In the seconds before each event Saturday at the state swimming and diving state championships at a packed Bartlett High pool, there was only silence. With the beep of the buzzer swimmers gracefully dove into the water, the silence lasting only until the first swimmer broke the surface of the water.
The constant chatter and cheers only grew louder as numerous state records were broken.
In two days of competition, nine state records were broken — six by girls and three by boys. And the Dimond boys equaled the record for consecutive team championships by claiming their sixth title in a row.
The Juneau girls set the tone for Saturday's finals. The first event was the girls 200-yard medley relay, and the Crimson Bears broke the record set in 2007 by former Juneau swimmers. Ciera Kelly swam the backstroke, Dakota Isaak swam the breaststroke, Mia Ruffin swam the butterfly and Rielly Walsh swam the freestyle for Juneau, which won the race in 1 minute, 46.75 seconds.
"It feels so good," said Ruffin, a sophomore. "We worked really hard, had a good attitude and we believed in ourselves."
The Juneau girls went on to claim the team championship for the second year in a row with 100 points.
"They are very emotional," coach John Wray said as his team held its first-place trophy and cried tears of joy. "It is so rewarding. The kids have worked very hard and performed like I thought they would."
Six of the state records came from Kodiak swimmers, and four of those were broken by the Lindquist siblings.
"I taught him everything he knows," senior Tahna Lindquist said as she watched her brother Talon warm up for a race. "Just kidding. He does ask me for a lot of advice, so it is nice to see him doing well. I am so proud of him."
The Lindquist siblings come from a family of swimmers. Tahna said her mother and father, who is also their coach, met while swimming in college. Older sister Jori swims for Northern Arizona University.
On Saturday Tahna set two state records, swimming the 500 free in 4:53.50 and lowering the mark in the 200 individual medley for the fourth time in her career.
She first broke the record in 2012, as a sophomore. She broke the record again as a junior. And this year she beat her record on back-to-back days, first in Friday's preliminaries and again in the finals, where she finished in 2:03.61.
Talon, a freshman, got his records in the 200 IM (1:52.02) on Saturday and the 100 backstroke (51.23) on Friday.
"It is awesome to look up to (Tahna) when she swims," he said. "I want to break records when I am her age and I want to go that fast. It is fun because she goes first so it kind of sets the tone."
At the awards ceremony after the meet, Tahna was named the outstanding girls swimmer of the year. She said she plans to swim for the University of Hawaii after graduation.
"It is going to be weird being the only Lindquist in the pool," Talon said.
Kodiak's Ila Hughes also broke two records, finishing the 50 freestyle in 23.20 and the 100 freestyle in 50.51.
Petersburg senior Abel Aulbach added his name to the record book too. He smashed the previous mark in the 100 freestyle record, set by Petersburg's Derek Gibb in 1998, by nearly two seconds.
Aulbach, who finished in 44.90 seconds, said he didn't think the record was a possibility when he dove into the pool.
"It is all about sprint and endurance in that race. It's going all out for 100," said Aulbach, who was named the outstanding boy of the year.
Jami Stone of Eagle River beat the 1-meter diving record with a score of 474.70. The previous record was set in 1998 by Chugiak's Alaina Patterson, who scored a 463.45.
And for the sixth year in a row the Dimond boys, with their matching bleached blond hair, took the podium as state champions. Fueled by double-winner Michael Summers, who won the 500 and 200 freestyle races, the Lynx equaled Service's record run of six straight team championships from 1987-92.
Coach Scott O'Brien said his seniors have only experienced triumph at the state meet, which upped the pressure. But as the Lynx have been doing since 2009, they took home another state title.
"There is no defense in swimming," said O'Brien. "The goal is just to swim as fast as you can."
ASAA/First National Bank
State swimming and diving championships
Final results
Girls
Team scores
1) Juneau 100; 2) tie, Kodiak and Dimond 87; 4) Chugiak 64; 5) South 43; 6) Soldotna 36. 7) West Valley 29; 8) West 25; 9) Colony 23; 10) Eagle River 18; 11) Sitka 9; 12) Ketchikan 8; 13) Valdez 7; 14) Hutchinson 5; 15) Bartlett 4; 16) North Pole 3; 16) Kenai 3; 18) Thunder Mountain 2; 18) Palmer 2.
