Bellevue seized its first 3A state boys swim and dive title since 1999 Saturday, Feb. 21 at King County Aquatic Center, topping defending champion Mercer Island 406-225.

The Wolverines won all three relays on Saturday, and qualified multiple swimmers in seven of the meet’s 12 final events. It was the fourth-straight postseason win for the Wolverines, also winning the league dual meet title and the league and district championship meets.

It was a familiar finish of late for the Islanders, runners-up to Bellevue in each of those four postseason meets. Still, Mercer Island coach Chauntelle Johnson was pleased with her team’s showing, noting the Islanders’ nine-year run of finishing no lower than second at the state meet.

“We finished in front of 42 other teams that were here, that is amazing,” Johnson said. “At the beginning of the season, we only had five guys that were returning to the team that had been at state. We have 14 guys here today. I think that that is an amazing accomplishment to get that many extra guys into the meet.”

Mercer Island boasted a state champion in two events, with senior Ian Caldwell winning the 50 and 100 freestyle races. Caldwell registered All-American Consideration times in both, winning the 50 free in 21 seconds and the 100 free in 45.8.

“It felt great,” Caldwell said. “It was great to be with my team because it’s my last year and it was great to spend it with a great group of guys. I think I owe it all to the team, they were the ones that got me here. Chauntelle has been the most excellent coach I’ve had for four years, and she’s the one that’s inspired me to keep swimming and get to where I’ve been today.”

The Islanders were runners-up in the 200 and 400 freestyle relay events. The team of Caldwell, Joseph Li, Oliver Hoff and Ben Gore finished the 200 in 1:27.35, while Gore, Hoff, Andrew Fukuda and Caldwell swam the 400 in 3:11.03. In the 200 medley relay, the team of Christopher Shin, Fukuda, Li and Connor Vacca placed eighth (1:42.61).

Mercer Island had five more swimmers reach the medalist stand in four other events. Gore was fourth (1:58.03) in the 200 IM, while Fukuda placed eighth (2:01.49). Hoff was fourth in the 500 free (4:45.21), Ben Dixon placed fifth in the diving competition (376.8) and Fukuda was fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.28).