It was the end of a great run for the Slicers Swimming and Dive team this weekend. The LaPorte Boys competed in 6 events at the High School State Championship Meet in Indianapolis this weekend. Four swimmers: Roman Garay, and Seniors Abbas Hakim, Otto Wildhart, and Chaise Adrian set high goals for themselves this weekend, and their swimming didn't disappoint. They had 6 events on Friday, and made finals in 4 of them. Their 200 Medley Relay finished 11th in prelims, just off of the high school record, and came back Saturday and finished 13th in Consolation Finals. Otto Wildhart had two great days of racing the 50 Freestyle. On Friday, he set a personal best of 21.22 to finish 12th heading in to finals. On Saturday, he dropped more time to finish 10th in 21.15, just 0.07 seconds away from breaking the LaPorte High School record in the event. Abbas Hakim broke his own 100 Breaststroke record at Sectionals, going 57.55 seconds. On Friday at State, Hakim dropped 0.99 seconds to finish in a blazing 56.56 seconds, crushing the high school record he had set only 6 days earlier. On Saturday, he went 57.30 in the event, and finished 12th. It was one of the deepest breaststroke fields in memory. To show how fast Indiana Swimming has become, Hakim's 56.56 in the 100 Breaststroke would have placed him 3rd in Texas, a state with over 4 times the population of Indiana. Their 400 Freestyle Relay broke the high school record at Sectionals, going 3:11.72, and Friday at State, they nearly matched it, going 3:11.72 finishing 11th. In finals, they were slightly off, and finished 15th in 3:14.98. To place in the top 16 in 4 events is a huge accomplishment, especially considering LP only had 4 athletes racing. I want to put some more numbers out there. Indiana has 433 high schools. About 70 of the fastest teams competed at the State Championship meet. 45 teams scored points, and LaPorte finished 18th. This is a very impressive feat considering the size of our State team. It was an emotional day watching our seniors compete for the last time as high school swimmers. I want to take a minute to thank all of the Slicer swimmers and divers who made this such an amazing season. I also want to thank all of my coaches, our parents, our AD, Assistant AD, and Mrs. McLennan for all of their help this season. Finally, thank you to all of the fans who came and supported our team all season. The Slicers finished their season 17-3. They broke 3 records in the past week, and they sure made an impression down at State. Always proud. Go Slicers! Coach Brahim