On Friday, Feb. 13, the Iowa High School Athletic Association kicked off the annual Boys State Swim Meet. Held in downtown Iowa City at the Campus and Recreation Wellness Center, the Iowa City West Trojans were on the hunt for their second championship under head coach Byron Butler.
The Night started with preliminary rounds, with qualifications to follow the next day. Hudson Huberg ’26 got the first finals qualification for the Trojans, placing 6th in the 200-meter freestyle. Throughout the night, many Trojans qualified, setting up Saturday in a good spot to score a lot of points. Notable performances came from Oliver Mikulski in the 50-meter freestyle, swimming a personal best time of 20.71 seconds, and Winston Fan ’26, as well as Jack Tunwall ’28, in the 100-meter breaststroke, both qualifying for the finals.
The following day carried lots of emotion and excitement as the Trojans headed into the finals as one of the top-seeded teams. The meet kicked off with the 200-meter medley relay, with the West quartet of Ethan Landon ’27, Tunwall, Fan and Mikulski. The Trojans took home first place in the relay, putting up the team’s first 40 points. Then again, in the 200-meter freestyle relay, the Trojans put up another 40 points comprised of Mikulski, Link Ortman ’28, Fan and Huberg.
On the individual side of the meet, the Trojan-Bolts performed exceptionally well also. In the 50-meter freestyle finals, Mikulski placed fifth, gathering 14 points for the team. In the 100-meter Fly, Fan touched the wall in second place, putting up another 17 points. For the 100-meter Backstroke, Landon finished second, adding 17 more points to the team total.
After the final event of the day, the Trojan-bolts were in first place with a team score of 194 points, and Linn-Mar in a close second with 180. West’s quartet of Paulson, Mikulski, Landon and Huberg held off the Lions, securing the State Championship for the Trojan-Bolts.
