Coming off a win against Linn-Mar Dec. 16, the Trojan Bolts continued their undefeated season with a victory at the Little Hawk Invite at Mercer Aquatic Center Dec. 20. The team totaled 488 points across 11 events, narrowly edging runner-up Ankeny, which finished with 448 points and won the invite last year.
Despite battling illness throughout the lineup, the Trojan Bolts had a strong showing in both individual and relay events.
Notable individual performances included University of Minnesota commit Hudson Huberg ‘27, who placed first in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke; Oliver Mikulski ‘27, who placed first in the 50-yard freestyle; Calvin University commit Nikolai Paulson ‘26, who finished second in both the 200- and 500- yard freestyle; Winston Fan, who placed first in the 100-yard freestyle second and in the the 200-yard individual medley; and Ethan Landon ‘27, who won the 100-yard backstroke and placed second in the 100-yard butterfly.
As for relays, the Trojan Bolts swept first place in the 200-yard medley relay, 200-yard freestyle relay and 400-yard freestyle relay. In the medley relay, Landon swam the backstroke, Jack Tunwall ‘26 swam the breaststroke, Fan swam the butterfly and Mikulski swam the freestyle, finishing with a winning time of 1:37.14. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mikulski, Tunwall, Paulson and Huberg won with a time of 1:31.12, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Paulson, Fan, Landon and Huberg finished first in 3:18.75.
Find full results here.
Landon believes the team’s ability to perform under difficult circumstances is a sign of the state-winning season they have been working toward.
“Today’s win showed that our team can take on unique challenges and persevere through illness,” Landon said. “There were so many underclassmen who took a huge leap today, and I feel like this team is in a great spot to compete following the break.”
Following the meet, Landon emphasized that every individual effort contributes to the team’s overall success
“Individually, I hope to place well at state and make the biggest impact I can to help our team achieve our goal of winning state,” Landon said.
Landon also credited the team’s success to its culture and camaraderie, not just athletic talent.
“At the end of the season, I hope our team is in a place where I can walk up to any one of our guys and call him a brother,” Landon said. “I also want to see all the guys have a newfound love for the sport because the culture we are building this year is something special.”
The Trojan Bolts return to the pool at Cedar Rapids Washington Jan. 6.
