By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
As has become tradition, Washburn Rural finished first in the Topeka City Boys Swimming Championships Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Andres Morao-Jaspe captured four gold medals to help lead Washburn Rural to the city team title Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the gap was narrower than in many previous years, with other city schools claiming higher point totals.
Sophomore Andres Morao-Jaspe had the only perfect day, finishing first in two individual events and helping two Washburn Rural relay teams to firsts as well. Morao-Jaspe won the 200-yard individual medley and the 500 freestyle.
“I feel like a great sense of satisfaction coming out of this with the whole team,” Morao-Jaspe said. “I've been working a lot for this, for these moments.”
Seaman's Peyton Holmes won three gold medals in Thursday's city meet at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman’s Peyton Holmes claimed first in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle events and was part of two relay teams that placed first and second. He did it despite sinus surgery a week ago, having practiced little since the procedure.
“It was hard to come back into it, but I believed I could win both my events,” Holmes said. “Competing in this city meet is really fun because my whole family could come, and just being in Hummer is fun.”
Washburn Rural placed first with 532 points while Topeka High’s 418.5 points edged Seaman and was cause for celebration for the Trojans.
“I’m really proud of my boys and feel like we had a great day,” Trojan coach Ken Bennett said.
He said Topeka High’s strong upper classes are bolstered this year by a group of freshmen who are contributing to varsity success.
“They came in raw, so to speak, and they stepped up,” Bennett said. “The older swimmers are bonding with the freshmen and showing them the way.”
Topeka High senior Jaxon Cowdin won his fourth city diving title on Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High's Dawson Blankenship helped lead the Trojans to a second-place team finish in Thursday's city swimming championships. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
One of the most impressive performances of the day was turned in by Topeka High senior swimmer/diver Jaxon Cowdin.
Cowdin won the city dive competition for the fourth consecutive year. But he also took fifth in the 50 freestyle and helped two Trojan relay teams to second and third-place finishes.
“Jaxon came in as a freshman and wanted to swim and dive,” Bennett said. “We told him to focus more on diving. As a senior he came out and was like, ‘I’m going to swim.’ It’s rare for someone to be able to do both because you have to practice so much to be a good diver.”
For the second year in a row, Washburn Rural won the city meet behind a first-year head coach. Bob Burdick replaced Janson Garman and had to rebuild the Washburn Rural roster.
“Last year, we lost a whole lot of really fast guys. We took third at state last year and we graduated a whole bunch,” Burdick said. “When I took over, we had about 18 guys.
“We had seven guys who couldn't swim before they got to us, and we made them into swimmers. We had a couple of guys who just popped out of the woodwork and they had a little bit of swim background. They came back and they're just hammering it, and so we're building well. Success breeds success.”
2025 TOPEKA CITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Capitol Federal Natatorium
Team scores
Washburn Rural 532, Topeka High 418.5, Seaman 415, Hayden 344.5, Shawnee Heights 165, Topeka West 153.
Individual results
200 medley relay — 1. Washburn Rural (Appuhn, Wallace, Morao-Jaspe, Lemke), 1:48.20; 2. Seaman (Barbosa, Moylan, Holmes, Carlson), 1:48.56; 3. Topeka High (Stewart, Toland, Blankenship, Cowdin), 1:53.31.
200 freestyle — 1. Barbosa, Seaman, 1:55.12; 2. Brede, Shawnee Heights, 1:55.62; 3. Lanterman, Washburn Rural, 2:07.99.
200 individual medley — 1. Morao-Jaspe, Washburn Rural, 2:07.36; 2. Appuhn, Washburn Rural, 2:07.93; 3. Blankenship, Topeka High, 2:19.92.
50 freestyle — 1. Holmes, Seaman, 22.95; 2. Stewart, Topeka High, 23.68; 3. Jensen, Washburn Rural, 24.10.
One-meter diving — 1. Cowdin, Topeka High, 253.15; 2. D. Delgado, Topeka High, 225.90; 3. M. Delgado, Topeka High, 200.75.
100 butterfly — 1. Blankenship, Topeka High, 57.25; 2. Barbosa, Seaman, 58.72; 3. Hoobler, Shawnee Heights, 59.69.
100 freestyle — 1. Holmes, Seaman, 52.11; 2. Stewart, Topeka High, 53.09; 3. Lemke, Washburn Rural, 53.98.
500 freestyle — 1. Morao-Jaspe, Washburn Rural, 5:14.46; 2. Heskett, Hayden, 5:46.15; 3. Moylan, Seaman, 5:57.17.
200 freestyle relay — 1. Seaman (Barbosa, Carlson, Moylan, Holmes), 1:38.03; 2. Topeka High (Stewart, Toland, Cowdin, Blankenship), 1:39.79; 3. Washburn Rural (Jeffries, Kennedy, Andrews, Wallace), 1:42.38.
100 backstroke — 1. Brede, Shawnee Heights, 55.83; 2. Appuhn, Washburn Rural, 58.54; 3. Lemke, Washburn Rural, 1:00.27.
100 breaststroke — 1. Wallace, Washburn Rural, 1:04.35; 2. Hoobler, Shawnee Heights, 1:05.06; 3. Moylan, Seaman, 1:13.01.
400 freestyle relay — 1. Washburn Rural (Morao-Jaspe, Appuhn, Jensen, Lemke), 3:39.00; 2. Hayden (Stegman, Wahlmeier, Carson, Heskett), 3:52.55; 3. Washburn Rural (Lanterman, Burton, Kennedy, Carr-Metzger), 4:01.98.
ALL-CITY
First team
Andres Morao-Jaspe, Washburn Rural; Peyton Holmes, Seaman; Kinser Barbosa, Seaman; Truman Brede, Shawnee Heights; Dawson Blankenship, Topeka High; Castle Wallace, Washburn Rural; Thomas Appuhn, Washburn Rural; Will Stewart, Topeka High; Evan Hoobler, Shawnee Heights; Palmer Heskett, Hayden; Jeremiah Moylan, Seaman; Luke Lemke, Washburn Rural, Jaxon Cowdin, Topeka High.
Second team
Joseph Jensen, Washburn Rural; Alexander Lanterman, Washburn Rural; Sourish Sinha, Washburn Rural; Kaden Collette, Topeka West; Josh Hochard, Seaman; William Toland, Topeka High; Owen Lathrop-Allen, Topeka High; Miller Reid, Hayden; Patrick Luke, Hayden; Brady Clark, Topeka West, Dominic Delgado, Topeka High.
