Lander Rolls to Another 3A Boys Swimming Championship [VIDEOS]

The streak continued on Saturday for the Lander Tigers, who won their 25th consecutive 3A Boys’ Swimming and Diving State Championship in Laramie.

Lander’s top-end power and depth were on full display. The Tigers won nine of the 12 events and scored 342 team points at the 3A state meet. Their margin of victory was 140 points. Green River took second with 202 points, while Buffalo placed third with 181 team points.

Lander had only one individual double-event winner in junior Jonny Kulow. He set two 3A state records in the finals. Kulow won the 200 IM with a time of 1:50.94 and broke his own state mark set two years ago by nearly four seconds. Kulow added a state record in the 100 fly. His winning time was 48.29 seconds. That topped the old mark of 50.39 set in 2018 by Kemmerer’s Carl Krell.

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Kulow had quite the weekend with four individual All-American times, four state records, and pool records. He was named the 3A Athlete of the Meet and Athlete of the Year. Kulow talked with WyoPreps about the team title, his events, and more.

Tigers’ head coach Shawna Morgan felt her team had a great two days of swimming and diving. She was named the 3A Coach of the Year. Morgan spoke about the good feeling of winning another title, how it came together, Jonny Kulow’s unbelievable weekend, Brayden Brown’s special moments, how others on the team stepped up and continuing the streak.

Lander swept all three relays. The Tigers won the 200 medley relay in 1:38.52. They took first place in the 200 free relay in 1:24.59 after setting a record in the prelims, and Lander captured the 400 free relay with a time of 3:15.09. Their other event winners were Dylan Huelskamp in the 200 free (1:45.93), Brennen Blackburn in the 100 free (47.25 seconds), Brayden Brown in the 500 free (4:53.29), and Nolan McFadden, who placed first in the 100 backstroke (53.24 seconds).

The Tigers are loaded for next year, as well. They lose only two seniors off this year’s championship squad.

The other event winners at the 3A boys’ state swim meet were John Wonka from Buffalo in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.15 seconds. Green River’s Braxton Cordova won diving with 421.20 points. Powell’s Nate Johnston repeated at the 3A state champ in the 100 breaststroke race. He saw 59.57 seconds for the victory.

Green River’s Rick Barker was named the 3A Assistant Coach of the Year.

WyoPreps will have more from the 2021 3A Boys Swimming and Diving State Championships in the coming days.