By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
Special to Hays Post
Tyler Stein says there’s nothing more exhilarating than swimming well at the state swim meet.
But he found out this weekend that watching youngsters he is coaching excel in the pool might be even better.
At this past weekend’s Class 5-1A Swimming and Diving State Championships in Lenexa, Coach Stein’s Hays High boys’ swim team closed out a historical season by breaking two school records.
“This was completely different as a coach,” said Stein, a former all-state swimmer in high school in his first year as the Indians’ coach. “I was concerned about them and not about myself, and to see how excited they were after breaking those records was so cool. It’s something they will remember the rest of their lives.”
The Indians saved the best for last.
In the final race of the day – the 400-yard freestyle relay – Hays High clipped more than five seconds off its time from the previous day in the preliminaries.
Their time of 3 minutes, 30.5 seconds in the finals erased the old school record of 3:34.17 that had stood for 12 years.
That not only was good enough to win the consolation finals with their ninth-place finish, but it also would have earned them the seventh-place medal had they been swimming in the medal round.
At state, the top eight times from the first day of competition advance to the last day’s medal round, while the 9th- through 16th-place times swim the consolation finals.
The Indians’ 400-yard relay foursome of senior Marshall Sook, sophomore Cedric Durr, and juniors Karsen Flaska and Chase Zadina turned in its best time to date (3:35.03) in Friday’s prelims.
That was the ninth-best prelim time that saw them finish just one place out of making the medal round. They then shattered the school record the next day.
“To erase that many seconds off a relay time in one day’s time is insane,” Stein said. “They were so pumped.”
Those same four swimmers also broke the school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay, placing 11th overall at state with a time of 1:34.39. That bettered the old mark of 1:34.93 set in 2014.
Sook closed out an unforgettable senior season, swimming personal-best times in two individual events – placing 13th overall in the 50-yard freestyle in 22.98 seconds and 12th in the 100-yard freestyle in 51.54.
Despite not having any swimmers in the top eight, the Indians still placed 14th in team scoring among the 44 participating schools.
“We had five swimmers competing at state, and some of those teams were triple that size – or more,” Stein said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them. It was another reminder of how amazing this season was for us.”
And anyone associated with the 2025 season would have to agree.
Stein, a Fort Hays State University student majoring in finance, took over the Indians’ head coaching job just a few weeks before the start of the season.
Under his guidance, the Indians started to swim better every meet, bettering their times each time out.
Just one year ago, the Indians took just one relay team to state after reaching a state-consideration time.
This year’s team closed out the regular season with an impressive showing at the Western Athletic Conference Championships, finishing second in team scoring with their small roster while winning eight of the 11 events and bringing home 14 gold medals.
Throughout those last few weeks, the Indians qualified all three relay teams for state, along with Sook’s two individual events.
Junior Noah Schaeffer joined Flaska, Zadina and Durr on the 200-yard medley relay team at state that just missed the consolation finals with their 19th-place finish in the prelims.
“I’m excited for that relay team next year to see what they will be able to do,” Stein said, “because they will all be back.”
First, though, he is looking forward to coaching the HHS girls’ team this spring.
It’s safe to say that Stein has discovered something even more rewarding than winning a race himself.