The banner that hangs at the McKean pool to honor Conrad's Aaron Stevens as the top swimmer of the 2023 state meet has a spot left purposefully open for a second year. It wasn't a secret that Stevens would be in contention for the title once more this winter.

The Conrad senior on Saturday likely filled that space, starring again at the DIAA Swimming and Diving Championships as the winner of the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke.

At Wednesday's prelims in the 100 free, Stevens broke an 11-year-old state record. He lowered the mark in Saturday's final another four-tenths of a second to 44.62, almost a full second beneath the long-standing record from Salesianum's Matthew Stasiunas. About 40 minutes later in his fourth event of the day, Stevens missed the 100 breaststroke state record by six-tenths of a second.

He won both races by multiple strokes, the nearest competitor about two seconds behind in the 100 free and more than three seconds back in the 100 breast.

"I can't be scared to take it out," Stevens said of his state-records pursuit. "I have to be out fast or there's no way. It's a mental battle way more than it is physical."

Stevens walked the Rawstrom Natatorium pool deck at the first break in white Nike Air Max sneakers and silver Apple headphones. The headphones remained on at the starting blocks until his name was announced. Before the gun for the breaststroke, the mid-tempo rap song "Living My Life" by Famous Dex vibrated through them. The playlist shifts based on his mood and the race.

"Sometimes it's nice, slow music," Stevens said. "Sometimes it's singing. Sometimes it's rap."

Conrad coach Stephanie Seifred said Stevens thrives on the heightened atmosphere that comes with championship races, and the pressure of meeting the lofty expectations he sets for himself. There weren't any concerns about what leaving space on that banner would do to his psyche.

"He likes the pressure," she said. "He likes winning and the hype of it."

Stevens attributed his success to an emphasis in the last year on turns and underwaters, the five or six powerful dolphin kicks he makes before rising to the surface in the freestyle and his explosive breaststroke pullout.

Seifred described him as a "twitchy" athlete. In both events, Stevens flung his arms forward, dove far of the blocks and hung underwater for three-quarters of his opening lap. Once he surfaced in the lead, Stevens found a swift rhythm against the still water.

"He gallops well," Seifred said. "He's really on top of the water and pulling a lot of water. He's able to catch the water and keep it moving."

Stevens is a student aide in Seifred's seventh grade math class. They spent a lot of time talking through the lineup for Saturday, the types of conversations had across Delaware before the state meet every year with athletes limited to two individual events and four events overall.

At last year's state meet, Stevens won the 200-yard individual medley and the breaststroke. This year, Stevens swapped out the IM, the second event of the meet, for the 100 free so that he could swim the first event of the day, the 200-yard medley relay. Conrad placed second with Stevens on the breaststroke leg. He also swam on Conrad's sixth-place 200-yard freestyle relay.

The breaststroke win could be the final race of Stevens' swimming career. He might go to Delaware, Virginia Tech or Towson to swim. But he wants to be an electrician and is considering going to a trade school.

After the race, Stevens sank to a bench behind the starting blocks. He grabbed at the edges of his navy and lime ultra-compressive suit as swimmers from other schools congratulated him. One told him how tired he looked on his final turn.

"I came off my pullout, and I was super deep, so I came up and ate a bunch of water," Stevens said. "For my last states, I'm happy with it."

Salesianum wins eighth consecutive team championship

Fourteen different swimmers entered the pool for Salesianum on Saturday as the school claimed its eighth straight team title.

The Sals had only one individual winner — Tim Hanway in the 500-yard freestyle — but placed at least three athletes in the top 16 in every individual event and had podium finishes in the three relays.

The most exciting for the Sals was the meet-opening medley relay. Conrad held the lead after Stevens' breaststroke leg, but the Sals' Ben Lutcher evened the race in the butterfly. Swimming the freestyle anchor leg, freshman Dylan Ristenbatt dashed to the win with a personal-best split of 21.85.

In Wednesday's prelim, Ristenbatt slipped on his start, but was able to catch Conrad's anchor to get Salesianum the top seed.

"I was like, 'I can't slip this time,'" said Ristenbatt, who followed backstroker Bryce Patterson, breaststroker Nolan Burns and Lutcher. "I knew coming into finals we would have Wilmington Charter and Conrad right next to us. I was like, 'I gotta move. I gotta do it again.'"

Salesianum coach Chip Hannig cycled through several relay combinations in the weeks leading up to the state meet. It took longer than usual, but he felt he found a good mix Saturday.

The team of Ristenbatt, Nate Miller, Sebastian Hess and Alex Tsakumis placed third in the 200 free relay and the team of Hanway, Hess, Patterson and Tsakumis placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Hanway swam between Wilmington Friends' Conner Verbanas and Ty Wilmore, a two-time 500 champion, for the first 400 yards of the day's greatest distance event before making a move in the final four laps. That was the plan entering the race for the sophomore, who also placed third in the 200-yard freestyle.

"I love swimming against all of these talented guys," Hanway said, mentioning Wilmore and 200-yard freestyle champ and training partner Jamie Brinsfield of Tower Hill among others.

Salesianum also received second- and sixth-place finishes from Patterson in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, a sixth-place finish from Ristenbatt in the 100 back, fourth- and seventh-place finishes from Burns and Miller in the 100 breast, seventh- and eighth-place finishes from Tsakumis in the 50 and 100 free, a fourth-place finish from Bradley Woolpert in the 500 free, a sixth-place finish from Hess in the 200 free and an eighth-place finish from Lutcher in the 200 IM.

Saint Mark's wins dramatic freestyle relays

The outcome of Saint Mark's record attempt in the 200 free relay lingered longer than the team's 1:26.50 finishing time.

When anchor leg Kevin Waldron hit the wall in first place, inaccurate times were posted on the scoreboard. Waldron and teammates Cameron Byrd, Nick Lennon and Sean Kemske left the pool not knowing whether they had beaten the 1:26.78 state record set by Archmere in 2009.

Eventually, the officials indicated the Spartans had gotten just under the record.

"I'm grateful for [coach] Rob Maegerle," Kemske said. "He has been the biggest thing that has made me work hard and I think everyone else here who was on that relay work hard."

"It's awesome. We're just really good friends," added Waldron, who placed second in the 50 free. "It's just so fun, especially when we're winning like we are."

The team of Byrd, Aidan Walsh, Kemske and Waldron came back to win the 400 free relay in 3:10.54. Saint Mark's finished second as a team, the school's highest state meet finish since 1995.

Sanford had two individual winners, Carson Kalish in the 200 IM and 100 fly and M.J. Hoban in the 50 free. The Sanford team came in third.

"When you think of Sanford swimming we both wanted to be [who you think of]," Hoban said. "At some points, I think it's me. Most of the time, I think it's him. Today, it looks like it's going to be him."

Brinsfield of Tower Hill won the 200 free. Newark Charter's Sritan Pittala and James Beukema won the 100 back and 1-meter diving, respectively.

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on X and Instagram @holveck_brandon. Follow him on TikTok @bholveck.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Salesianum, Saint Mark's shine at DIAA Swimming and Diving Championships