Junior Jack Xie wins 2 races at swimming State Championships

The junior swimmer proved his own of the best in the state — and the nation.

On May 22, junior swimmer Jack Xie became the champion in the 200-yard Individual Medley and the 100-yard butterfly at the 2015 CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships, taking home a historic win for the Falcons.

After winning both of his individual events, the 200 IM and the 100 fly, at CCS, becoming the only boy at the meet to do so, Xie continued his swim season at Clovis, where he swam the same two events, along with freshman Jeanette Khowong, who finished 11th in the 100-yard backstroke.

Hosted for the first time in swimming history, the States Championships is a meet where the top swimmers from each of the 10 sections of California compete against one another after their last section championship. In order to qualify for the meet, a swimmer must place top three in a section, or, if the swimmer falls short of the placing, must swim a qualifying time standard during the finals of the event.

Just as at CCS, Xie once again finished first in both his events. Xie easily beat seven competitors in his 200 IM, cruising to almost a 3-second win. In his 100 fly, Xie clocked in a time of 46.75, which would have broken the CCS meet record set last year by current Stanford freshman Andrew Liang by 0.34 seconds. His time was a mere 1.25 seconds off the National High School Record set in 2013.

“I thought if I just try my best I could get the 200 IM, but I was second seed in the 100 fly, and the first seed is the guy who went the fastest high school season time this year,” Xie said. “I was so excited that I outtouched him at the last wall.”

Despite the high-pressured situation, Xie didn’t feel burdened with any nerves or jitters before his races.

“I just wanted to try my best at this meet,” Xie said.

Since this was the first year that the California Interscholastic Federation approved of hosting States, this makes Xie a two-time record holder of the championships. Xie transferred to the school earlier this semester from China, where he was a national-level swimmer.