From placing second at the Linn-Mar Invitational to dominating in their home meet against Waterloo West, the Trojan Bolts have shown strong performance across the 2024-25 season.

The Iowa High School Athletics Association’s boys swimming state championships held on Feb. 14 and 15 were no exception to their streak — the Trojan Bolts placed second overall, with 181 points. 37 teams convened in Iowa City, at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center (CRWC), competing across several events. The Trojan Bolts came back to the CRWC ready to dominate after placing fifth in the state championships the previous year.

Leading up to this, the Trojan Bolts competed at the IHSAA District swim meet Feb. 8. After Hayden Hakes ’25, Winston Fan ’26, Oliver Mikulski ’26 and Ethan Landon ’27 placed first in their respective events, in addition to winning the relays, they landed their spot to swim at the IHSAA state meet. A noteworthy performance from Nikolai Paulson ’26 also earned him a spot.

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Shanza Sami

Henry McDonald '28 races against Waterloo West in the 50-yard freestyle during the Trojan Bolts senior night, held in the Coralville Aquatic Center.

Day one marked the preliminaries, where Hakes kicked off the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:41.00 split. Mikulski swam the 50-yard freestyle, securing a time of 21.15. 

Additionally, Fan clinched the second-fastest time of 48.83 in the 100-yard butterfly. Hakes had a time of 4:31.11 in the 500-yard freestyle. Lastly, Landon was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.02.

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Shanza Sami

Liberty's Jack Tunwall '28 swims the 100-yard breaststroke preliminaries.

These strong individual performances led the Trojan Bolts to continue competing during the finals on day two. The day kicked off with the 200-yard medley relay, with Landon, Fan, Mikulski and Hakes securing first with a final time of 1:30.48. 

Hakes continues his winning streak, securing first place in the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle, with times of 1:37.29 and 4:25.54, respectively. Hakes swam his personal best times in both events. 

Fan also reached the podium in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard breaststroke, placing third in both events, with times of 48.93 and 55.88, respectively. 

Concluding the meet, the Trojan Bolts competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay. With a narrow margin of less than a second, they fell short of Dubuque Hempstead, who placed first. 

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Shanza Sami

Winston Fan '26 races in the final moments of the 100-yard breaststroke, securing a time of 55.88 and earning 16 points.

After distributing awards for the 400-yard free relay, the IHSAA issued the top awards among all competing teams — notably, the “Coach of the Year” and “State Athlete of the Year” awards, as well as the overall team placements.  

Hakes’s stellar performance led him to be named “State Athlete of the Year” by the IHSAA, in a three-way tie between Linn-Mar’s Parker Macho and Finn Martin. 

The Trojan Bolts ultimately placed second overall, behind Dubuque Hempstead, who earned 213.5 points. 

From eighth place in 2023 to fifth place in 2024 and, now, second place, the Trojan Bolts ended their 2024-25 season strong.

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Shanza Sami

Hayden Hakes '25 was named "State Athlete of the Year" at the conclusion of the meet.