The Boys’ Swim and Dive team at LSHS had never won a 4A WESCO Districts Title until February 2022. They have not lost one since. 

The District meet consists of five teams as of this school year – Jackson, Glacier Peak, Mariner, Lake Stevens, and a new addition–Cascade.

“[Districts are] just a fun thing, I guess. We want to win,” junior Sam Lamb, sprint freestyle swimmer, said.

When it comes time for post-season on the swim team, there is a large mixture of hype, focus, and motivation. Instead of captains, the team relies on all seniors to bring the hype and motivation.

“On our team, we don’t have official captains, we have all of the seniors. The seniors on our team are all captains…there are lots of opportunities to lead,” Dykgraaf said.

The district title is coveted and to Lake Stevens, it would reign their swimmers, seniors included, undefeated.

In 2022, the Viking swimmers won their first-ever title by accumulating 484 points to second-place Jackson’s 450.

“Winning my freshman year was really special. I was a freshman on the team…it was a different environment. Everybody was a lot more cohesively working as a team, and it was an incredibly supportive environment”, senior Cam Blevins-Mohr, sprint freestyle and butterfly-swimmer said.

The excitement of the team, swimming in districts or not, the parents, and the coaches was a pretty cool moment, assistant coach Jason Billingsley said.

A district win relies on skill, with some added luck and talent. 

“So many things have to go right…a good mix of kids, the divers that rock. You have to hope other teams have other things go differently, and so it was honestly kind of a surprise,” head coach Brady Dykgraaf said.

In the following years, the atmosphere was a bit different.

“Sophomore year, we were expecting to win, so once we hit the moment of, like, ‘we have won’, that was really exciting”, senior Coren Coe, sprint freestyle, butterfly, and distance medley swimmer said. 

The 2023 and 2024 teams continued to grow with their depth and medals, paving the way for an undefeated 4-peat.

“(Seniors) brought a lot of energy to the team. Like, Isaac and Sebastian, they brought a lot of energy to the team. During the dive cheers, we were all super pumped,” sophomore Sebastian Erickson, a distance freestyle and backstroker, said.

Even for JV swimmers, districts have always been a major end goal for them. 

“There are JV champs for those people who are, like, maybe on the cusp of districts”, Blevins-Mohr said.

Seniors such as Alex Valm are chasing a qualifying district time for their last season.

“Districts is probably my highest goal,” said Valm, “I was super close last year. This year, I’m going to try really hard.”

To qualify for districts, athletes can meet a specific time standard or be chosen based on performance in JV champs, especially for swimmers who might not go as far as state.

“Uh, really [Districts is] just, kinda, most swimmers’ big meet. It’s where they go, they put on the tech suits, and that´s where they go to go fast and go there to have a fun time,” Coe said.

“Everybody loves districts… it’s the most exciting meeting of the year. And state might be a little bit more of like a tense environment, but even then, like we’re all the main point of the sport is to have fun and to enjoy it. And we’re all having fun and enjoying it the most when it comes down to the point where we are going to compete big time,” Blevins-Mohr said.

This season, the boys are hunting for their 4th-consecutive trophy. Even without it, this team in the last 4 years has completed something spectacular – LSHS’ first-ever district championship, combined with two more consecutively. 

“We have a chance to do something that nobody at Lake Stevens has done yet, which is win districts every year you go…and that’s something really special,” Blevins-Mohr said.

The boys’ swim and dive team are working hard to get to that finish line and win. For seniors, it means completing their 4-peat and a historic run as Vikings. For underclassman, it means continuing their undefeated history as well, working hard to support their school and continue for years to come.