'It was a lot of fun': Ryle boys have record night at KHSAA state swimming meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Ryle High School boys swimming team knew it would be playing for second when the Raiders arrived at Lancaster Aquatic Center for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state championships.

The team champion is annually a foregone conclusion, with Louisville St. Xavier racking up lots of points in each event with some of the best swimmers in the country winning titles and unstoppable depth with four championship finalists in some events.

St. X scored 562 points to win the team championship again. Ryle was in second place to the Tigers until losing to Trinity in the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Ryle still set a school record in that event and finished third in the boys standings to earn a team trophy with 177 points.

The Raiders won a medal for a top-eight finish in all three relays. Ryle medaled in five of the individual events.

Junior Andy Pleiman finished third in the 50 freestyle and eighth in the 100 freestyle, setting school records in both events. He won four medals counting relays.

“We scored more points than we did last year,” head coach Jeff Floyd said. “We broke school records from this morning.”

Floyd said the times from Friday morning’s preliminaries had the Raiders projected to lose by 10 points to Trinity, but the Raiders outperformed those times.

“The relays stepped up,” Floyd said. “Our stars stepped up. They picked up some big points tonight. The relays were better. It was a lot of fun.”

Sophomore Chase Knopf finished third in the 200 freestyle and medaled in two relays. Junior Chase Denigan finished seventh in the 200 individual medley and medaled in two relays. Junior Garrett Dennis won three medals, two in relays.

Ryle got a boost from senior Landon Isler winning the diving championship on Thursday.

Ryle is in the lead in the combined team standings, which will be decided after the girls meet Saturday night. Ryle leads Boyle County by 29 points going into the girls meet, but Floyd said the Raiders’ biggest competition is Highlands, who is 58 points back at 119.

Ryle has a lot of state qualifiers competing on Saturday but so does Highlands.

“I think we have a great shot at the combined,” Pleiman said. “I completely believe in the girls that they can do it. That would be history for Ryle. We’ve never gotten better than third in combined so if we win it that would be awesome. I love the team spirit. It’s a great atmosphere.”

Highlands medaled in all three relays, beating Ryle in two of them. Griffin Barlow won four medals, two solo and two in relays.

Villa Madonna's Ty Dropic won a medal.

East Central senior competes at state

East Central had one boy competing in the Indiana High School Athletic Association state meet Friday in Indianapolis. Henry Strotman finished 22nd in the 50 freestyle. He had finished fourth in the sectional meet.

KHSAA boys state swimming results

The top eight in each event win a state medal and score points for his team. Anyone placing from ninth to 16^th scored points for his team.

Boys 200 medley relay: 4. Highlands (Luke Deegan, Griffin Barlow, Charlie Herfel, Chanith Abeysinghe) 1:37.02, 7. Ryle (Chase Denigan, Addison Coughenour, Garrett Dennis, Andy Pleiman) 1:39.48, 14. Covington Catholic (Peyton Knollman, Will Dusing, Andrew Boh, Evan Napier) 1:42.47, 20. Holy Cross 1:47.27 (Barrett Dirst, Wyatt Driscoll, A.J. Broering, Evan Ward).

200 freestyle: 3. Chase Knopf (Ryle) 1:41.42, 18. Cono Presti (Beechwood) 1:48.40, 19. Andrew Kruger (CovCath) 1:48.44, 20. Nash Parsons (Ryle) 1:48.77

200 individual medley: 6. Ty Dropic (Villa Madonna) 1:54.85, 7. Chase Denigan (Ryle) 1:55.35, 12. Luke Deegan (Highlands) 1:58.38, 14. Garrett Dennis (Ryle) 2:00.55, 15. Will Dusing (CovCath) 2:01.88, 19. Andrew Boh (CovCath) 2:03.66.

50 freestyle: 3. Andy Pleiman (Ryle) 21.01, 13. Chanith Abeysinghe (Highlands) 22.08, 24. Lake Durrett (St. Henry) 22.99.

100 butterfly: 6. Griffin Barlow (Highlands) 50.42, 16. Noah Gracey (Highlands) 53.54, 24. Lucas Dilger (Ryle) 55.75.

100 freestyle: 8. Andy Pleiman (Ryle) 47.05, 17. Nash Parsons (Ryle) 50.00, 19. Lake Durrett (St. Henry) 50.30.

500 freestyle: 7. Garrett Dennis (Ryle) 4:43.50, 11. Ty Dropic (VMA) 4:47.18, 14. Charlie Herfel (Highlands) 4:52.49, 17. Chase Denigan (Ryle) 4:51.12, 18. Andrew Kruger (CovCath) 4:51.68, 19. Cono Presti (Beechwood) 4:54.92, 22. Eli Zehnder (Ryle) 5:01.96.

200 freestyle relay: 5. Ryle (Andy Pleiman, Noah Parsons, Lucas Dilger, Chase Knopf) 1:27.88, 8. Highlands (Charlie Herfel, Luke Deegan, Noah Gracey, Chanith Abeysinghe) 1:30.68, 12. Covington Catholic (Andrew Kruger, Evan Napier, Zack Webb, Cam Ayres) 1:32.68, 22. Holy Cross (Barrett Dirst, Wyatt Driscoll, Evan Ward, A.J. Broering) 1:37.00.

100 backstroke: 9. Chase Knopf (Ryle) 51.28, 16. Luke Deegan (Highlands) 55.11, 20. Peyton Knollman (CovCath) 56.48, 24. Brady Parke (Ryle) 58.69.

100 breaststroke: 8. Griffin Barlow (Highlands) 57.76, 14. Will Dusing (CovCath) 1:00.14, 15. Andrew Boh (CovCath) 1:00.80, 22. Noah Gracey (Highlands) 1:02.12.

400 freestyle relay: 5. Highlands (Griffin Barlow, Charlie Herfel, Noah Gracey, Chanith Abeysinghe) 3:14.58, 6. Ryle (Chase Denigan, Nash Parsons, Garrett Dennis, Chase Knopf) 3:14.92, 13. CovCath (Andrew Kruger, Cam Ayres, Zack Webb, Peyton Knollman) 3:23.83, 20. Cooper (Grayson McClain, Wilson Robling, Eric Hebenstiel, Landon LaCroix) 3:30.67, 22. Scott (Connor Wolnitzek, Peter Tirkala, Jonah Hunt, Will Smith) 3:33.50, 23. Simon Kenton (Will Daily, Evan Iles, Sam Menker, Carter Moore) 3:37.86.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 2024 KHSAA state swimming meet: Ryle boys have record night