A swimmer like James Story doesn’t come through Silver Creek very often, at least according to Debbie Stewart, who’s been the head coach of the boys and girls programs since the school’s inception 24 years ago.

Raptor students don’t have to look far to understand the accomplishments he’s made in his three years with the program. On the wall above the gym’s hallway, his name hangs on the school’s record board for all to see, with a “1:41.49” sitting next to the placeholder for the 200-meter freestyle.

He came tantalizingly close to adding his name twice more in his final high school season. For that, he was named the Times-Call boys swimmer of the year. He took his sophomore year off to focus on the club side of things, but revitalized an already-strong program when he rejoined the Raptors in 2024.

“Junior year, I was focusing on the 200 free record, which I did end up getting and breaking my own record this year,” Story explained. “But that 100 free record, I was one-tenth of a second off. It was a 45.5 and I was 45.6. I later went 45.1 off a relay, but it doesn’t count because you get more momentum off a relay start, and it’s a big spiel. I was super close, just skimmed it. It was a fingernail.”

His final, official time in the 100 free topped out at 45.68 seconds, and he likewise added a best performance of 21.44 in the 50 free. Nick Koerner, who has held both records since 2008, swam a 45.54 in the 100 free and a 21.18 in the 50 free.

“Obviously it’s disappointing, but, I mean, that’s a super respectable record,” Story said. “He earned it, his spot, and I didn’t get it. It’s a game of numbers. There’s no, ‘Oh, he was so close.’ You either get it or not, you know.”

His school-record-breaking 200 free time was good enough to earn himself fourth place at an extremely competitive Class 4A state meet, while his 100 free flagged him at second. Monarch’s Gavin Keogh and Ethan DiFronzo claimed the gold in those respective events with times of 1:37.47 and 45.29.

Story said that while he missed out on state titles in both events — he won both last year — he was thrilled that he could set a PR in the 100 free in his final high school meet. Now, he’ll turn his focus to his Division I college career at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he plans to stick with the 100 and 200 freestyles.

Stewart has already witnessed what he can accomplish.

“He’s just a committed swimmer,” she said. “We saw that when he was a freshman. He sets high goals for himself. That’s kind of why he took a year off from his freshman to junior year, was just so that he could balance his life between school and the hard training that he was doing to get to the level that he wanted. He set pretty high goals, and I think his ultimate goal was to be able to get to a Division I college school to be able to continue on.

“I was hoping James was going to break Nick Koerner’s record in the 100 freestyle and he just missed it. It’s going to be a while before that record gets broken again, but maybe we’ll get another James coming in this freshman year.”