2023-24 Westonka boys swim team: (front row, from left) Tyler Finley, Brody Helms, Connor Shaw and Sean Dolder; (back row) Eren Alemdar, Wyatt Helms, Niles Senn and Bryce Helms
The White Hawks boys swim team celebrated a great season at the annual awards banquet March 17 at the Medina Entertainment Center. Coaches Ben Hanson and Izzy Kalb spoke about each swimmer individually and recognized their best swims of the season.
The team's top two swimmers for the 2023-24 season were senior captain Bryce Helms and sophomore Sean Dolder. Helms finished first this season with an individual point total of 153. He culminated his high school swim career at the 2024 MSHSL Boys Swimming and Diving State Meet, finishing in 12th place in the 50 Free and 10th place in the 100 Free with a time of 48:39, breaking the Westonka school record.
Dolder finished the season in second place with a total of 80 individual points. He swims the most yardage for the team by swimming the 200 Free, 500 Free, 200 Free Relay and 400 Relay at all meets. Dolder's best swim was at the section finals, where he swam the 500 Free with a personal best time of 5:20:99.
Sophomore Wyatt Helms finished in third place for the team with 47 total individual points. He culminated his season with best swims at the section tournament, finishing 11th in the 200 Free and, following in his brother's footsteps, placing eighth in the 100 Free.
Sophomore Eren Alemdar and eighth grader Connor Shaw came in with 28 and 19.5 individual points, respectively. Alemdar swam his best race at the section tournament, the 100 Fly. Shaw also swam his best race at the section tournament, the 50 Free.
Eighth grader Brody Helms finished a great season with 18 individual points. His best race of the season was the 200 IM, breaking into the Top 16 for the first time at the section tournament with a personal best time.
Ninth graders Tyler Finley and Niles Senn finished their seasons strong at the section tournament as well, earning 12 points and 10 points, respectively. Finley’s best race was the 100 Back at the section tournament. Senn’s best race was the 50 Free at the section tournament. Both swimmers earned personal best times.
The White Hawks earned collectively as a team the most points they have scored in four years. The team also achieved a Silver Status Academic Award, presented at the section tournament with a cumulative team GPA of 3.67 with only eight swimmers.
Looking to next season, head coach Ben Hanson stated:
Next year we hope to continue to grow the team as we have the past couple of years. We look to some new leaders in Eren Alemdar, Sean Dolder and Wyatt Helms to lead this team in and out of the pool. The team should see a big step forward next year!
The team would like to thank all of their sponsors for their support throughout the season, as well as their families. Finally, they want to congratulate all the White Hawks swimmers on an amazing season! Their success this year is proof of hard work and dedication to the sport, both in and out of the pool, during the season and beyond.
