By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

Entering this week’s Division IV state swimming meet, the St. Charles boys had two championships to their credit.

If three’s a crowd, the St.’ Charles athletes and fans are oblivious to that today.

SCC captured its third boys swim crown officially – and decisively – in Sulphur Thursday by outpacing second place University by over 100 points, 397-291.

“I’m very excited. But at the same time, I knew they had it in them,” said SCC swim coach Michelle Jensen, who returned to the team this year after 10 years away. “They inherited some swimmers this past year. We had to find the right fits, but this team had a lot of talent.”

The Comet girls also stood out at the meet, finishing third to champion University and runner-up Episcopal.

SCC’s 200-yard relay team captured championship honors of its own to lead the way. Luke Jackson, Ben Brady, Matt Torres and Adam Fisher combined for a time of 1:35.22. That bested Episcopal’s mark of 1:37.17.

Fisher finished second in the 100-yard freestyle (51.67) and third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.61).

Even more impressive was that he did it while under the weather.

“He had fever all day yesterday, and he swam his best time,” said Jensen. “We had a number of kids really step up.”

Brandon Klibert finished second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:19.01) and second in the 100-yard backstroke (57.85).

Gage Alleman took third place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:25.52) and Alex Zenicki was third in the 100-yard butterfly (1:00.58).

The 200-yard medley relay team (Klibert, Zenicki, Fisher and Brett Landry) finished third (1:45.96) behind University (1:44.28) and Newman (1:45.63). The 400 freestyle relay team (Jackson, Zenicki, Torres, and Klibert) also finished third (3:35.29) behind Newman (3:32.14) and University (3:34.47).

What SCC lacked in first place winners, it more than made up for in the sheer depth of its talent. SCC had four swimmers qualify in all but one event for Thursday’s championship round – SCC boasted three in the other.

“It’s one thing to make it to state, but its another to get to that championship round,” said Jensen. “Having kids qualify for you once you get there it the important thing.”

The Comet girls 200-yard medley relay team (Meredith Keating, Catherine Monica, Hailey Specht and Elise Loisel) took third place behind University (1:54.05) and McGehee (2:01.71) with a time of 2:04.79. The 400-yard freestyle relay team (Keating, Karleigh Landry, Emily Brady and Maggie Trepagnier) also took a third place finish with a time of 4:08.34, behind University (3:44.64) and Episcopal (4:01.22).

“The relays were big for us. For not having any top three finishers, and for the amount of girls we had qualify, we did extremely well,” said Jensen.

Jensen said she was especially pleased for the Comets’ two senior boys, Zenicki and Landry.

“This was their goal. They wanted to win,” said Jensen. “Throughout the season, they’ve been very dedicated leaders for this team.”