Individual finals
200 medley relay -- 1) Juneau (Kelly, Isaak, Ruffin, Walsh), 1:46.75 (new state record; old record 1:47.86, Juneau, 2007). 2) Dimond 1:52.34. 3) South 1:54.80. 4) Soldotna 1:56.68. 5) Colony 1:58.67. 6) Kodiak 2:00.27. 7) Valdez 2:00.36. 8) West Valley 2:01.06.
200 freestyle -- 1) Burke, Samantha (Chugiak) 1:53.54. 2) Moody, Erin (Dimond) 1:55.66. 3) DeGeorge, Tara (West) 1:55.85. 4) Randall, Angie (West Valley) 1:57.97. 5) Cummiskey, Marina (Kodiak) 1:58.16. 6) Kito, Gabi (Juneau) 1:59.37. 7) Heaton, Cassidy (West Valley) 1:59.68. 8) Blackstone, Abby (Chugiak) 2:05.27.
200 IM -- 1) Lindquist, Tahna (Kodiak) 2:03.61 (new state record; old record 2:04.98, Tahna Lindquist, Kodiak, 2014 preliminaries). 2) Oakley, Madeleine (Dimond) 2:12.82. 3) Schoff, Amber (South) 2:13.14. 4) Taylor-Roth, Abigail (Juneau) 2:15.40. 5) Moore, Skylar (Sitka) 2:16.34. 6) Hanson, Olivia (Dimond) 2:16.90. 7) Williamson, Jessica (North Pole) 2:18.86. 8) Hamrick, Kaia (Juneau) 2:24.30.
50 freestyle -- 1) Hughes, Ila (Kodiak) 23.20 (new state record; old record 23.34, Maria Reeves, Lathrop, 1998). 2) Jennings, Emmie (Chugiak) 23.65. 3) Weeks, Alex (Soldotna) 23.93. 4) Kelly, Ciera (Juneau) 24.23. 5) Hampton, Alyssa (Dimond) 24.49. 6) Isaak, Dakota (Juneau) 24.63. 7) Sherrill, Ella (Ketchikan) 25.14. 8) Williams, Kendal (Dimond) 25.23.
1-meter diving -- 1) Stone, Jami (Eagle River) 474.70 (new state record; old record 463.45, Alaina Patterson, Chugiak, 1998). 2) Panting, Sierra (South) 398.40. 3) Wagner, Kendall (West) 392.60. 4) Heiberg, Tessa (Kodiak) 359.30. 5) Foster, Katelyn (Colony) 317.35. 6) Pitsch, Mikaela (Kenai) 313.60. 7) Laselle, Samantha (Palmer) 282.00. 8) McIntosh, Nicole (North Pole) 279.20.
100 butterfly -- 1) Kelly, Ciera (Juneau) 57.29. 2) Rohde, Arianna (Dimond) 58.85. 3) Ruffin, Mia (Juneau) 59.86. 4) Evershed, Elcee, HHS, 1:01.11. 5) Kito, Gabi (Juneau) 1:01.35. 6) English, Megan (Soldotna) 1:02.68. 7) Watson, Cassandra (South) 1:02.76. 8) McNelly, Riley (Valdez) 1:03.70.
100 freestyle -- 1) Hughes, Ila (Kodiak) 50.51 (new state record; old record 50.62, Ila Hughes, Kodiak, 2012). 2) Jennings, Emmie (Chugiak) 50.80. 3) Weeks, Alex (Soldotna) 53.24. 4) Bruce, Jordyn (Eagle River) 54.13. 5) Randall, Angie (West Valley) 54.84. 6) Sherrill, Ella (Ketchikan) 55.00. 7) Brockmann, Hannah (Thunder Mountain) 55.17. 8) Williams, Kendal (Dimond) 55.56.
