By the time the waves settled Saturday evening, the boys from Marcus stood atop the podium at the 2026 UIL Swimming & Diving State Meet for the first time in school history.
The Marauders scored 148 points, beating second place Strake Jesuit by 13 points and third place Southlake Carroll by 27.
“It was incredible,” said head coach Brandon Dion. “My guys work hard every single day and our workouts aren’t easy. When it came down to race time, my guys were dogs.”
The school’s new title means a little extra to the head coach, as he’ll be putting the hardware in his alma mater’s trophy case.
Dion graduated from Marcus in 1999 and came back in 2016 to coach the program he once competed for. 10 years later, he brought home a state title.
He said it has been an amazing opportunity to come back to Marcus and see the kids succeed at such a high level.
The victory was a true team effort, with Marcus earning 108 of its 148 points from relay races.
Dion trusted his team would hold up against the top competition at the state level, but he didn’t realize until after the guns went off they had a chance to make history.
“I knew we could go down there and do some damage, but it wasn’t until the first two relays we realized we had a shot to win the whole thing,” said Dion. “Once we won those, we were in a really good position from there.”
With a state title now in the rearview mirror, Dion said the future the program is headed in the right direction.
He praised the seniors from the season and said they’ve led the team extremely well, setting the younger athletes up for success.
“The future is bright. We’ve got some great young guys that I think are ready to step into roles that are gonna be vacated by seniors,” he said. “I think they’ve seen the excitement from this year and that’ll give them some drive next year, so we’re gonna go back and try to do it again.”
According to Dion, he doesn’t have any plans to not be a part of that future.
“We have an old saying… ‘I bleed silver, I bleed red – Marcus Marauder ’til I’m dead.’ That’s where I am with this program,” he said. “I love this place and this school, so when I step off the pool deck, that’ll be it, I’m not going anywhere else.”
Results:
Juniors Hudson Roybal and Jan Warcholinski paired up with seniors Will Currey and Landon Heuer to win the 200-meter Medley Relay and earn 40 points for the team.
Warcholinski also scored six points for the Marauders in the 200-meter Individual Medley.
Sophomore Filip Podsiadlo teamed up with Heuer, Currey and Roybal to earn another 40 points for the team by finishing first in the 200-meter Free Relay.
Roybal then went on to get second in the 100-meter Back Stroke, which tacked on another 17 points.
Currey also took home second in the 100-meter Breast Stroke, good for 17 points.
Heuer, Currey, Warcholinski and Roybal teamed back up to earn fifth in the 400-meter Free Relay, which added 28 more points to the team’s total – 148.
