Already in year one of the boys co-op for Wayne with Norfolk Public Schools for boys swimming a Blue Devil freshman will be looking to make a mark at the state meet.
From the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, the 2025 NSAA State Swimming & Diving Championships will last from Thursday, Feb. 27 – Saturday, March 1.
Diving will take up all of Thursday with swimming prelims getting underway Friday followed by the finals on Saturday.
Freshman Kyler Parker from Wayne has been taking advantage of the opportunity to swim with the Norfolk boys team thanks to a recent co-op.
Parker has qualified for the boys 100-yard butterfly with a seed time of 57.16 seconds and will be on two relay teams being the 200 Freestyle (senior Teagan Cleveland, freshman Tyler Galyen and freshman Madux Cleveland) and 400 Freestyle (junior Finn Barrett, Galyen and senior Emmett Haake)
Boys warm-ups will last from 1:30 – 2:50 p.m. followed by prelims at 3 p.m. on Friday. NSAA Swimming Championship finals will begin at noon on Saturday in Lincoln.
Head coach David Nelson said it’s been an exciting season for Norfolk swimming which included the co-op with Wayne.
“It’s awesome because Wayne has a great summer swim program,” said Nelson. “To have the opportunity for those kids to succeed in the summer to come on over to Norfolk and represent northeast Nebraska it’s a great thing for the sport of swimming in this region.”
Nelson has been coaching for the past 23 years and all of the cooperative agreements have been positive. This allows for a community like Wayne to co-op with Norfolk Public Schools as Parker has shown success in the first year.
It’s been a successful season for the Norfolk boys swimming team going 7-0 in duals along with a recent runner-up finish for the first time in the Heartland Athletic Conference (HAC).
Coach Nelson credits Parker playing a key role.
“Kyler was a huge part of that and all the boys were a huge part of it,” Nelson added. “He’s been swimming with these kids through our YMCA program for a long time. So, we were just really happy that he was able to be a part of it and contribute to those relay successes and individually. There’s a bright future for Kyler and we’re just really looking forward to finishing this state meet on a positive note and just really looking forward to what the future brings.”
Quality swimming will be put on full display at state this weekend with Creighton Prep and Lincoln East being the top two teams. Norfolk boys are a top 10 team with the goal to finish inside the top eight which can be accomplished from the work of the boys swimming team to see how united they are in being the fastest they can be at the end of the year.
“We’re just really happy that competitive swimming is growing in this community and this area,” Nelson mentioned. “Really looking forward to continuing the co-op with Wayne and it’s brought nothing but positive energy to our swim program.”
For 2024-25 boys swimming, Norfolk Catholic, Lutheran High Northeast and Wayne co-op with Norfolk while Norfolk Catholic, LHNE and Wisner-Pilger co-op for the girls.
