Flaska earns Swimmer of Year honor
If there was anything that Hays High School’s Tyler Stein learned during his rookie year of coaching boys’ swimming, it was that to compete at the team level it becomes a numbers game.
That was never more evident when his Indians won more events than Garden City at the Western Athletic Conference championship only to come up short in the points total as the Buffaloes captured their third straight title.
Stein took that knowledge and went on the recruiting trail at the school, added a big freshman class to his already talented upper-class group, and then went to work parsing the events to individuals as the season progressed.
His efforts paid off in big dividends as the Indians ran, or swam, away with the 2026 WAC title, scoring 523 points to runner-up Garden City’s 422 points. It was the school’s first swimming title.
“It just felt really good, especially for the seniors after coming so close a year ago,” said Stein, who earned WAC Coach of the Year honors for the second straight season.
In addition, senior Karsen Flaska made it two in a row for the Indians to earn Swimmer of the Year honors, following in the footsteps of Marshall Sook from 2025, by winning two individual events and swimming legs of two relay teams, all winners.
“We managed to add depth to this year’s team with a freshman class of about seven, and then a couple of sophomores and juniors,” Stein said. “Last year, we won seven or eight events and still lost to Garden so in the WAC, it’s all about depth. This year, we didn’t win as many, but we were able to get a bunch of thirds, fourths, fifths.”
Stein may well be the youngest swim coach in Kansas, at age 22 and still in college, he was named the HHS coach just a couple of weeks prior to the start of the 2024-25 season and now has a second season under his belt.
“I think it actually helps to be a young coach, at least with these boys,” Stein said. “I swam in high school (Great Bend) and I know what they’re going through both in the pool and out. I just try to consider how I want to coach and how I want the boys to learn. They’ve stuck with me and we try new things.
“I think the big thing is to make the sport fun for the boys. We do a lot of different things to keep it interesting. Swimming is a hard sport. For those who had never swam before, we just start with the basics – even just putting your head in the pool. We want them to enjoy the sport and to fall in love with the sport.”
This year’s edition saw the Indians excel in several events, with Flaska leading off in the 200-yard medley relay, anchoring the 400-yard freestyle relay and then swimming individually to capture the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard backstroke.
“The thing that was encouraging was that all the boys would just swim in events where we felt it would help the team,” Stein said. “They wanted to learn and worked hard at improving. Considering we really didn’t have a set lineup for events until after Christmas, I thought they really came through at the end of the season.”
The five events won by the Indians at WAC included the 200-yard medley relay (1:49.72), the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:48.75), Chase Zadina in the 50-yard freestyle (23.50s) and Flaska in the 200 IM (2:21.28) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:01.84).
The 200-yard medley group consisted of Flaska, Jace Herbers, Cedric Durr, and Zadina. The 400-yard free unit had Zadina, Seth Burkholder, Durr, and Flaska.
“We’re losing seven seniors and they’ll be difficult to replace,” Stein said. “We hope we can get another big group of freshmen to come in and fill in the gaps. Karsen and Chase were winning most of their events all season.”
The Class 5A state meet just concluded on Feb. 21 and the Indians’ two relay teams had their best times of the season and set school marks in both events.
The Indians clocked a 1:47.40 to place 10th in the B Final of the 200-yard medley relay but had qualified for the A final on Friday and followed that up with an eighth-place finish in a time of 3:35.49.
“I’m just so happy for that group of seniors to go out on such a good note,” Stein said. “They’ve got their names on the record board. It was a great way to end the season.”
Hays’ Flaska caps off career with WAC Swimmer of the Year honor
Karsen Flaska took a step back in his high school career and recalled his freshman season swimming for the Hays Indians and then finished that memory journey with his finish as a senior for his team.
“My freshman year was kind of a joke,” said Flaska, who earned WAC Swimmer of the Year honors earlier in February by winning two individual events and swimming on two winning relay teams. “I was quite unserious and just messing around that freshman season.”
As a sophomore, Flaska and his teammates made it to state on a relay team, and he said they did not fare well.
“But it was just enough to motivate us to work harder when we came back our junior year,” Flaska said. “We got Coach (Tyler) Stein that season and that has made all the difference in the world for us.”
Flaska praised his young coach for how he communicates and teaches the sport to the members of the team.
