Olathe East snags state title

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Garvey Scott | The Kansas City Star

As his team celebrated Saturday afternoon at the Capitol Federal Natatorium in Topeka, top, Olathe East swimming coach Dave Youker (foreground, center) congratulated his swimmers. Olathe East senior Austin Acheson, middle, won the 500-yard freestyle in record time: 4 minutes, 34.54 seconds. Olathe East’s Cris Smith, bottom, finished third in the 200 freestyle.

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When Dave Youker started the Olathe East boys swimming program in the early 1990s, he had seven kids out, he recalls. Since then, the Hawks have grown into one of the state’s top teams.

The culmination of all those of years of persistence came Saturday in the form of the program’s first state championship.

Olathe East senior Austin Acheson said afterward that he had really hoped to be a part of the senior class that finally delivered that first state title. And what a senior class it was.

Acheson was chosen the athlete of the meet after setting a state-meet record time on the way to winning his second 500-yard freestyle state championship, in 4 minutes, 34.54 seconds.

“It’s kind of indescribable,” Acheson said after the meet. “It really hasn’t dawned on me yet all the individual stuff I’ve gotten just because we were so psyched up about getting No. 1 at this meet.”

Senior Joe Knight placed second in the 200 freestyle and third in the 100 butterfly. Senior Cris Smith was third in the 200 freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly. Senior David Wagner placed fourth in diving.

They highlighted a senior class that finished its final varsity season on top. The Hawks will look different next year without them, but the program has a wealth of depth these days.

Sophomore Ben Scheffer continued his emergence this season into one of the area’s top swimmers. He won his first state title in the 100 backstroke, and claimed fourth place in the 100 butterfly.

Freshman Ben Bravence already has established himself as one of the top 500 freestyle swimmers in the state. He took third on Saturday (and fourth in the 200 freestyle), finishing 4.14 seconds behind Acheson’s record-setting time.

“Honestly, I think my record is going to be very short-lived,” Acheson said.

And in the final event of the meet, Scheffer, Smith, Bravence and Knight put an exclamation point of the afternoon by winning the 400 freestyle relay.

•Olathe Northwest became the first program since 2002 to have divers finish first and second at the Kansas state meet.

Ravens freshman Clark Thomas completed an undefeated season, winning the state championship Saturday with a score of 468.95 – the highest winning score in three years.

“I look back on it as just a great freshman year of high school diving,” Thomas said. “This was a great experience, and I’ll remember it throughout my whole high school career.”

Senior teammate Brandon Stoppelmoor was the state runner-up for the second year in a row.

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