CANTON — As the podium ceremony transpired Feb. 27 during the Division II state meet for girls 100-yard breaststroke, Lake Catholic’s boys 400-yard freestyle relay waited by the diving well for their turn. It might be fair to characterize the all-senior quartet of Darren Bittner, Caleb Ortman, E van Ream and Owen Pesek as lingering within that moment — headphones on, staying loose — but laser-focused on the matter at hand. There were no more high school swims after this one. They had, to date, already done plenty to redefine program expectation. As it turns out, there was one more crescendo remaining. This one, like so much of what was achieved to this point, will be lingering within the lineage on the corner of Bellflower and Route 306 for the duration. Lake Catholic took home top honors in 400 free relay, a year after its D-II state title breakthrough in 200 free relay for the first state swim event title in program history, with a time of 3 minutes, 9.86 seconds. Lake Catholic boys 400FR 1st 3:09.86Darren Bittner 46.70 popperCaleb Ortman gutsy 48.60 to stay in the argumentEvan Ream 47.19 to lead by 1.2Owen Pesek (as always, trust the soccer players ) 47.37 anchor2.05 cut vs 25 state10th NH area boys 400FR state pic.twitter.com/E8ETX3I3BT — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) February 28, 2026 Pesek staved off Paul Moody and hard-charging University (second, 3:11.32) with a sterling 47.37 anchor split. “It felt great. It felt solid the whole way,” Bittner said. “I feel like everyone was doing their job. I felt confident the whole time. There wasn’t a second of doubt.” Bittner popped the relay with a 46.70, leading into a gutsy second split from Ortman (48.60) to keep the Cougars in the argument. Ream, coming off a 500 free runner-up and 200 free relay duty, went 47.19 to provide a 1.20 lead for Pesek. Owen Pesek Caleb Ortman discuss Lake Catholic's 400FR state at the D2 state meet in CantonHappy for Caleb getting that after being a steady part of this crew for so longAnd it's been a pleasure to cover Owen across multiple seasons all these yearsGreat way to close pic.twitter.com/8PMJcHE6VT — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) February 28, 2026 “A very special way to end it all,” Ream said. “I’m happy we could get Caleb a win as well, because (the other three of us) got a win last year. We were able to get it done this year for him, so very exciting stuff. “I was happy to be able to come back and take the lead with a 47.1, which was my best split by .8 ever. So that was very exciting. It was all the adrenaline, just wanting to win it for these three brothers here. It was great.” The highlights for the Lake Catholic traveling contingent didn’t end there. Ream took second in 500 free with a steady 4:37.21, featuring mid-28 range on middle splits. It marked a 4.74 cut from when he was sixth in 500 free last winter and is the highest individual-event finish in Cougars’ swim lore. “I’m very excited with it. It was a best time,” Ream said. “I’ve been chasing a best time all season, and I’m glad I could finally get it done here.” Bittner had that highest individual finish distinction for a stretch after taking third with a 1:53.09, after a fifth in 2025. He graduates as a 12-time top-eight state placer between individual events and relays. “It was great. Obviously, there were very good opponents,” Bittner said. “I thought it was a great race. I did the best I could.” The 200 free relay was third in a hot final with a 1:26.28. All told, prior to this senior class’ four years, Lake Catholic had zero boys swimming state top fours. Now? It’s eight, thanks to a special class that will assuredly linger. “You just need to believe freshman year to where we are senior year,” Ream said. “Just keep working hard, and you’ll get there for sure.” University poses with its Division II state swim team crown Feb. 27 in Canton. (Chris Lillstrung - The News-Herald) US fended off Ontario for another trek to the team podium, 216-204, with a laudable sum of its parts performance. Moody was second in 100 fly with a 48.45, third in 100 back in 48.73 and delivered a scintillating 45.02 anchor as the Preppers were second in 3:11.32 to seal the team title. “I was really happy about it,” Moody said. “The past few nights, we’ve been going over the score, going over what we need to do. If you can move up one spot, increase it by one point. And throughout the meet, we were tracking it. “Going in (400 free relay), we were getting a little worried. But just seeing everyone excited, everyone hyped, everyone on the relay was ready to go. I think that pushed everyone to go fast.” Hawken sophomore Everett Losch was D-II state champion in 100 free with a brilliant 44.57. Losch powered to the turn with a 21.36 split, a .53 drop from prelims alone and 1.52 from when he was 11th in the ‘B’ final of the event in Canton a year ago. Losch also took second in 100 back with a 48.54. Speaking of impactful senior classes, Beachwood concluded on a high note in that regard as well, getting a 100 breaststroke runner-up (57.59) and third in 100 fly (49.09) from Derek Fan. The Bison were third in 200 medley relay (1:34.95) and fourth in 200 free relay (1:26.91). Beachwood took a solid fourth in the team race with 128 points, with program benchmarks across the board attained. “Definitely stay working hard and just increasing the awareness of the sport, I think if more kids get in the sport at Beachwood, I think the program will skyrocket,” Fan said. On the girls side, Hawken was second as a team to Hathaway Brown with 165 points, getting a third from its 200 medley relay and seconds from its 200 free and 400 free relays. Other News-Herald coverage area top-four finishes were recorded by Gilmour’s boys 200 medley and 400 free relays (fourth), P.J. Koerwitz (fourth, 50 free and 100 free) and Luke Woodhouse (fourth, 100 breast), Hawken’s Katherine Rosenbaum (fourth, 100 fly), US’ Jake MacPhail (third, 500 free) and Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin’s Brooke Dynes (fourth, 100 breast). Might as well close out the year by doing the complete job …Here are NH area top 16s from the D2 state meet pic.twitter.com/3vplGbV0vw — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) February 28, 2026 Chardon's Toby Rogers discusses his 5th in 100 back at the D2 state meet in CantonAs a general point, I seeing breakthroughs like this … 3-time 100 back state qualifier, went 17th to 16th to the prelim of his life THU to a career-best 5th in 51.97Deserved reward pic.twitter.com/Hh1xFtiZut — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) February 28, 2026   ...read more read less