NAMPA — Sandpoint swimming head coach Greg Jackson gathered his 200-yard freestyle relay boys' team with a message ahead of their pivotal swim on Saturday at the Boise City Aquatic Center. 

Jackson said he felt confident that if the Sandpoint boys won that event, they'd take home their third straight state title. His message to the four swimmers, freshman Joshua Jackson, sophomore Bo Zeller, junior Maximus Brown and junior Lou Foust, was a simple one. 

"Josh, Lou, Max, I need you guys all at 23 [seconds] and Bo, you probably need to be at 22 [seconds]," Greg Jackson said. "Sure enough, that's what they all did." 

The Bulldogs' 200-yard relay team bested the Idaho Falls team by 0.11 seconds to claim the event and eventually the 5A State Championship. The boys won their third straight state title by just six points over Idaho Falls while the girls team cruised to their fourth straight state title, besting the field by 32 points. 

"This is a new team... they really had to do without these seasoned veterans carrying the weight. We lost all those people that were bringing in our heavy points, and we needed to replace that, and the kids stepped up," Jackson said. "This team raised the bar from where it was, and they met it." 

Part of the relay team that won the crucial meet, Zeller was named the swimmer of the meet by Jackson. Individually, Zeller nabbed a third-place finish (1:53.27) in the 200-yard freestyle, a two-second improvement from his preliminary time, and a third (51.02) in the 100-yard freestyle. 

Zeller also helped the Bulldogs notch a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. 

"He really did contribute to the team's success," Jackson said. "He came in for support, he went above and beyond what was expected of him."  

The Bulldog girls relay team, made up of senior Halle Wyman, senior Summer Loutzenhiser, sophomore Athena de Leeuw and freshman London Leavitt, claimed gold in the 200-yard medley relay (2:02.44). The girls also grabbed second in the 200-yard (1:46.96) and 400-yard freestyle relays (3:57.44). 

Sophomore Alivia Storms grabbed gold in the 100-yard backstroke (1:12.71), with Loutzenhiser finishing third (1:12.94), and a silver medal in the 200-yard IM (2:25.00). De Leeuw added a sixth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle (5:59.86) to round out another stellar performance from the girls' team.  

Freshman star Myelle Jensen stepped up to claim gold in the 100-yard freestyle (54.29) and backstroke events (59.91). Jensen's performance in the 100-yard backstroke was a team record, Jackson said.  

Andrew Ford also set two team records on Saturday with his gold medal 1:00.85 in the 100-yard breaststroke and a 2:03.60 in the 200-yard IM, which netted him a second-place finish. In that 200-yard IM, Brown finished fourth (2:07.18) in addition to his third-place finish (56.79) in the 100-yard butterfly. 

Freshman Joshua Jackson took home two silver medals, one in the 200-yard freestyle (1:52.66) and another in the 100-yard backstroke (55.72). The Bulldog boys stacked points in the 100-yard backstroke with Foust finishing third (57.35) and junior Bodi Demmons finishing fourth (57.53). 

"There was a lot of pre-meet prep that we did, just addressing what the kids needed to do," Greg Jackson said. "Having a conversation with those boys and saying, 'Hey, you guys are fast, you're swimming faster than everybody else, you need more front speed.' That's what they did." 

With another state championship going back in the trophy cases of Sandpoint High, Jackson attributed the team's success to the program's culture of caring for each other in and out of the pool.  

"I love this team regardless of individual or state titles. They're an amazing team, an amazing group of kids, and we were going to enjoy ourselves on the way home regardless," Jackson said.