2025 Kansas High School Boy’s 5-1A State Championships
- February 20th – 22nd
- Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center
- Lenexa, KS
- 25 Yards (SCY) Format
- Defending Champions: Andover (x2)
- Full Meet Schedule
- Meet Central
Missouri State commit Zach Mendez, a senior at Lansing High School, rewrote the record books in the freestyles at the KSHSAA 5-1A State Championships Friday and Saturday in Lenexa. Mendez demolished his own KSHSAA 5-1A State Records in the 200 and 500 freestyles, and also posted a 44.90 in the 100 freestyle as the lead-off on Lansing’s 400 freestyle relay in prelims, surpassing Maize South’s Regan Richardson‘s 45.06 state record from 2023.
First, in the 200 freestyle, Mendez posted a 1:37.13 in prelims, crushing the official State Record of 1:39.92 set in 2022 by Wichita Collegiate’s Adam Sandid, though it is worth noting that Mendez already surpassed this record in January at the 2025 SMSD Invitational with a 1:38.81, though the swim was not ratified as a State Record. At the same meet, Mendez swam a 4:29.36 in the 500 freestyle, also under his own then-State Record of 4:32.58 set in February 2024. Mendez lowered his new 200 record again in finals, touching the wall in 1:36.82, more than nine seconds ahead of silver medalist Henry Studnicka (1:45.97). In all, Mendez lowered the State Record in the 200 freestyle by 2.10 seconds and improved his lifetime best from December by 1.96 seconds.
In the 500 freestyle, Mendez posted a 4:23.97 in prelims, which he followed up with a 4:24.43 in finals, more than 28 seconds ahead of runner-up Blake Royse, a freshman from Andover. This marks an 8.61-second improvement of the 5-1A State Record and a lifetime best by 4.18 seconds. Mendez also helped Lansing to a second place finish in the 200 freestyle relay with a 20.58 split as the anchor, the fastest in the field.
Louisburg’s Colin Brown, a junior, also took home two individual titles, first in the 100 fly in 51.08 and later in the 100 back in 53.26. Brown previously held a best time of 52.48 in the 100 fly and a 55.53 in the 100 back, meaning he dropped 1.40 and 2.27 seconds, respectively, in each race, per the SWIMS database.
The 50 freestyle was especially electrifying as it amounted to a tie between Goddard-Eisenhower’s Dylan Patterson and Winfield’s Corden Cuington. The pair touched the wall simultaneously in 21.84 seconds, both improving from their prelims times. While Patterson was the top seed coming out of prelims Cuington was seeded 8th and dropped a massive 0.67 from his prelims time. Patterson later won the 100 freestyle in 46.76, while Cuington would place 9th in the 100 breaststroke.
Andover’s Clark Young and Wichita Collegiate’s Nathan Lynch shared the podium twice on Saturday. First, in the 200 IM, Young won by nearly four seconds, stopping the clock in 1:56.49 while Lynch took silver in 2:00.22. Later in the 100 breaststroke, Lynch came out victorious, hitting the wall in 58.15 while Young would take silver in 59.41.
Each of the three relays was won by a different team. First, Wichita Collegiate’s Karim Sandid (25.59), Nathan Lynch (26.69), Luke Cremin (24.17), and Harry Ling (22.37) won the 200 medley relay in 1:38.82. Later, Overland Park-Blue Valley Southwest’s Hank Rong (23.31), Jack Kemp (21.74), Dane Weninger (22.45), and Topher Thompson (21.77) won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:29.27. To cap things off, Lansing’s Schaffer Gibson (50.04), CJ Yedlinsky (52.51), Jakeb Kobs (48.81), and Zach Mendez (44.54) won the 400 freestyle relay in 3:15.90, giving Mendez his third gold medal of the day. Despite winning by 2.17 seconds, Lansing was only in third place before Mendez dove in, trailing Wichita Collegiate by 1.56 and Andover by 0.08. Wichita Collegiate and Andover would place second and third, respectively, in the 400 free relay.
Adover’s Gage Cooper won the diving with 427.45 points. With his victory, Cooper helped Andover achieve its third-consecutive 5-1A state title.
Top-10 Team Scores
- Andover – 318 points
- Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel – 210 points
- Overland Park-Blue Valley Southwest – 192 points
- Winfield – 191.5 points
- Wichita Collegiate – 190 points
- Lansing – 176 points
- Louisburg – 149 points
- Buhler – 115 points
- Andover Central – 97 points
- Basehor-Linwood – 84 points
