Team success is No. 1 for Kilkenny

Dawn Majors/Post-Dispatch | Parkway South's Andrew Kilkenny is the Post-Dispatch boys swimmer of the year.

Parkway South’s state champ in 500 free is Post-Dispatch swimmer of year.

It is easy to assume that the highlight of this season’s boys state swimming meet for Parkway South’s Andrew Kilkenny would be his taking first in the 500-yard freestyle. That assumption would be wrong.

Nor was his highlight his second-place finish in the 200 free, or anchoring a surprisingly strong 200 free relay, or anchoring the 400 free relay. The highlight was celebrating South’s fourth-place finish in the overall team totals.

“What stands out is his humility,” South coach Jeremy Nichols said. “He’s very gracious in victory, and he supports his teammates. He’s extremely happy when they do well.”

Humility is something that is not often associated with today’s athlete, especially in an individual sport such as swimming.

Kilkenny, a junior, isn’t an ordinary athlete. Even after he became St. Louis’ only swimmer to win a state title, he was more concerned about his teammates and earning a state team trophy.

“I think it’s partially my personality,” Kilkenny said. “I don’t want to be the center of attention, really.”

But there was the spotlight, shining squarely on him in the 500 free. Kilkenny made the event his own, finishing in 4:35.08 — more than five seconds faster than the second-place swimmer.

Kilkenny’s performance has earned him even more recognition, as the Post-Dispatch’s boys swimmer of the year.

Nichols was concerned about Kilkenny heading into the 500. Kilkenny had just swum a hard 200 free, finishing second. But while his coach was concerned, Kilkenny wasn’t. He knew his training with the Parkway Swim Club would serve him well.

“We train so that we don’t save up for later races,” Kilkenny said. “Usually for a meet in club, I don’t swim just two events. In club, I swim five events and that doesn’t include the relays, so swimming in high school is kind of nice.”

Kilkenny had no time to celebrate his state title in the 500, even if he wanted to. He had to anchor South’s 200 free relay in the very next event.

In a surprise, the relay improved its best time by four seconds and finished third (1:28.04), even though it entered the meet seeded eighth. Brett Gleason, Jake Auinbauh and Sean Feher swam at their best, before Kilkenny brought it home.

“That is something I think surprised us all,” Nichols said. “The three guys before him just swam incredible races.”

And Kilkenny wasn’t going to let his teammates down.

“Relays count for double the points at state,” Kilkenny said. “That definitely played a huge role for getting points for the team.”

In capping a great day for South, the 400 free relay ended the meet with a personal-best time of 3:15.63, good for ninth place. The time itself was third best, but since South was in the consolation heat, the highest the Patriots could finish was ninth.

Still, the points guaranteed a team trophy for South. It was the perfect end for Kilkenny.

“Taking fourth place overall at state was by far my favorite part,” Kilkenny said. “Our coach was so happy.”

Typical Kilkenny, enjoying the enjoyment of others.