Bend High’s Ben Brockman swims the breaststroke during the boys 200-yard individual medley in the Class 5A Special District 1 swim championships on Saturday at Juniper Swim & Fitness Center in Bend.

At the beginning of the season, Elizabeth Meskill was not completely sold on her boys swim team being the district champion. She saw the potential, but the Lava Bears would have to put in the work. They would have to show the desire for the title, and they had to go out and earn it.

On Saturday afternoon at Bend’s Juniper Swim & Fitness Center, still dripping from a celebratory dunk in the pool, Meskill said: “That’s exactly what we did.”

Ben Brockman posted wins in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 butterfly, and Bend accumulated 536 points to claim the Class 5A Special District 1 boys swimming championship — its first since 2011, snapping the two-year reign of crosstown rival Summit.

“We’ve had our eye on this moment the whole season,” Meskill said.

“We’ve been talking to our boys and working with them for this moment here. It really shows that individuals don’t win championships. Teams win championships.”

Paul Rogers added a win in the 500 freestyle for Bend and also placed second in the 200 free. Garrett Ross was runner-up in the 100 breaststroke, followed by teammate Nathan Brown, and in the 200 IM, Ross, Brown and Bend’s Matt Austin went 3-4-5.

Individual and team relay winners automatically qualify for the Class 5A swimming state championships next week at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham. Remaining open lanes at the state meet will be filled by the next-fastest times from district meets throughout the state and will be announced later today.

“We had two goals: to win districts and to get on the podium at state,” Meskill said. “It obviously puts us in a great position to go into (state) next week. We couldn’t be more proud of every single boy on this team, because every single one of them contributed. We didn’t have a single boy who didn’t perform at their best.”

Tommy Brewer recorded victories in the 50 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke to pace the Storm, who finished with 463 points. His time of 21.23 seconds in the 50 free nearly set a district record — missing the mark by .08 seconds — but the Summit junior rebounded to set a district best in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.84 seconds. John Hartmeier won the 100 free, and the Storm finished first in all three relays.

Mountain View, which was third as a team with 365 points, boasted two individual wins — both by Brandon Deckard.

The Cougar senior posted a time of 1 minutes, 43.13 seconds in the 200 freestyle, falling just short of the district record by .07 seconds.

But Deckard returned for the 100 backstroke.

“I was still kind of fighting in my mind, because I wanted to get that 200 free and set two district records at this meet and I missed it by .07 seconds,” Deckard said. “So in my head I was trying to redeem myself for that.”

Deckard touched the wall in 49.95 seconds, becoming the first district swimmer to break 50 seconds. That time bested the district mark he set in Friday’s preliminaries, and it would have been an all-classifications record had it come at the state championships.

“I’ve been going for that for like a year or a year and a half now,” Deckard said. “I knew I needed to come back under 25 (seconds on the second lap). I touched, and when I looked up I saw 25, and I thought, ‘There’s a chance.’ I was just overwhelmed. I was just like, ‘Yes! Finally!’ ”

Behind Ashland in the five-team standings was Redmond High, which was led by Alec Carter’s 11th-place finishes in both the 50 and 100 freestyle races.

—Reporter: 541-383-0307,glucas@bendbulletin.com.