[Stardust]

The oldest high school swimming record in Kentucky was swept aside on Saturday by Covington Catholic junior Max Williamson, who smashed the second of two hallowed marks while erasing 38 years of history in two days at the KHSAA boys' swimming and diving championships.

Less than 24 hours after breaking a 13-year-old mark in the 200 individual medley in Friday's preliminaries, Williamson in Saturday's finals smashed the record in the 500 freestyle, a mark that had stood for 25 years.

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Williamson's finishing time of 4 minutes and 28.89 seconds in the 500 free clipped Scott Ryan's clocking of 4:29.67 set in 1987. Ryan also swam for CovCath. He was at Louisville's Ralph Wright Natatorium to present Williamson his first-place medal.

"I had to thank him for giving me such an incredible goal to work for all these years," Williamson said of Ryan's mark. "Everyone likes to have them. But, at some point, they've got to go down."

Ryan drove from Cincinnati to see Williamson wipe his record from the books.

"It's shocking it stood for a quarter century," said Ryan, who set the mark at Eastern Kentucky University as a senior and later set the Big 10 record in the 500 free at Michigan. "I knew Max would get it this year and I'm overjoyed he did it."

Williamson got off to a torrid start in the 500 free, posting his fastest split of 24.01, but they slowed to between 27 and 28 seconds and CovCath coach Richard Dickmann became nervous. "He was putting up splits that weren't conducive for getting the record. I think the fact the guy coming up on him was making a move, and the crowd really getting into it, spurred him on."

Williamson touched the wall almost two seconds ahead of Ballard runner-up Jake Schultz. Highlands' defending champion Conner Downard finished fifth in the race. "I'm really happy but I hope my record doesn't last 25 years because that will mean we're not going fast enough," Williamson said.

He began his day in the 200 IM final with a winning time of 1:49.58, which fell less than a second short of his Friday record of 1:48.88. He capped it with a third state championship. He swam the first leg on CovCath's winning 400 freestyle relay team also including Hunter Pasek, Chase Vennefron and Sam Mullen. They came within less than a second of the 18-year-old meet record and left the Colonels something to shoot for next year following a second-place team finish.

St. Xavier with 484.5 points, won its 24th state championship in a row while more than doubling the Colonels' total of 235 points. Dixie Heights (89 points) was the next highest-placing local team in ninth, followed by Scott and Highlands who tied for 18th, and Beechwood in 21st.

"We might have finished second, but Max had an amazing meet," said Pasek who placed second in the 100 backstroke and third in the 100 butterfly. "Max was insane, just swimming so fast."

Vennefron added a fourth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. Louie Hunt placed fifth in diving. CovCath finished second in the 200 medley relay with the team of Williamson, Vennefron, Mullen and Robbie Newman, and fifth in the 200 freestyle relay.

The Colonels improved one spot over last year's team placing of third and finished state runner-up for the fifth time in 11 years. "It's a step in the right direction," Dickmann said. "We've got quality swimmers; we just need to bulk up on our depth so we can compete with St. X."

http://nky.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...302250079/