500 freestyle -- 1) Lindquist, Tahna (Kodiak) 4:53.50 (new state record; old record 4:56.55, Kayla Meiergerd, Chugiak, 1998). 2) DeGeorge, Tara (West) 5:08.77. 3) Kinworthy, Sierra (Colony) 5:08.83. 4) Moody, Erin (Dimond) 5:13.12. 5) Heaton, Cassidy (West Valley) 5:17.55. 6) Blackstone, Abby (Chugiak) 5:26.94. 7) Sato, Ripple (Dimond) 5:27.08. 8) O'Brien, Kiera (Ketchikan) 5:27.40.
200 freestyle relay -- 1) Kodiak (Cummiskey, Lindquist, Horne, Hughes), 1:37.76. 2) Chugiak 1:38.11. 3) Juneau 1:38.13. 4) Dimond 1:41.41. 5) South 1:43.90. 6) West 1:45.77. 7) West Valley 1:45.86. 8) Colony 1:46.01.
100 backstroke -- 1) Burke, Samantha (Chugiak) 57.83. 2) Rohde, Arianna (Dimond) 58.43. 3) Schoff, Amber (South) 1:00.13. 4) Chappell, Eliza (Juneau) 1:01.10. 5) English, Megan (Soldotna) 1:02.47. 6) Kinworthy, Sierra (Colony) 1:02.50. 7) Watson, Cassandra (South) 1:04.21. 8) Hanson, Olivia (Dimond) 1:04.32.
100 breaststroke -- 1) Isaak, Dakota (Juneau) 1:06.41. 2) Ruffin, Mia (Juneau) 1:08.44. 3) Oakley, Madeleine (Dimond) 1:08.55. 4) Moore, Skylar (Sitka) 1:08.77. 5) Bruce, Jordyn (Eagle River) 1:09.27. 6) Taylor-Roth, Abigail (Juneau) 1:09.41. 7) McNelly, Riley (Valdez) 1:12.78. 8) Henry, Rachel (Soldotna) 1:13.35.
400 freestyle relay -- 1) Kodiak (Cummiskey, Lindquist, Horne, Hughes), 3:33.22. 2) Chugiak 3:36.56. 3) Dimond 3:42.78. 4) Juneau 3:44.18. 5) West Valley 3:48.03. 6) Soldotna 3:49.53. 7) Bartlett 3:51.13. 8) Ketchikan 3:55.85.
Boys
Team scores
1) Dimond 110. 2) Kodiak 96. 3) Service 57. 4) Petersburg 50. 5) Thunder Mountain 46. 6) Colony 39. 7) Soldotna 35. 8) Eagle River 29. 9, Sitka 22. 10, West Valley 20. 10, South 20. 12) Lathrop 10. 13) Wasilla 9. 14) Chugiak 4. 15) Ketchikan 3. 15) Palmer 3. 17) North Pole 2.
Individual finals
200 medley relay -- 1) Kodiak (Lincoln, James, Anderson, Schauff), 1:37.28. 2) Dimond 1:38.20. 3) Thunder Mountain 1:38.60. 4) Eagle River 1:39.51. 5) Colony 1:39.94. 7) Sitka 1:43.86. 8) Petersburg 1:54.16.
200 freestyle -- 1) Summers, Michael (Dimond) 1:41.91. 2) O'Brien, Jarod (Dimond) 1:44.89. 3) Pate, Will (Sitka) 1:46.71. 4) Davis, Jorden (Thunder Mountain) 1:47.47. 5) James, Blake (Kodiak) 1:49.07. 6) Hall, Jacob (Soldotna) 1:49.25. 7) Alfano, Nathan (Dimond) 1:50.35. 8) Bloom, Zach (Colony) 1:51.01.
200 IM -- 1) Lindquist, Talon (Kodiak) 1:52.01 (new state record; old record 1:53.51, John Rogers, Lathrop, 1995). 2) Fox, Kenny (Thunder Mountain) 1:54.85. 3) Adams, Nathaniel (Service) 1:55.23. 4) Hanni, Jacob (Dimond) 1:58.35. 5) Anderson, Joseph (Colony) 1:58.36. 6) Emili, Ryan (South) 1:59.93. 7) Simmons, Jake (Colony) 2:00.17. 8) O'Donoghue, Tommy (West Valley) 2:01.28.
