The Lafayette girls swimming and diving team won state on Saturday, Feb. 18. Their performance was stellar, with first place standings in two events, a second place finish in one event, and top five finishes in several others. Their performance netted them 224 points, 3.5 points ahead of second place Rock Bridge.

The Lancers won both the 200-meter freestyle relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay with times of 1:37.06 and 3:29.98 respectively. Ellie Christie won second in her 11 dives with 428.90 points. Coming in the top five in their events were Franceska Petrosino, who had a third place and a fourth place finish in the 200-meter freestyle and the 100-meter butterfly respectively, and Delaney Thomas, who earned fourth place in the 100-meter freestyle.

Rock Bridge also won two events and had some higher placings, but their consistency in placing top 5 in almost every event was enough to win the title.

In addition, head coach Todd Gabel won the Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year honors.

Senior Megan McFarland left a message for the team next year, as this was her final high school swimming and diving competition.

“This season, we struggled to work hard for every single practice, so for next year give every single meet and every single practice all of your effort. Start to include the swimmers that don’t feel as if they’re big parts of the team. We’re kind of run by the really hard fast swimmers, so try and include some of the swimmers that don’t feel like they’re a part of the team and make it more of a team sport,” she said.