Ketchikan High School junior Trevor Dash is a state champion. Despite battling a cold, Dash lived up to his name and took first in the boy’s 100-yard breaststroke at the 2022 Alaska Swim & Dive State Championships in Anchorage on Nov. 5.
Dash led from the start. But coach Gary Crowe says on the last leg of the race, it looked like it might be close.
“Trevor was in lane 5 and the next person was in lane 4, so Trevor turns, and when he turns on breaststroke he turns toward lane 4, so he could see the person was close to him. And it was one of the fastest turns I’ve seen him do this season. And then he just took off for the finish after that. The other guy didn’t have a chance,” Crowe said.
West Valley junior Ashton Banks of Fairbanks placed second.
With a time of 58.66 seconds, Dash set a personal best, school record and club record. Crowe says the previous high school record for the boy’s 100-yard breaststroke has stood since the early 80s.
“We’ve been wanting to break it, and a lot of people tried, and Trevor’s the only one to get it done,” Crowe said.
Dash says he was surprised when he won, and despite having a cold, felt well prepared.
“I thought about all the work that I put in for the whole season and just thought about that and just all the training that I put in. It really motivated me. Because I knew that I’d worked hard to get there, so I was basically going to leave it all in the pool,” Dash said.
He says his training includes daily swims during the high school season along with weight training several days a week. He also competes with Ketchikan Killer Whales swim club outside of the high school season.
Dash says next he will be heading to senior championships in Fairbanks in January.
“I’m hoping to swim the 100 breast again and probably drop some more time,” he said.
Dash still has his senior year ahead of him and doesn’t know what he’d like to study yet, but says he’s hoping to swim for a college team.
The Ketchikan Killer Whales are hosting an invitational swim meet at the Gateway Aquatic Center the second weekend in December, with teams from throughout Southeast expected to attend.
