Chow leads Young to stunning victory at boys swimming city championships

By Noah Poser

Young entered the weekend as an underdog, with Lane Tech the clear favorite to win the 2026 Chicago Public League Boys Swimming and Diving Championship.

By Sunday, Feb. 8, the script had flipped. In their home pool, the Dolphins stunned Lane and claimed the city title with 278.5 points. Lane finished second with 267, and Northside was third with 217.

No one was more shocked than Dolphins coach Maxwell Boettcher.

“Unexpected,” Boettcher said. “Going into the season, we didn’t think we really had a chance, because Lane was really good. So we kind of just expected to get second or third. But the kids put in a lot of work, and it paid off today. It was awesome to see them. They wanted a race today and it was fun.”

His swimmers, though, never doubted themselves, especially senior Kale Chow.

“Our captain, Kale Chow, thought we could beat them,” Boettcher said. “And he proved me wrong.”

Chow delivered one of the more dominant performances in recent CPL history. He opened the meet by teaming with Holden Lechtenberg, Max Chiu and Yahir Jimenez to win the 200-yard medley relay, setting a new pool and meet record.

He added three more victories: the 200-yard individual medley, the 500-yard freestyle, and the 200-yard freestyle relay with Chiu, Jimenez and David Santl. Along the way, he broke his own pool and meet records in the 200 IM and set new pool and meet marks in the 500 free. His 200 IM time also established a new CPL record.

Despite the historic day, Chow focused solely on the team result.

“The goal was for us to win,” he said. “I won my freshman year, and now I’m a senior, so I really wanted to win to finish off my high school career. Luckily, everyone was doing their job, everyone was racing really hard, and I’m happy everyone did well.”

Boettcher was less reserved in his praise of his star swimmer.

“Kale is a workhorse,” he said. “He’s the hardest-working guy on the team. He gets everyone else motivated. He works with everybody, trying to make them better. He’s the best person to have on a team.”

Chiu, a junior, followed closely behind his captain’s example. He contributed to both winning relays and finished second in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles.

“I hate the way he swims, but it’s fast,” Boettcher said with a laugh. “It looks terrible, but he’s a speed demon. I love it. He and Kale both didn’t swim last year, so having them back this year is amazing. That obviously really helped the team.”

Other individual champions included Young’s Jean-Luc Nazaire, who won the diving event; Northside’s Jay Huang, who took the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke; and Lane’s Owen Huynh, who won the 100-yard butterfly.

Curie’s Kevin Gama won the 100-yard freestyle. Lane’s Alex Arsic and Alexander Ivascu claimed the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, respectively, and later teamed up with Arijon Purelku and Ashton Boeke to win the 400-yard freestyle relay.

That relay brought the meet to a close, leaving only the traditional team dive into the pool.

Afterward, a soaked and smiling Chiu – who had predicted the upset after running his own calculations Friday night – was already thinking about how to turn his individual silvers into gold.

“I’ll be analyzing them,” Chiu said. “Probably going to be going over them with my coach and my parents for sure. There’s always little things you can improve on. So I’ll be working, not only at Whitney Young practice, but club practice as well.

“Just training with the guys, mostly, to get better.”

Results from 2026 Boys Swimming City Championship Meet

Diving: Jean-Luc Nazaire (Young) – 379.75 pts

200-yard medley relay: Young (Kale Chow, Holden Lechtenberg, Max Chiu, Yahir Jimenez) – 1:34.39**

200-yard freestyle: Jay Huang (Northside) – 1:45.30

200-yard IM: Chow – 1:52.91***

50-yard freestyle: Alex Arsic (Lane) – 21.64

100-yard butterfly: Owen Huynh (Lane) – 52.22

100-yard freestyle: Kevin Gama (Curie) – 48.57

500-yard freestyle: Chow – 4:36.84**

200-yard freestyle relay: Young (Chiu, David Santl, Jimenez, Chow) – 1:27.15

100-yard backstroke: Huang – 52.26