Twenty long days after their last race, Spartan Swim and Dive returned to the pool for the Millard South Invite on January 9-10, 2026. Lincoln East dominated the competition, with an impressive first-place win for the girls’ team and a solid third-place finish for a short-handed boys’ team.
Because many people may not be familiar with how a swimming and diving competition works, a team wins by scoring the highest amount of points. A designated number of points is awarded based on the place taken in each event. While scored together, diving and swimming meets often take place separately. Spartan divers earned Lincoln East their first points of the invitational on Friday, January 9. In the girls 1 meter diving event, Sofia Roberts (2nd), Sky York (3rd), and Emily Tast (11th) scored 13, 12, and 2 points, respectively. Cairo Muiu (5th) secured 10 points for the boys’ team.
The invite resumed on Saturday with the first swimming event, the women’s 4×50 medley relay. Made up of four swimmers, each competitor swims 50 yards of a different swimming stroke. The first leg is backstroke, followed by breaststroke, then butterfly, and concluding with freestyle. The Spartan girls netted their first of many wins of the meet with a time of 1:53.03, over two seconds faster than their closest competitors from Millard North. Other notable first-place finishes from the Lincoln East girls’ team consisted of the 200 IM, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 4×50 freestyle relay, 100 backstroke, and the 4×100 freestyle relay. Overall, the Lincoln East girls blew out their opponents, amassing 377.5 points. Millard North placed second with a total of 187.
Gianna Carter, junior and winner of the girls’ 200 IM and the 100 backstroke, was impressed with her teammates’ performances and is optimistic for the end of the season.
“I think we performed awesome,” Carter said. “We all worked together to get first, and we all cheered each other on and did a really good job. We all like to support each other even when we’re not swimming, and I just think the energy is really high.”
The Spartan boys also performed well despite missing three swimmers who were unable to compete due to various reasons. Earning a total of 197 points, Lincoln East only trailed the winner, Papillon-La Vista, by 106. Notable performers included juniors Eje Kim and Bennett Bacon, who took home the gold in the men’s 100 butterfly, 100 freestyle, 500 freestyle, and 100 breaststroke.
Senior Owen Lewis competed individually in the men’s 200 IM and 100 backstroke and took part in both freestyle relays. Lewis has been a valuable member of East’s swim team since his freshman year and got to experience winning a state title with the historic ‘24-25 boys’ team. As his high school swim career comes to an end, Lewis shared his thoughts on the meet and what it means to compete as a senior.
“The meet went okay,” Lewis said. “It wasn’t my best, but our practices have been really tough recently. Also, being a senior is pretty surreal and crazy. The four years just went by so fast.”
Towards the end of the winter season, the swim and dive teams from high schools across Lincoln and Norfolk compete in the Heartland Athletic Conference in Fremont, NE. Two weeks later, all teams in Nebraska compete one last time for a state title at the NSAA Swimming Championships. As of now, the Spartan girls are regarded by fans as favorites to win both competitions, and the decisive victory by the girls at Millard South only boosts their confidence.
“I personally think that we can get on the podium for state,” Carter said. “We are undefeated so far, and I think we can keep it that way.”
