Ashton Gerard/MDN Minot High School senior Keegan Summers takes a breath in his 100-yard butterfly Thursday during a double-dual against Williston and Dickinson at Magic City Campus. Summers was one of eight seniors honored during the Magicians final home and regular season meet of the year.

A final round of applause filled the Magic City Campus pool in Minot Thursday as seniors on the Minot High School swimming and diving team faced the crowd with their parents. With big smiles and teary eyes, the seniors and their parents reflected on the legacy the swimmers will leave behind this season.

Honored at the final regular season meet of the season were seniors Tristan Bolstad, Noah Keller, Zak Wagner, Jalen Mitchell, Keegan Summers and senior captains Mikel Bahl, Steve Novak and Peyton Huss.

“There’s some extra giggles at this meet and obviously some extra tears that get shed but they’re tears of happiness and meaningful emotion,” MHS head coach Jake Solper said. “It’s a tough thing when you’ve been part of a program for four years and this is kind of the culmination of it all.”

Joining Minot High in the pool for their final dual of the regular season were the Williston Coyotes and the Dickinson Midgets. Minot High defeated the Coyotes, 137-46, and the Midgets, 139-46, while Williston was able to top Dickinson, 97-84.

Shining on Senior Night was Huss with a double win on the evening. Huss took first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:56.15. He then went on to defeat long-time rival Rhys Enget of Williston in the butterfly, out-touching with a 56.68 for the win. Enget finished with a 56.83.

“He was head-to-head with another senior, Rhys Enget from Williston, and those two have battled ever since their freshman year,” Solper said. “I know Peyton really wanted this one in the home pool and it was definitely a race from the time the beeper went off until they touched the finish wall 15 hundredths of a second apart. Hats off to both of those guys.”

The competition isn’t over yet as they will likely get a rematch at the West Region meet and state meet coming up in just a matter of weeks. Next race could be anyones to claim.

Multiple Magi were able to cut time in their final regular season meet.

The 200 individual medley saw Magi claiming the top three spots while also dropping time. Sophomore Josh Boen cut 1.60 seconds to take first with a 2:11.43 followed by Levi VonBokern dropping almost a second for a 2:12.07 and Jaxon Reinke dropping 1.14 seconds for a 2:15.86.

Minot’s Oliver Roongin dropped 24.31 seconds off his 500 freestyle to take third with a final time of 5:43.08. Freshman Alex Moe finished just behind at 5:44.51.

In the diving well, juniors Layton King and Reece Pederson took first and second with scores of 218.00 and 201.65 respectively.

“I think our guys did a great job in the water, getting after it and being competitive,” Solper said. “There’s some great athletes from Dickinson and Williston and then with a team like ours, we have a lot of inner team competition so there were just a lot of really outstanding swims today.”

Now, the Magi will have a bit of a break from competition as they prepare for the West Region meet coming up on Saturday, Feb. 23.

“It’s kind of a change in mindset a little bit,” Solper explained. “Our guys train very aggressively all season long and they’re going to have to continue to do that was we go through our next two weeks of taper.”

Everything will be in the details for the Magi as they work to perfect their strokes and dives for the postseason.

“They’re a motivated group and they hold each other accountable really well,” Solper added.

The West Region Meet will be held at the Williston Area Rec Center. Diving will start at 10:30 a.m. followed by swimming at 2:30 p.m.