50 freestyle -- 1) Aulbach, Abel (Petersburg) 21.13. 2) Hogue-Corwin, EZ (Service) 21.37. 3) O'Brien, Thane (Thunder Mountain) 22.14. 4) Hall, David (Soldotna) 22.26. 5) Lai, Nathan (South) 22.31. 6) Watkins, Cody (Soldotna) 22.35. 7) Schauff, Nathan (Kodiak) 22.65. 8) Anderson, Jonas (Kodiak) 23.12.
1-meter diving -- 1) Schachle, Brayden, Wwhs, 462.95. 2) Desatoff, Austin (Dimond) 461.95. 3) Cambell, Zach (Lathrop) 461.75. 4) Knutson, Connor (South) 411.10. 5) Fugere, Shawn (Chugiak) 406.25. 6) Waldhaus, Gabe (Palmer) 395.75. 7) Lord, Colby (Colony) 373.70. 8) Ulatan, Ruben (Kodiak) 343.35.
100 butterfly -- 1) Fox, Kenny (Thunder Mountain) 50.33. 2) Fox-Icarro, Blaise (Eagle River) 53.24. 3) Alfano, Nathan (Dimond) 53.27. 4) Simmons, Jake (Colony) 53.91. 5) Watkins, Cody (Soldotna) 54.40. 6) Marsh, Evan (Petersburg) 54.45. 7) Anderson, Jonas (Kodiak) 54.58. 8) Nicholson, Ryan (West Valley) 54.67.
100 freestyle -- 1) Aulbach, Abel (Petersburg) 44.90 (new state record; old record 46.27, Derek Gibb, Petersburg, 1998). 2) Adams, Nathaniel (Service) 46.52. 3) Hogue-Corwin, EZ (Service) 46.76. 4) Schauff, Dyton (Kodiak) 48.15. 5) Lai, Nathan (South) 48.59. 6) Hall, David (Soldotna) 49.17. 7) McCord, Corbin (Ketchikan) 49.77. 8) Dittlinger, Reed (Dimond) 50.61.
500 freestyle -- 1) Summers, Michael (Dimond) 4:36.59. 2) Pate, Will (Sitka) 4:46.85. 3) Hanni, Jacob (Dimond) 4:49.98. 4) Davis, Jorden (Thunder Mountain) 4:54.73. 5) Suleimani, Alex (Lathrop) 4:56.84. 6) Rogers, Jonah (Service) 4:56.92. 7) Bloom, Zach (Colony) 5:00.82. 8) Hammersland, Logan (Ketchikan) 5:09.65.
200 freestyle relay -- 1) Kodiak (Lindquist, Schauff, James, Schauff), 1:26.71. 2) Service 1:27.59. 3) Dimond 1:28.62. 4) Petersburg 1:29.19. 5) Eagle River 1:29.53. 6) Soldotna 1:30.04. 7) South 1:30.60. 8) West Valley 1:31.55.
100 backstroke -- 1) Lindquist, Talon (Kodiak) 51.89. 2) Marsh, Evan (Petersburg) 52.50. 3) Lincoln, Nicholas (Kodiak) 53.40. 4) Dittlinger, Reed (Dimond) 54.00. 5) Schauff, Dyton (Kodiak) 54.41. 6) O'Donoghue, Tristan (West Valley) 54.72. 7) Jones, Trevor (Thunder Mountain) 55.57. 8) Harang, Brady (Sitka) 57.62.
100 breaststroke -- 1) Anderson, Joseph (Colony) 58.76. 2) O'Donoghue, Tommy (West Valley) 58.79. 3) O'Brien, Jarod (Dimond) 59.97. 4) James, Blake (Kodiak) 1:00.19. 5) Carpenter, Bryce (Eagle River) 1:00.80. 6) Creglow, Jacob (Soldotna) 1:00.85. 7) Hoen, Jack (Dimond) 1:01.50. 8) Cvancara, Luke (Dimond) 1:03.56.
400 freestyle relay -- 1) Dimond (Summers, Hanni, Alfano, O'Brien), 3:10.93. 2) Service 3:11.53. 3) Kodiak 3:15.49. 4) Petersburg 3:17.09. 5) Soldotna 3:19.31. 6) Colony 3:25.05. 7) Sitka 3:25.14. 8) North Pole 3:35.22.