Josiah March had a number on his paper all season, his co-head coach Brian Wright said: 4 minutes, 34.46 seconds. The time to beat for the Class 1A record in the 500-yard freestyle.
March, a junior for Breck/Blake, touched the wall in 4 minutes, 34.39 seconds in Saturday's Class 1A boys swimming and diving state meet.
"It wasn't until really in the moment when I realized that I could get it," March said.
His individual title was one of nine victories in 12 events for Breck/Blake as the team won its seventh consecutive Class 1A team title with 408 points at the University of Minnesota's Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. Seven in a row ties the record set by Rochester in 1953-59. St. Thomas Academy came in second with 204 points and Orono third with 167.
Breck/Blake swept the three relays, winning the 200 medley, where it is six-time defending champion; the 200 freestyle relay (three-time defending champ); and the 400 freestyle relay (back-to-back champ) by 12 seconds.
"We definitely are blessed with some athletes," Wright said.
One day after setting a state record in the 100 breaststroke (53.53), senior Charlie Egeland won the title with a 53.84. Egeland also won the 200 individual medley and was on two of the relays. But he was happiest with his record-setting performance in the preliminaries.
"I obviously wanted to try to beat it," Egeland said. "It didn't really work out. That's why I just wanted to go all out in prelims, just to get as many opportunities as possible to go after that."
