Mounds View senior Danny Bai upset Class AA state record holder Joey Zelen of Duluth East in the 50 yard freestyle to earn a state championship at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis on Saturday evening.
In the prelims, Zelen swam a Class AA record 19.80 seconds in the 50 free, but dropped to 20.48 in the finals, allowing Bai to leapfrog him on the leaderboard with his time of 20.30.
Bai finished runner-up to Zelen in the 100 freestyle, despite posting an automatic All-American time of 44.52.
Bai said it was surreal to win a state championship in the 50 free in his final high school meet.
“I guess it like sunk in, but it still doesn’t feel real,” Bai said. “I felt really good and I focused on my start, focused on my turn, and it ended up being a good swim.”
Bai said he learned from the prelims that his start in the 100 free was “lacking” and adjusted it for the finals, which paid off with a personal best time.
Megahan’s swim of his life
Irondale senior Lucas Megahan, a University of South Dakota commit, saved his personal best for the perfect moment in the 200 freestyle.
He delivered a time of 1 minute, 38.62 seconds, good for second place behind only Rochester Mayo’s Kai Joyner. Joyner set a new state meet record with a time of 1:35.03.
Megahan said his mindset was to swim with abandon and aggressiveness in his final state meet.
“I just went for it,” Megahan said. “When I saw the time, I was very happy with it … I knew everything was on the line. It’s my senior year, so I just had to go for it, and it worked out well.”
Megahan said it means a lot to earn All-American consideration in his best finish at a state meet in his career.
Lor’s diving dominance
Champlin Park freshman Pengxu Lor crushed the competition in the 1-meter diving finals. Lor created separation early and built on it each round, finishing with a score of 536.30. The runner-up, Edina’s Edward Frey, trailed Lor by 57.05 points.
Lor said it was “disappointing” falling short of the state record set by Rosemount’s Lucas Gerten back in 2024 of 539.60, but an exciting feeling to be a state champion.
“I do want to come back and get it,” Lor said. “I know it’s possible.”
Hornets three-peat
Edina won its third consecutive Class AA state swimming and diving title. The Hornets had three divers finish in the top four spots in diving, compiling 48 points, which proved to be the decisive swing in the meet.
Minnetonka led through four events but did not have a single diver place and fell behind for the rest of the state championship. Edina tallied 340 points as a team, compared to 312 for the Skippers.
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