CANTON, Ohio — The St. Xavier High School swimming and diving team is the Division I state champion for a second straight season.
The AquaBombers captured the school's 44th state swimming and diving title overall Saturday night at C.T. Branin Natatorium in Canton.
"First and foremost, just really proud of our guys," St. X head coach David Albert said. "They're an incredible group of young men. We have a great group of coaches that they've listened to and trusted all season. We always remembered our goal which was to get to this point and we're really proud of them and thankful for the way it turned out."
St. X has won the most Ohio High School Athletic Association state titles (44) in any sport in state history. The program earned yet another memorable journey to Stark County this weekend.
Senior Thackston McMullan was a part of four state titles on Saturday. The University of California, Berkeley signee won state individual titles in the 200 freestyle (1:36.13) and 100 freestyle (43.67 seconds). He was also part of the state championship 200 freestyle relay (1:21.30) and 400 freestyle relay (3:01.01).
Senior Max Ward, a Xavier University signee, won the 100 butterfly state title (48.33).
The 200 freestyle relay included McMullan, Ward, sophomore Chase Grisi and senior Alex Ingram.
The 400 freestyle relay included Ingram, Grisi, junior Jaeger Ellerman and McMullan.
Albert said he won't ever forget the progression this team experienced since the start of the season.
"Definitely the amount of growth that we saw both as individuals and as a group," Albert said. "From day one you have to assess kind of where you are and where you want to go. And as a result you craft everything you do with the end goal in mind. It's certainly not easy but we certainly do our best to meet the guys where they are and helped them on that growth track. They did a great job with that."
After having its 22-consecutive year state championship streak broken in 2022, St. X has won back-to-back state titles.
Entering this weekend's state meet, St. X won its 56th consecutive district title and its 61st district championship overall.
