As junior Lee Reymond stretched out to reach the pool wall just three minutes and nine seconds after the final relay began, a triumphant roar erupted from the crowd in the SPAR natatorium in Sulphur, Louisiana: the Jesuit swim team had beaten the odds to seize the LHSAA Division I 2021 state title. Reymond cast his hand to the sky in an elated “pocket J” to his teammates in the bleachers as senior Egan Trahant, junior Truman Breithaupt, and freshman Enzo Solitario reached down to him from the pool deck knowing that their 400-yard freestyle relay performance had sealed the day’s victory.

A full gallery of photos from the day can be viewed here.

You can view full results from the meet or keep reading below for more coverage of the morning.

While it was the final event of the day, the 400-free relay was hardly the only contributing factor in the Jay’s ascent from underdog to champion. Trailing defending state champion Catholic High School by around 100 points after Friday night’s prelims, the Jesuit team rallied to a 379-362 victory over the Bears on Saturday morning.

The Jays won all three relays—the 200-yard medley relay, the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay—and individually Breithaupt took first in the 500-yard (4:38.39) with junior Joseph Capo taking a close second (4:39.93). Sophomore Jack Primeaux won the 100-yard backstroke (51.50). A number of Jays improved their time from their own prelim performance, which helped the team gradually close the point gap over the course of the meet.

“This was the first indoor pool we swam in all year—we were outdoors in country club pools,” head coach Bret Hanemann ’83 told Nola.com. “They were hungry, and they wanted it. As a coach, this is what you want … to peak here at the state meet and they did it. They left it in the water.”

In the 200-yard free, Breithaupt claimed 17 points for the Jays by placing second place with a time of 1:44.26 with sophomore Joseph Capo close behind with a time of 1:44.44 in third. Trahan and fellow senior Zachary Davis placed third (1:58.05) and seventh respectively in the 200-yard medley, making gains in their times and placement since prelims.

In the 50-yard freestyle sprint, Reymond swam a 21.78, placing fifth, significantly improving his eighth-place prelim finish; he was just in front of sixth-place swimmer senior Parker Shaffer, who swam a 21.94, and Solitario, who placed seventh with a 22.07. Solitario led the team in the 100-yard butterfly with a second-place finish (53.03); Primeaux and Trahant also swam in the event, placing fourth and sixth respectively.

Senior Nick Nobile placed 15 (picking up an extra point by moving from spot 16 in prelims) in the 100-yard backstroke, and Davis and juniors Ethan Paul Bauer and Duy Trinh placed fourth, sixth, and eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Shaffer joined Solitario, Reymond, and Primeaux to claim victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:27.12).