Jake Lloyd's records lead St. Charles swimmers to state title repeat
CANTON – Even if the rules had permitted him to compete in a fifth event at the Division I state swimming meet, St. Charles senior Jake Lloyd said his day would have ended the same way.
After setting a state record in the 50-yard freestyle (19.39 seconds), a meet record in the 100 breaststroke (53.06) and helping the 200 free (1:19.41) and 200 medley (1:27.2) relays to state records on the way to a team championship repeat Feb. 28 at Branin Natatorium, Lloyd was ready for a break.
“I don’t think I have enough energy for that,” Lloyd said, laughingly, when asked if he wanted to compete in the evening’s final event, the 400 free relay. “I’m pretty gassed. Everything worked in my favor. I am super grateful for that.”
Swimmers are limited to two individual and two relay events in a meet. Those wins and a championship repeat for senior Austin Carpenter in the 100 free (43.06) powered the Cardinals to 348.5 points and first place for the second year in a row, 37.5 points ahead of runner-up Cincinnati St. Xavier.
Carpenter was third in the 100 breast (53.38).
“I came in having high expectations and I would say I did pretty good with what I was expecting,” Lloyd said. “Just all the training that got us here, the team of guys we have pushing me every day got me higher.
“After last year and missing what I wanted to do [finishing second in the 100 free after winning in 2024], I worked [hard] over the summer and the season. I just wanted to deliver this meet and prove I was a guy who could do that.”
St. Charles won last year’s team title, its first since 2008, with a victory in the 400 free relay to eclipse St. Xavier by a point.
This meet was less stressful, at least while it was happening.
“We carried the stress throughout the entire season because we were hoping this would be the result, but it’s still a lot of pressure,” coach Kyle Goodrich said. “We also had the pressure of chasing state records and maybe some nationals. We’ve been feeling that, whereas last year the state championships themselves were more stressful and they were such a battle.”
St. Charles also got a runner-up finish from senior Alex Wu – who was battling the flu, according to Goodrich – in the 200 individual medley (1:49.23) and fourth-place finishes from junior Caden Mahl in the 50 free (20.29) and 100 butterfly (48.89) and junior Caleb Moore in the 100 free (45.44).
“We were doing everything we needed to do,” Carpenter said. “The team is really happy, but it might be a little more underwhelming than last year. Knowing we had a really strong team and this was an expectation, versus last year which was more like a chance.”
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