2016 Nebraska state swimming and diving wrap

Heading into last weekend's Nebraska state swimming and diving meet at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, Elkhorn/Elkhorn South diver William Gottsch had never beaten long-time rival Austin Alexander of Lincoln Northeast.

On Thursday, however, the win, the championship and the state meet record were Gottsch's. Even Alexander's best state meet performance couldn't deny Gottsch.

"There was definitely some rage built up that helped drive me today," Gottsch told the Omaha World Herald after he posted a state meet record 595.90 to best Alexander's career state meet best 573.70. "I don't do losing very well, and I've always been second fiddle to him. I wanted to put something up to keep my name in the record book.

"All that losing really fueled my fire to get here."

Former Omaha Westside diver Dave Keane, who was present when Gottsch nailed his 11th and final dive to claim the record, set the state meet record of 574.74 in 1976. Rounding out the top five were Zach Boyd of Millard South (Omaha) (440.10), Aaron Haeffner of Lincoln Northeast (433.80) and Millard South's Vincent Malene (429.40).

Bellevue West diver Jessica Warak thwarted a 1-2-3 Marian (Omaha) run by outscoring Abigail Knapton 483.75-475.65. Crusaders Taylor Carter (447.55) and Kelly Straub (431.40) finished third and fourth, respectively, while Abbi Rouse of Lincoln East rounded out the top five with 402.10 points.

Lincoln Southwest girls win in record fashion

Leigh Ann Fetter-Witt's girls swimming program wrestled back the team state championship trophy from Omaha Marian by winning nine of 12 swimming events over the weekend. Lincoln Southwest set state meet records in seven of those races.

Led by sophomore Alana Palmer, junior Dannie Dilsaver and junior Olivia Calegan, all of whom won four events each, the Silver Hawks upended the defending state champions 455-367.5 after falling to the Crusaders 357-356.5 a year ago. Southwest last won the hardware of the champion in 2014.

Fifteen athletes took home four championship medals each during the girls meet. Five of them swam for the newly crowned state champions.

Brandon Abboud raked in four gold medals himself to lead Creighton Prep (Omaha) to its 10th-straight team title. Colin LaFave and William Tjaden joined their teammate as four championship medal winners.

Record-breaking swimmers

Girls 200-yard medley relay – Lincoln Southwest (Clara Walstad, Dannie Dilsaver, Kaitlyn Witt and Olivia Calegan) - 1:41.39
Girls 200-yard individual medley – Dannie Dilsaver, Lincoln Southwest – 2:00.57
Girls 50-yard freestyle – Olivia Calegan, Lincoln Southwest – 22.77
Girls 100-yard freestyle – Olivia Calegan, Lincoln Southwest – 49.84
Girls 100-yard backstroke – Clara Walstad, Lincoln Southwest – 55.33
Girls 100-yard breaststroke – Dannie Dilsaver, Lincoln Southwest - 1:02.24
Girls 400-yard freestyle relay – Lincoln Southwest (Olivia Calegan, Alana Palmer, Shelby Mullendore and Dannie Dilsaver) – 3:25.16
Boys diving – Will Gottsch, Elkhorn/Elkhorn South – 595.90
Boys 100-yard backstroke – Matthew Novinski, Grand Island – 49.09

Four-time state championship medal honor roll

Brandon Abboud, Omaha Creighton Prep
Cameron Carney, Norfolk
River-Sage Tucker, Millard South
Sam Trofholz, Columbus
Noah Barr, Papillion-LaVista/Papillion-LaVista South
Austin Monette-Waters, Millard South
Colin LaFave, Omaha Creighton Prep
Eric Lewandowski, Grand Island
William Tjaden, Omaha Creighton Prep
Ryan Pauley, Columbus
Alana Palmer, Lincoln Southwest
Jordan McCullough, Papillion-LaVista/Papillion-LaVista South
Caroline Theil, Pius X (Lincoln)
Dannie Dilsaver, Lincoln Southwest
Olivia Appleget, Lincoln Pius X
Holly Hopson, Millard North (Omaha)
Jessi Ferguson, Omaha Central
Monica Blake, Ralston/Gross Catholic (Ralston)
Olivia Calegan, Lincoln Southwest
Clara Walstad, Lincoln Southwest
Olivia Tate, Marian (Omaha)
Ellen Ellis, Millard North (Omaha)
Savannah Nichols, Omaha Marian
Alexa Goldenstein, Lincoln Southeast
Shelby Mullendore, Lincoln Southwest

Championship coaches
Girls – Leigh Ann Fetter-Witt, Lincoln Southwest
Boys – Tom Beck, Omaha Creighton Prep

Repeat success
While some swimmers and divers were unable to defend last season's state meet titles due to graduation, several athletes were successful at going back-to-back Saturday. Of Course, the Lincoln Southwest girls and the Omaha Creighton Prep boys swept the relays in 2016 just as they had a year ago.

Dannie Dilsaver did repeat as champion in the 200-yard intermediate, Olivia Calegan repeated in the 50-yard freestyle and Elizabeth Amato-Hanner of Omaha Westside won back-to-back state titles in the 100-yard backstroke. For the boys, Brandon Abboud claimed a second straight win in the 500-yard freestyle and Matthew Novinski took home gold once again in the 100-yard backstroke.

They said it

"That got my adrenaline pumping," Lincoln Southwest's Olivia Calegan told the Omaha World Herald of her teammate Alana Palmer's record-setting win in the 200-yard freestyle. "The start of the meet is the most important because it sets the tone. That definitely got me going."

"Eric was great. He probably would have our best swims today," Grand Island coach Brian Jensen told the Grand Island Independent. "It's his last chance and you could see him pushing as hard as he could. The 50 was anybody's race and he came up on the short end but it was a good swim for him."

"The 46.66 was my best ever in the 100-free, just a little better than the 46.67 from yesterday; I had the school record last year at 47.11," Norfolk gold medal winning swimmer Cameron Carney told the Norfolk Daily News. "It's a pretty cool feeling to win the gold; I've been close before – I had two third-place finishes last year in the 100 backstroke and the 100-free, so it felt like, ‘it's my time now.'"

"We have guys that were part of the first one that are coaches on other teams or coaches on this team," Creighton Prep coach Tom Beck told the Lincoln Journal Star after his program won its 10th-straight Nebraska state swimming and diving championship. "It's overwhelming. I hope the younger ones that had a little taste of it come back and take a bigger bite next year."

"Ever since I lost to Caroline (Theil of Lincoln Pius X) last year (in the 200), I kind of had a little spunk in me," Alana Palmer told the Lincoln Journal Star after winning individual golds in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle races.

"I have to do my best because they're always spot-on every time," Bellevue West's Jessica Warak told the Omaha World Herald after edging out three Omaha Marian divers for the state meet gold. "All of them are my friends."