“He makes things fun but also works us hard and pushes us to be better,” Flaska said.
When this year’s WAC meet concluded and the points tabulated for individual honors, Flaska said he was happy to hear his name announced.
“Last year, it was between me and Marshall (Sook) and he was a senior, so he got it, and I was happy for him,” Flaska said. “This year, it was one of my goals. It felt good.”
Flaska’s victories came in the 200-yard individual medley (swimming all 4 strokes – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle) with a winning time of 2:21.28. His 100-yard backstroke triumph was at a time of 1:01.84.
“The backstroke is definitely my best stroke,” Flaska said. “The breaststroke is the hardest because you must get your timing and breathing so you don’t disqualify yourself. The fly I’m good at, but better in the free.”
One big factor for Flaska was the camaraderie developed during the season amongst his teammates and coach Stein.
“We all enjoyed swimming together,” Flaska said. “The relays are fun because you’re encouraging each other.”
His teammates in the 200-yard medley included Jace Herbers, Cedric Durr, and Chase Zadina. That group clocked a winning time of 1:49.72. The 400-yard free relay included Zadina, Durr, Seth Burkholder, and Flaska.
Flaska credited his offseason workouts with getting him prepared for his final season.
“The workouts vary from day to day, so there are no two days alike,” Flaska said of his training regimen. “I think swimming the same four events all season really helped me as I could fine tune the turns and starts.”
Flaska plans to attend hometown Fort Hays State University and major in physical therapy, but the school does not have a swimming program, thus the state meet was a concluding event for his competitive career.
“I’ll have a lot of great memories to take away, so I’m happy about that,” Flaska said.
2026 WAC Boys Swimming Championship
At Barton Community College
| SCHOOL | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hays | 523 |
| 2 | Garden City | 422 |
| 3 | Dodge City | 419 |
| 4 | Great Bend | 316 |
| 5 | Liberal | 171 |
2026 All-WAC Boys Swimming Team
Winners of Each Event
| EVENT | SWIMMER | SCHOOL | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200-yard medley relay | Karsen Flaska Jace Herbers Cedric Durr Chase Zadina | Hays | 1:49.72 |
| 200-yard freestyle | Emiliano Gonzalez | Garden City | 1:54.27 |
| 200-yard individual medley | Karsen Flaska | Hays | 2:21.28 |
| 50-yard freestyle | Chase Zadina | Hays | 23.50 |
| 100-yard butterfly | Alec Keller | Garden City | 1:00.42 |
| 100-yard freestyle | Eli Somers | Great Bend | 52.20 |
| 500-yard freestyle | Emiliano Gonzalez | Garden City | 5:07.28 |
| 200-yard freestyle relay | Dylan Martinez Ethan Ackerman Alec Keller Emiliano Gonzalez | Garden City | 1:41.70 |
| 100-yard backstroke | Karsen Flaska | Hays | 1:01.84 |
| 100-yard breaststroke | Ethan Ackerman | Garden City | 1:11.22 |
| 400-yard freestyle relay | Chase Zadina Seth Burkholder Cedric Durr Karsen Flaska | Hays | 55.63 |
Swimmer of the Year: Karsen Flaska, Hays, Sr.
Coach of the Year: Tyler Stein, Hays
WAC Boys Swimming Records
| EVENT | SWIMMER | SCHOOL | TIME | YEAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 Medley Relay | Stein Long Kennedy Feist | Great Bend | 1:41.51 | 2022 |
| 200 Free | Matthew Huslig | Great Bend | 1:52.39 | 2022 |
| 200 IM | Kobe Otero | Garden City | 2:10.89 | 2021 |
| 50 Free | Tyler Stein Radek Ruzicka | Great Bend Garden City | 22.72 | 2022 2022 |
| 100 Fly | Dawson Clark | Great Bend | 55.61 | 2017 |
| 100 Free | Kobe Otero | Garden City | 51.39 | 2021 |
| 500 Free | Emiliano Gonzalez | Garden City | 5:07.28 | 2026 |
| 200 Free Relay | Stein Kennedy Long Feist | Great Bend | 1:34.16 | 2022 |
| 100 Back | Kobe Otero | Garden City | 57.37 | 2021 |
| 100 Breast | Radek Ruzicka | Garden City | 1:00.79 | 2022 |
