Improvement was made, and it was real. Cathedral High School boys swimming therefore had a successful season in 2023-2024, with a young team turning in a strong postseason and laying a foundation for a strong future. That made ’23-24 memorable and satisfying. “A great year,” Irish swimming coach Megan Ahnert called it. Irish boys swimming ’23-24 turned in strong second-place showings in the City Meet and Schools Without Pools Meet. The program finished the season with a fourth-place finish at the Section 14 Meet at Lawrence North with 212 points – behind sectional champion North Central’s 454 points. Ahnert said all varsity swimmers advanced to the sectional finals, with all posting personal best times in their events. “We had a lot of really big drops, a lot of exciting drops, over sectional weekend, which was awesome,” she said. The Irish boys in ’23-24 were made up of largely sophomores and freshmen. Ahnert called the sectional meet – in which the Irish finished only behind larger schools with “fantastic programs” — “a good confidence boost for our boys.” “The sectional meet as a whole was such a standout,” Ahnert said. “I was just blown away with how many we were able to qualify for top 16, then to have someone in almost every event for top eight was just absolutely fantastic. Everybody had big drops. It's not just like one person had a standout meet. Everybody did so well.” The Irish in that meet had a Top Eight finisher in all but one event. “That's definitely unique to this year,” Ahnert said. “That was a huge, exciting moment for our boys.” The Irish in 2023-2024 were led by: *Senior Will Pletcher: Fifth in the 100 backstroke (59.89 seconds) in the sectional meet and 11th 50 freestyle (23.26). *Sophomore Alex Wesseling: Sixth 100 freestyle (50.88), eighth 200 freestyle (1:51.44). *Sophomore Tyler Neucks: Seventh 100 butterfly (57.62), 14th 50 freestyle (23.89). *Sophomore Wyatt Field: Eighth 500 freestyle (5:12.28), 12th 200 freestyle (1:56.52). *Senior Liam Fahey: Eighth 200 individual medley (2:09.81), eighth 100 breaststroke (1:03.01). *Junior Reece Bonhomme: 10th 100 backstroke (1:03.35), 14th 100 freestyle (53.14). *Junior Chris Dravis: 10th 100 breaststroke (1:06.32), 12th 500 freestyle (5:26.13). *Senior Quinn Gianoli: 14th 200 freestyle (1:58.65), *Freshman Luke Anton: 15th 200 IM (2:44.21), *Senior Quinn Gianoli: 15th 100 butterfly (1:02.54), The Irish 200 medley relay team – Bonhomme, Dravis, Neucks and Pletcher – finished fifth in 1:47.18. The 200 freestyle relay team – Pletcher, Field, Fahey and Wesseling – finished fifth in 1:36.34. The 400 freestyle relay – Neucks, Bonhomme, Gianoli and Wesseling – finished fourth in 3:32.92. “The boys had all their drops on Thursday, so I think mentally they were kind of going into Saturday thinking they could drop even more,” Ahnert said. “Midway through the meet during, during the diving break, we kind of had a conversation just kind of reminding them, ‘You have to look at sectionals from the big picture of the meet, the whole weekend – Thursday and Saturday combined. Did you go a live side best time in your events?’ “Once they had that perspective and saw total how much time they dropped, it was really good. When they take a step back and look at sectionals as a single meet and not Thursday versus Saturday, I think everyone was really pleased with how they did.” The Irish senior class of Fahey – a four-year swimmer – along with Pletcher and Gianoli provided leadership for a young, improving program. “They kind of showed the ropes for the freshmen and sophomores on jayvee, too, which was nice,” Ahnert said. “A lot of our swimmers are involved in other activities. That's a good example to set for underclassmen, too – that if you want to swim for a sport and have fun, but you also have other commitments, that's okay. That's something that is manageable. “We have great leaders in our juniors and our sophomores. Our seniors are fantastic leaders, but just thinking about moving forward, there's a lot of potential as athletes and as leaders in these underclassmen. “We have a big group that already has started back with their club teams. They're busy, ready and hungry for more.”