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As the defending state champion West High was naturally a team that entered the postseason with high expectations.

On Saturday the Trojans looked every bit like a squad capable of living up to those lofty aspirations.

West High won six events, had three individuals combine for four individual titles and qualified 22 entries for the state meet while cruising to the team title at the district meet at Davenport Central on Saturday.

Jordan Christensen, Boyd Skelley and Max Gerke all won individual crowns and West High won a pair of relays while rolling up 480 points to outdistance runner-up Bettendorf by 69.

Any way you break down the meet the defending state champion Trojans were impressive.

West High showed its top-end talent with six event titles but also flashed its depth and balance in its final tune-up before the state meet.

The Trojans had three swimmers finish in the top 10 of every individual event on Saturday and its top three swimmers place in the six in four different events.

Of the ten West High swimmers to qualify for the state meet in an individual event nine were double individual qualifiers.

Junior Jordan Christensen led the way with an impressive performance on Saturday winning the 200 IM by more than two seconds over teammate Nikolas Sung in a time of 1:57.74.

Christensen added a title in the 100 breaststroke in 58.25, which was the third fastest qualifying time in the state and more than three seconds faster than Sung who was runner-up.

Boyd Skelley won the 100 backstroke in a time of 53.21 finishing in front of freshman Holden Carter who was runner-up in 53.66.

Carter added a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly in 51.24 while Skelley was fourth in 100 freestyle.

Freshman Max Gerke was the first West High individual champion of the day on Saturday winning the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:46.4, outdistancing Bettendorf sophomore Keaton Weaver who was runner-up in 1:48.27.

Gerke added a runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle in a time of 4:51.44.

Sophomore Lukas Swanson qualified for state with a third-place finish in the 200 freestyle and a fourth-place performance in the 500 freestyle.

Junior Kirk Brotherton was third in the 500 and fifth in the 100 freestyle, qualifying for state in both events.

Senior Luke Nichols was fourth in the 100 butterfly and fifth in the 50 freestyle and junior Andy Luo was fifth in the 500 freestyle and the 100 backstroke.

Junior Quinn Wubbena qualified for state in the 50 freestyle finishing ninth in a time of 22.32.

West High won the 200 medley relay in 1:35.13 and the 200 freestyle relay in 1:25.82 and enters the state meet with the fastest qualifying time in both events.

The state swimming meet will be held on February 13 at Linn-Mar High School in Marion.

District Meet

At Davenport Central

Team scores – 1. West High 480; 2. Bettendorf 411; 3. Davenport Central 323; 4. Grinnell 200; 5. Ottumwa 181; 6. Keokuk 136; 7. Davenport West 97; 8. Davenport North 70

Individual champions; area qualifiers

200 Medley relay – 1. West High 1:35.13

200 Freestyle – 1. Max Gerke (ICW) 1:46.4; 3. Lukas Swanson (ICW) 1:49.33; 4. Dylan Salge (ICW) 1:56.24

200 IM – 1. Jordan Christensen (ICW) 1:57.74; 2. Nikolas Sung (ICW) 1:59.8; 7. Samuel Ruelas (ICW) 2:09.49

50 Freestyle – 1. Alex Stone (BET) 20.82; 3. Kirk Brotherton (ICW) 21.27; 5. Luke Nichols (ICW) 21.51; 9. Quinn Wubbena (ICW) 22.32

100 Butterfly – 1. Kyle Hopewell (DC) 49.71; 3. Holden Carter (ICW) 50.85; 4. Luke Nichols (ICW) 53.89; 6. Nathaniel Deyak (ICW) 57.16

100 Freestyle – 1. Alex Stone (BET) 45.73; 4. Boyd Skelley (ICW) 47.79; 5. Kirk Brotherton (ICW) 47.96; 10. Dylan Salge (ICW) 50.8

500 Freestyle – 1. Colin Kilcoin (BET) 4:46.41; 2. Max Gerke (ICW) 4:51.44; 4. Lukas Swanson (ICW) 4:57.92; 5. Andy Luo (ICW) 4:59.62

200 Freestyle Relay – 1. West High 1:25.82

100 Backstroke – 1. Boyd Skelley (ICW) 53.21; 2. Holden Carter (ICW) 53.66; 5. Andy Luo (ICW) 54.3

100 Breaststroke – 1. Jordan Christensen (ICW) 58.25; 2. Nikolas Sung (ICW) 1:01.63; 4. Gavin Keeney (ICW) 1:04.31

400 Freestyle Relay – 1. Bettendorf 3:09.39; 3. West High 3:14.46

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