On Thursday, February 21, the HHS girls and boys swim and dive teams set off to the University of Louisville’s Ralph Wright Natatorium campus to compete at state.

Both the boys and girls divers had their warm ups and prelims on Thursday. Competing for Highlands on the boys’ side were junior Finn Murphy and sophomore Michael Meadows. On the girls’ side, sophomores Lauren Groeschen and Kenna Abner dove. Murphy was able to place 3^rd in the prelims with a score of 211.60 to qualify for the finals. Meadows placed 37^th, Groeschen placed 19^th and Abner placed 25^th in their prelims just short of qualifying for the finals.

Later that day, the boys and girls swimming teams arrived to warm up and acclimate to the pool, before it closed at 9 PM.

On Friday morning, doors opened at 8 AM for the boys swim team to warm up once more before their prelims, which were held later that morning. The boys team swam extremely well and many relays, as well as individuals, qualified for the finals.

That night, the boys swim and dive teams both returned to Ralph Wright to compete in the finals. Sophomore Mac Russell had an outstanding meet, placing 5^th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.29. He also placed 4^th in the 100-yard free with a speedy 46.85.

Both boys freestyle relays also placed high. The 200-yard free relay composed of Russell, sophomore Will Griffith, and seniors Brendan Conley and Jake Ryan placed 4^th, coming in just behind Trinity. In the 400-yard free relay, the team composed of Russell, Griffith, Conley, and sophomore Jack Banks came in 2^nd, just six seconds behind St. Xavier. Not only did they place 2^nd in the state, but they also broke the HHS school record for the event.

On top of the outstanding relay placements, Conley also took 5^th in the individual 200-yard freestyle, and 7^th in the 500-yard freestyle, too.

In the boys’ final diving competition, Murphy came back to perform his last three dives. He performed very well and was able to secure a 2^nd place finish with 443.95, coming second only to Covington Catholic senior Logan Smith.

Overall, the boys team came in 3^rd place finish of 36 high schools, only behind Lexington Catholic and St. Xavier.

On Saturday, the girl swimmers returned to the natatorium for swimming prelims. During prelims, the girls swam wonderfully, many qualifying for finals.

The finals for the girls began at 7 PM Saturday. A few notable placements were the 200-yard freestyle relay consisting of juniors Caroline Sand, Rachel Moscona, and Tori Sutkamp, and senior Olivia Hopper coming in 10^th, and Sand placing 7^th in the 100-yard freestyle.

In the end, the girls team finished in 17^th, placing high for having a small team. Combined, both the girls and boys swimmers and divers ended up as state runners-up, adding yet another victory to Highlands’s book.

Though the season has come to an end, both team wish their seniors good luck and hope to come back just as strong next year.