LHSAA Division IV Swimming Championships
- November 20-21, 2024
- SPAR Aquatic Center
- 25 Yards (SCY)
- Full Results
Girls’ Meet
The Pope John Paul II High School girls earned the 2024 LHSAA Division IV title by 15 points over the Episcopal School of Acadiana. They scored 308 points to Episcopal School of Acadiana’s 293—that the score was as close as it was is a testament to Episcopal’s depth, as the Pope John Paul II program won seven events and set two division records.
The division records came at the start and end of finals. In a reduced final of only seven schools, Pope John Paul II’s 200 medley relay quartet took advantage of the clean water, rocketing to a Division IV record of 1:53.01, beating Ascension Episcopal’s mark from 2018 by .94 seconds.
The school ended the meet with another Division IV record, swimming 3:43.62, to crack the record that Mady Hill, Avery Hayden, Taylor Frick, and Braylee Ladner swam in prelims by eight-hundredths.
Hill, Ladner, and Frick all contributed individual event wins to their relay successes, with Hill and Ladner winning two individual events each. Hill, a senior, won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly, clocking 24.34/56.96.
At her first LHSAA State Championships, Ladner won the 200 and 100 freestyle. She swam 1:59.71 to win the 200 free and was the only girl under the 2:00 minute mark. She won the 100 free in similarly dominant fashion, clocking 53.38 to beat runner-up Bella Bourque by 1.78 seconds. Bourque won the 200 IM for Episcopal earlier in the meet, swimming 2:14.76.
Senior Taylor Frick won Pope John Paul II High School’s other individual event of the day, taking the 500 freestyle in 5:24.57. She earned silver in her second individual event of the day, as St. Martin senior Juliette Magner out-touched her by a tenth in the 100 backstroke, 58.59 to 58.69.
Other Event Winners:
- 200 freestyle relay: Riverside Academy — 1:54.22
- 100 breaststroke: Brooke Gill, Ascension Episcopal — 1:06.69
Girls’ Final Top 10:
- Pope John Paul II High School — 308
- Episcopal School of Acadiana — 293
- Ascension Episcopal School — 208
- Riverside Academy High School — 189
- Metairie Park Country Day — 108
- The Dunham School — 67
- McGehee Varsity Swim — 61
- Holy Savior Menard — 60
- Cedar Creek High School — 58
- Glenbrook School — 56
Boys’ Meet
Pope John Paul II High School swept the LHSAA Division IV Championships, as the boys’ program matched the girls with a state title of their own. The Pope John Paul II boys scored 323 points, outscoring The Dunham School by 82 points to win.
The Pope John Paul II boys set a Division IV record in the 400 freestyle relay, meaning the school set two division records in as many events to end the meet on a high note—even before they were handed the trophies.
Their 400 freestyle relay quartet took down a record that had stood for 30 years. Vanderbilt’s mark of 3:19.93 had stood since 1994, until the Pope John Paul II boys crushed the mark by 1.89 seconds, swimming 3:18.04.
They won five other events throughout the meet, including the 200 medley relay (1:42.61), as junior Eric Ring and senior Wyatt Combs each collected two individual event wins. First, Ring won the 200 freestyle with a lifetime best of 1:42.08, then doubled up on PBs with a 4:35.24 to win the 500 freestyle.
Combs also swam two lifetime bests, hitting 1:56.37 to win the 200 IM, then winning the 100 fly in 51.39.
The Pope John Paul II boys had a three-event win streak going until Bell City’s Grant Granger won the 50 freestyle, swimming a 22.61 to touch ahead of a 2-3 finish for The Dunham School. That 50 free top-end speed powered the program to the win in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.53—two-tenths off their prelims swim—to deny Pope John Paul II High School the relay sweep.
Other Event Winners:
- 100 freestyle: Slade Legros, Lake Arther — 50.44
- 100 backstroke: Jack Groce, Choudrant High School — 56.00
- 100 breaststroke: Camdyn Napper, Cedar Creek High School — 1:00.89
Boys’ Final Top 10:
- Pope John Paul II High School — 323
- The Dunham School — 241
- Metairie Park Country Day — 196
- Holy Savior Menard — 188
- Ascension Episcopal School — 163
- Episcopal School of Acadiana — 150
- St. Martin’s Varsity Swimming — 132
- Lycee Francais Swim Team — 130
- Ascension Christian High — 120
- Riverside Academy High School — 99
