It is the dream of every coach and every athlete to become a state champion.

That dream was finally realized for 29-year veteran coach, Linda Wiginton, assistant coach, Michael Shive, and the Altus High School boys’ swim team on Saturday at the Oklahoma State Swimming Championships in Oklahoma City.

It marked the first time ever Altus has won a team state championship in swimming

Altus defeated the defending state champions of Bixby with a score of 286 to 254. The girls’ team placed sixth with 130 points, while Bishop McGuiness defended their state title.

Drew Thomas and Lilli Thomas were the two swimmers coming home with individual state titles. Drew set a school record in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 21:65. Lilli broke a state record and a school record in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 24:97. She also placed first in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:00.38 while breaking the school record.

 The Altus boys made a statement early by winning the first event, the 200 Medley Relay with a time 1:41.00. This set a new state record and broke a school record standing since 1999. Daniel Robbins, E.J. Bacon, Brady George, and Thomas swam this event.

Thomas also broke the school record in the 100 Breaststroke with a time of 58:78 and was narrowly out-touched for 2nd place. Robbins placed 2nd in the 100 Backstroke behind an All-American swimmer from Heritage Hall. His time was 54:72. Robbins also swam for 3rd in the 100 Butterfly with a time of 54:57, which also broke a school record. Bacon placed 3rd in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 51:65. The 200 Freestyle Relay composed of George, Bacon, Kris Hurst, and Kyle Jencks placed 3rd with a time of 1:35.74. The 400 Freestyle Relay composed of Robbins, Thomas, George, and Michael Rogers broke a state record and a school record with a first-place time of 3:22.96.

 Other important point winners and their places for the boys were: Rogers 11th in the 200 Freestyle, George 10th in the 100 Freestyle, Kris Hurst 6th in the 100 Butterfly, Jencks 7th in the 100 Freestyle, Kacy Hurst 8th in the 100 Freestyle, Rogers 7th in the 500 Freestyle, Chris McMahon 9th in the 500 Freestyle and 7th in the 100 Backstroke, Bacon 7th in the 100 Breaststroke, and Dalton Latham 11th in the 100 Breaststroke.

The girls’ team did not have as many swimmers qualified in individual events, so this hurt their depth for their team score, but this did not stop the ladies from having a great meet and swimming personal best times, as well.

The 200 Medley Relay composed of Chasity Cooper, Katja Eckenfels, Marai Mendez, and Thomas placed 4th with a personal best time of 2:05.23. Eckenfels placed 6th in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 2:13.88 and 4th in the 500 Freestyle swimming a 6:03.67. The 400 Freestyle Relay team broke a school record that had been in the record books since 1992. Eckenfels, Mendez, Thomas, and Cooper competed for the ladies in this event where they placed 3rd.

It was a banner year for Thomas who broke every individual school record accept for the 100 backstroke.

Coach Linda Wiginton said, “We knew when the OSSAA divided the state in two classes last year, we would make stronger showings as a team. We set winning a state championship as our goal since August. Fortunately, this year we had more depth and faster speed than ever. Thomas and Robbins have broken every school record we have except for the 500 Freestyle, and that one still stands only because I did not have them swim this event. I had great senior leadership all year.” 

 “This win is also important because we had a couple of unusual obstacles to overcome. My mother died in January and I had to miss a couple of weeks of practices. My assistant, Michael Shive, continued working the swimmers. He took over the reins and I did not have to worry that the swimmers were not swimming as they should. Then, the ice storm of the century came along and we missed seven days of school. Because our pool and Lawton pools were down, Danny Robbins and Dale Latham took some of the swimmers to Vernon and Wichita Falls  in order to keep their endurance. I am so blessed to have not only great parental support, support from the Altus Public Schools, and support from the entire town of Altus. We are proud to bring the State title of 5A swimming of 2010 home to Altus,” said Coach Linda Wiginton.