The state swimming championships are just three weeks away, and the Bend High girls team is heading into uncharted waters.

The dominant Class 5A girls swim team over the past decade is going for its first-ever three-peat and its seventh state title overall.

“We are really excited,” said junior Emma Bronson. “We have some incoming freshmen and new swimmers that are going to strengthen our depth in a lot of the events, which is really going to help us a lot.”

“They work really hard and they have these goals that they set for themselves,” said first-year Lava Bears coach Alexandra Winslow. “They put in so much effort to reach those goals because they want to be the best.”

After winning its first state title in 1999, Bend won titles in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023 and 2024. A seventh team title would put the Lava Bears in rarefied air with the third most state titles — behind David Douglas (14) and Jesuit (12), and tied with Crescent Valley (seven).

The state championships are set for the Tualatin Hills Aquatic Center in Beaverton, Feb. 21-22.

Winslow was a senior on the 2015 championship team, and has enjoyed seeing how much the program has improved over the last 10 years.

“It is fun to see how it has changed and how big it is now,” Winslow said. “It was not this big when I was here.”

Chasing history and defending a title might seem like it could bring on some added pressure, but the Lava Bears are hardly sensing it three weeks away from the state meet.

“I don’t feel much,” said senior Hadley Hayes. “I trust my coach’s training right now. I feel better than I have been the past few years. I’m actually really excited for it.”

“We are all super excited,” said junior Maddie Thornton. “You are always a little bit nervous going into the state meet. But state is super fun and we have a really good group.”

Last year was a record-breaking year for the Lava Bears at the state meet. No Class 5A team had scored more team points (119) than Bend did in 2024. The state, no matter the classification, had never seen a faster 200-yard medley team than Thornton, Hayes, Bronson and Kamryn Meskill (1 minute, 41.91 seconds). That relay team hit the All-American standard of the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.

“It will be fun to build off of because last year was super exciting,” Thornton said. “Now we can set new goals and do even better.”

Of the 11 events at state, the Lava Bears finished first in nine of them. They won six individual events and all three relays. Thornton won both the 100 backstroke and became a champion and All-American in the 200 individual medley. Both those results were the second-fastest 5A times ever at the state meet.

Bronson turned in the fastest 5A time in the 100 butterfly, and Hayes also won a title in the 100 breaststroke.

Thornton was part of the title-winning 400 freestyle relay team and Bronson was part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team.

The Lava Bears will have to replace one of the nation’s top swimmers. Meskill, who had won nine titles (one at Caldera, eight at Bend) in her first three high school seasons, moved to Washington and plans to swim collegiately for North Carolina.

But with the heavy hitters returning and expecting to swim in the same events as they did a year ago, along with multiple state-placers returning and a fresh crop of swimmers, the Lava Bears feel that they can once again chase records at the state meet.

“I think all of us getting better individually will contribute to being able to break those records again,” Hayes said.

Bend, along with Mountain View, Caldera and Summit, is set to compete in the Bend City Meet on Friday at Juniper Swim & Fitness Center.