KRYSTOF LINHART shows off his name and time on the South record board. – Photos by Peter Toutenhoofd

South’s swim team also featured a talented foreign-exchange student this season in Krystof Linhart of the Czech Republic.

He not only won a Fox River Classic Conference championship in the 500-yard freestyle, his time of 4 minutes 57.53 seconds broke the school record held by assistant coach McKena Ramos since 2012.

“He was excited for him,” Redwings’ head coach, Peter Toutenhoofd said. “It’s cool when you get to coach someone, especially if you’re record is going to be broken, you can kind of be part of it. He was the first one to give him a hug and say congratulations.”

The coaching staff had been looking at how well Linhart could handle the second half of the race all season, and then put him on a three-day taper going into the conference championship meet.

ASSISTANT McKena Ramos (white shirt) hugs South swimmer Krystof Linhart.

“We knew the possibility was there, but I think he dropped 11 seconds to make that time,” Toutenhoofd said. “It was just an incredible meet for him. It was very exciting.”

Toutenhoofd says Linhart beat Ramos’ record by 0.15.

A few days later, the senior continued South’s tradition of updating the record board by climbing up a ladder to put his name and time next to the event.