Engulfed in foreign seas and surrounded by a jungle of black and yellow, the St. Louis U. High swim team fought tooth and fin to emerge with new hardware. Last Saturday, the swimmers traveled to Columbia, Mo. to compete in Mizzou’s massive swimming facility. The Jr. Bills tied the Rockhurst Hawks, last year’s State Champions, for second place, an unexpectedly fantastic outcome.

“We’re very happy with where we placed,” said assistant coach Jason Chumley. “Rockhurst placed a lot higher than us last year at State, so we did very well, even being just 38 points behind (the first place team) Lee’s Summit West. I think we achieved our goal in placing high, maybe even overachieving in that area. We’re coming off of that meet feeling very confident.”

The team’s most outstanding event was the 500 yard freestyle, being the only event in which all four of the Jr. Bill entrants scored points (top 16 places earn points). Senior Ned Mehemti led the charge with an astounding performance of 4:48.87, dropping nearly three seconds off of his seed time, and earning him 6th place. Following suit, freshman Jaden Yardbrough rocketed into the wall, swimming the 500 in 4:49:28, five seconds quicker than his seed time and earning him 11th place. With the most significant improvement of any of the distance dudes, freshman Greyson Mueller lowered his time by seven seconds, clocking a 5:03.38 and coming in 14th place. To finish off the endurance quartet junior Brendan Schroeder glided into 16th place by just 0.41 seconds, finishing with a time of 5:08.36.

“My favorite (part of the meet) was honestly watching the 500 swimmers swim,” said senior Brody Nester. “Jaden and Greyson both dropped a ton of time, and everyone was really impressive. They all swam great.”

Mehemti continued to conquer the 200 individual medley, dropping four seconds, and laying claim to the 6th place medal with a 1:58.82. Freshman Ben Chumley revealed the fruits of his arduous labor in the 200 IM as well, shaving off almost three seconds, and scoring the team points at 15th place. Coming off of a detrimental knee injury, junior Gavin Baldes was barely left out of finals with a 17th place finish, but his performance being so close to the threshold bodes well for the state meet. 

The SLUH squad was strong in both endurance and sprinting events, with junior Jason Cabra (6th place) and senior Jonas Hostelter (7th place) both emerging with lightning quick speed in the 50 freestyle. 

All the while, the Jr. Bills were maintaining their comradery, cheering each other on with everything they had.

“The team had really high spirits,” said Nester. “We always had five or six people behind each block to cheer on the swimmer. We all dropped a ton of time and I think part of that is from the cheering. The swimmers could even hear us underwater because we were so loud.”

Like a torpedo, the Jr. Bills shot through the water in order to destroy their enemies. Chumley once again put on an impressive performance, coming in 13th place while dropping 2.5 seconds off of his 100 backstroke, landing him a 57.27. For the second time this season senior Cooper Scharff has made history, shattering both the meet record as well as his own school record in the 100 back, walking away with a gold medal after a blazing fast 49.23 second swim.

“(My favorite event to watch) was Cooper’s 100 back,” said Yardbrough. “It was so much fun to watch, and great to see him win. I just liked watching him swim so fast.”

Continuing the trend of record-breaking feats of skill, senior Sebastian Lawrence destroyed the meet’s diving record, tallying up a score of 523.75 to claim first place for the second year in a row, confirming that his arial elegance is absolutely unmatched.

The U. High swimmers especially shined in the relays of the meet, fueled by their dedication to their brothers in blue. The 200 medley relay, composed of Scharff on back, Mehmeti on breast, Hosteltler on fly, and Cabra on free, kicked off the meet with a third place finish and dropped 1.5 seconds off of their overall time. 

Made up entirely of upperclassmen, the 200 freestyle relay came in clutch to drop 4.33 seconds off of their seed time. All fighting with everything they had, sophomore Henry Unger, junior Gavin Baldes, junior Solomon Shelton, and sophomore Kearney Foy combined their efforts to earn 7th place. 

The finale of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. The Avengers are a powerful team, but this squad of Hostetler, Cabra, Mehmeti, and Scharff may be even more formidable. That team dominated all competition, seemingly imbued with the spirit of a great white they barreled their way to a first place finish with a time of 3:11.31. By the end of the race no one on the swim team was seated, for they were cheering as loud as possible, arms interlocked, behind the block of this great squad. 

“After winning the 400 free relay, we all crowded (behind the lane) and started cheering, and that was easily the best part of the meet,” said freshman Luke Gill.

“Certainly my number one favorite event to watch was the 4x100 free relay,” agreed Chumley. “We were able to beat our top competitor, Rockhurst, and not only beat them, but make them get third, ultimately allowing us to tie.”

Coming off of the fantastic finish, the St. Louis U. High swim team has a week with no meets, meaning they can focus entirely on training. This week has been all about pushing the limits of what each swimmer can do as the state meet quickly approaches. Now that the team has summitted the Everest of the Columbia Meet, they set their sights on the stars, a State Championship.

“We need to focus on building our endurance and refining our technique,” said Chumley. “Our turns were a little slow and we need to get that going. In a 100 free we have three turns, in a 200 you’ve got seven, so if you nail your turns you are already half of a body length ahead of your competitors, so that is super important.”