Chow leads Young to beautiful victory at boys swimming metropolis championships

By Noah Poser

Young entered the weekend as an underdog, with Lane Tech the clear favourite to win the 2026 Chicago Public League Boys Swimming and Diving Championship.

By Sunday, Feb. 8, the script had flipped. In their residence pool, the Dolphins shocked Lane and claimed town title with 278.5 factors. Lane completed second with 267, and Northside was third with 217.

No one was extra shocked than Dolphins coach Maxwell Boettcher. 

“Unexpected,” Boettcher stated. “Going into the season, we didn’t think we really had a chance, because Lane was really good. So we kind of just expected to get second or third. But the kids put in a lot of work, and it paid off today. It was awesome to see them. They wanted a race today and it was fun.”

His swimmers, although, by no means doubted themselves, particularly senior Kale Chow.

“Our captain, Kale Chow, thought we could beat them,” Boettcher stated. “And he proved me wrong.”

Chow delivered one of many extra dominant performances in latest CPL historical past. He opened the meet by teaming with Holden Lechtenberg, Max Chiu and Yahir Jimenez to win the 200-yard medley relay, setting a brand new pool and meet report.

He added three extra victories: the 200-yard particular person medley, the 500-yard freestyle, and the 200-yard freestyle relay with Chiu, Jimenez and David Santl. Along the way in which, he broke his personal pool and meet data within the 200 IM and set new pool and meet marks within the 500 free. His 200 IM time additionally established a brand new CPL report.

Despite the historic day, Chow centered solely on the workforce outcome.

“The goal was for us to win,” he stated. “I won my freshman year, and now I’m a senior, so I really wanted to win to finish off my high school career. Luckily, everyone was doing their job, everyone was racing really hard, and I’m happy everyone did well.”

Boettcher was much less reserved in his reward of his star swimmer.

“Kale is a workhorse,” he stated. “He’s the hardest-working guy on the team. He gets everyone else motivated. He works with everybody, trying to make them better. He’s the best person to have on a team.”

Chiu, a junior, adopted carefully behind his captain’s instance. He contributed to each successful relays and completed second within the 50- and 100-yard freestyles.

“I hate the way he swims, but it’s fast,” Boettcher stated with fun. “It looks terrible, but he’s a speed demon. I love it. He and Kale both didn’t swim last year, so having them back this year is amazing. That obviously really helped the team.”

Other particular person champions included Young’s Jean-Luc Nazaire, who gained the diving occasion; Northside’s Jay Huang, who took the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke; and Lane’s Owen Huynh, who gained the 100-yard butterfly.

Curie’s Kevin Gama gained the 100-yard freestyle. Lane’s Alex Arsic and Alexander Ivascu claimed the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, respectively, and later teamed up with Arijon Purelku and Ashton Boeke to win the 400-yard freestyle relay.

That relay introduced the meet to a detailed, leaving solely the normal workforce dive into the pool.

Afterward, a soaked and smiling Chiu – who had predicted the upset after operating his personal calculations Friday evening – was already eager about how you can flip his particular person silvers into gold.

“I’ll be analyzing them,” Chiu stated. “Probably going to be going over them with my coach and my mother and father for positive. There’s all the time little issues you’ll be able to enhance on. So I’ll be working, not solely at Whitney Young observe, however membership observe as nicely.

“Just training with the guys, mostly, to get better.”

Results from 2026 Boys Swimming City Championship Meet

Diving: Jean-Luc Nazaire (Young) – 379.75 pts

200-yard medley relay: Young (Kale Chow, Holden Lechtenberg, Max Chiu, Yahir Jimenez) – 1:34.39**

200-yard freestyle: Jay Huang (Northside) – 1:45.30

200-yard IM: Chow – 1:52.91***

50-yard freestyle: Alex Arsic (Lane) – 21.64

100-yard butterfly: Owen Huynh (Lane) – 52.22

100-yard freestyle: Kevin Gama (Curie) – 48.57

500-yard freestyle: Chow – 4:36.84**

200-yard freestyle relay: Young (Chiu, David Santl, Jimenez, Chow) – 1:27.15

100-yard backstroke: Huang – 52.26

100-yard breaststroke: Alexander Ivascu (Lane) – 58.69

400-yard freestyle relay: Lane (Arsic, Ivascu, Arijon Purelku, Ashton Boeke) – 3:16.01

**Pool report, metropolis championship meet report

***Pool report, metropolis championship meet report and league report

Photos by Zoe Davis/OSA