Over the last six years at Rockhurst, no athletics program has had more success than the swim and dive team. Since 2019, the Aquahawks have finished top-two at state every year. During that time frame, the team completed a historic, and rarely heard of, four-peat atop Missouri Class 2. However, each year presents a new challenge for the prestigious program. In 2025, a year after their first second place finish at state since 2019, the Aquahawks will look to re-stake their claim as the penultimate program in the pool in the state.
The march toward a potential state title starts during the regular season. On Sept. 16, the Aquahawks won their meet over Blue Springs South, Raymore-Peculiar and Marshall High School at the Blue Springs South Aquatics Center. Big performances by seniors Reilly Eagan and Josh Battison, and junior Charlie Klumpp helped catapult Rockhurst to 224 points–135 more than second place.
“JV, Varsity, all the managers, all the divers, everybody was there,” Rockhurst Swim & Dive Head Coach Paul Winkeler said. “When you see them working together, whether it be warming up, cooling down, racing, diving, competing, supporting your teammates, cheering–whatever it might be, from the sidelines, what I walked away with was, this is a team that is even closer than I realized in terms of how much they support and love one another.”
A dominant showing from the habitually strong program allowed Rockhurst to pick up their fifth win of the season. Their only loss this season came at a meet hosted by the University of Missouri–the COMO Invitational–that featured schools from both the Kansas City and St. Louis metro areas.
Rockhurst’s ability to gain points in every facet of swim and dive events has allowed them to be one of Missouri’s strongest swim programs over the last several years. This includes the distance events. One of their best swimmers in these events this year is Battison.
Battison is a longstanding staple in the Rockhurst Swim & Dive program. He has appeared at state all three years of his high school career.
“I would say my hard work in the pool is the biggest thing for me,” Battison said. “I come, show up every single day that I can, physically, and I try to put in 100 percent effort every single time so that I can be the best swimmer I can be.”
This work allowed Battison to place in the top four at state as a sophomore and junior in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle.
At Blue Springs South, Battison’s experience showed. He won the 100 butterfly and contributed to the winning 400 freestyle and 200 medley relay wins. (Medley–or IM–races consist of four 50-yard splits of backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke and freestyle.)
When asked where Battison sees himself this season, the senior responded with a few lofty expectations.
“I want to get top three in both of my events, and I want to get the school record in the 200 freestyle.”
In November, when Rockhurst tries to recapture the state championship, the experience and leadership of Battison and fellow seniors Eagan, Matthew Warren, Beau Harmon, Micah Moncrieffe, Robby Evangelidis, Johnny Salido, Jacob Kendall and Nick Metzner will likely determine whether the Aquahawks can recapture a first-place banner for Rockhurst.
The shorter distance races often close out a swim meet, often making them the contests that decide a competition. One of Rockhurst’s main swimmers in these events is Salido.
He’s the last in a long line of Salido swimmers for Rockhurst. The senior 50 and 100 freestyler is a key leader to this Rockhurst team.
“Graduating seniors get to vote on captains for the next year, because I want them to… have a say in who they pass the team off to,” Winkeler said. “It’s a voting process is what it is, and they voted him in.
“They no doubt… have faith in him.”
Salido’s talents in the pool are important for Rockhurst’s performance; however, his leadership skills outside of the pool are just as key.
“These swimmers, they definitely need some guidance when they come in here, so I just try to lead by example,” Salido said, “show them, you know… it’s working [in] the water, it’s working [in] the weight room… Let’s just have a good attitude with it.”
Salido’s prowess as a freestyle swimmer and leader have made him a key figure for the Aquahawks, yet his laid back attitude and fun demeanor have garnered him the label “the biggest cheeser” by his head coach.
“Wink can really say whatever he wants… but… I’ll show up in… state… I’ll prove him wrong,” Salido said.
Salido isn’t the only short distance swimmer who needs to show up every meet. Junior Aaden Lutman continuously provides good results for the Aquahawks. At Blue Springs South, it was no different. Lutman won the 100 free, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, and placed second in the 200 free behind fellow teammate Eagan, who is also known for his short distance success. On top of his 200 free win, Eagan won the 500 free and 400 free relay at Blue Springs South.
With a flock of Hawklet swimmers looking to make an impact at state this year, it can be easy to forget about a key part of this team: the divers.
Juniors Declan Griggs and Charlie Klumpp headline this crew for the Aquahawks. The duo will look to win some key points for Rockhurst at state.
“It’s just a lot of repetition and training and mental preparation,” Griggs said. “…There’s physical factors, but mainly it’s more attitude and mental preparation. You have to get up in front of the judges and do your dive. You only get one shot. It’s a lot of being okay with failing and saying that one dive isn’t going to determine your meet.”
Already this year, Griggs and his fellow divers have been the key to winning a meet–specifically, at North Kansas City on Sept. 19 and 20.
“We’ve never actually won that meet,” Winkeler said. “I was very happy with the way that our divers competed. They were really the difference, to be honest, but our boys found a way to hold on and win that meet.”
When it comes to the teams that will stand between the Aquahawks and a return to the top of the podium at state usually St. Louis University High School would be near the top of the list. The Junior Billikens graduated many of their best swimmers, though, so this year, Chaminade College Prep and Liberty High School figure to give Rockhurst the biggest run for their money.
“Liberty has a lot of talent,” Battison said. “Adam Howe, Cole Tobin, Graham Henderson–all really great, but they don’t have as much depth, I would say, as we do.”
Tobin was last year’s state champion in the 100 free and third place finisher in the 200 free. He has ridden that wave of success into 2025, with first place finishes in those events at COMO, Lee’s Summit, and Blue Springs.
Henderson, Tobin’s teammate, is ranked as the second-best swimmer in Missouri according to Swimcloud. As a freshman last year, he was state runner up in the 50 free and 100 backstroke.
As for Chaminade, the main area of strength appears to be their distance swimmers. At COMO, Michael Purcell finished first in the 400 free. His teammate, Henry Mura finished fourth in the 500 free.
However, one of the team’s biggest weapons is junior Max Van Stone, the two-time defending state champion in the 1m dive. He broke the COMO record this season with an 11-dive performance that earned a total score of 549.30, more than 20 points ahead of second place.
Despite the steep competition, Rockhurst swimmers say they are primed to retake the state title in St. Peters, Mo. in November. To do so will require big performances from the entire roster, which features both leading performers–like Lutman, Battison, Eagan and junior Kemper Roberts–and a strong cast of supporting swimmers who could prove to be the difference between a banner in the performance gym (where state championship ones hang) or the Loyola.
“We want revenge,” Salido said when asked about state. “SLUH doesn’t think about us. Chaminade doesn’t care about us. We have this kind of underdog mentality, and we’re just in the water everyday working, trying to become the best we can.”
