the 100 freestyle and 200 free by 3.46 and 7.04 seconds, respectively. He helped the 200 medley relay team and the 400 free relay team finish second to earn automatic state berths.
Jones is seeded fourth in the 500 free and ninth in the 100 free. He and the Bluebirds are seeded eighth in the 200 medley relay.
Junior Matt Herfel was an all-region selection after winning the 100 breaststroke and finished third in the 200 IM.
Griffin Barlow, Adam Pawlak and Charlie Banks also had strong individual showings at regionals to score a lot of points for the Bluebirds.
Boone County makes history
Boone County’s girls swimming program set milestones this month. The Rebels sent all three relays to state, and the first time they have qualified a girls relay for state since 2006. None of the Rebels swim on a club team.
Junior Lexi Kollar broke a 17-year-old record in the 100 breaststroke to qualify for state in that event, and is the first girls state qualifier from the school since 2008.
Her fifth-place finish in the event at regionals was the best finish by a girl swimmer since 2005. She swam breast in the 200 Medley, anchored the 200 free relay and swam 3rd in the 400 free relay.
Besides Kollar, the relays are anchored by seniors Syd Whitford, Naomi Lively, Bayleah Vogel and Sophie Pile.
Lively joined the team this season after previously being home-schooled. She was the best butterfly swimmer on the roster, helping big-time on the medley relay. In addition to swimming on all three relays, she was Boone’s first state qualifier in diving since 2013.
Whitford is the all-time leading scorer in the girls program and a member of the 1,000 point club, leading the team since sixth grade. She's also a leader in many campus organizations.
Other underdogs
One of the area’s most noticeable underdogs in the state meet is Covington Latin senior Liam Connelly, who could become a rare student from his school to medal in the state meet.
He is seeded sixth in the 200 individual medley after winning the regional championship in the event.
Another senior from a very small school, Calvary Christian's Caleb Howard, is seeded 12th in the 50 freestyle after winning the regional championship in that event.
Dixie Heights, St. Henry and Covington Catholic are other schools to have swimmers seeded in the top eight in an event, in St. Henry’s case several events.
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