The Hanover High girls diving and swimming team used its depth and more than a dozen personal bests to win their third straight NHIAA Division II state championship on Saturday.
The three-peat came with no first-place finishes in the individual events, the same as the 2025 title. But the girls scored points in every event except one and the relay team of freshman Kai Britton, sophomores Mimi Al-Nimr and Joy Cheng and senior Addy Cesanek won the 400-yard freestyle relay, the final event of the meet at Swasey pool at the University of New Hampshire, giving the Bears the title with 192 points. Souhegan finished second with 150.
“It was a great team effort,” Hanover head coach Fritz Bedford said in an email.
The girls have now won seven of the last nine DII state titles. The Hanover boys, a young team with mostly freshmen and sophomores, were runners-up for the fourth straight year behind Souhegan, 233-204. The only first-place finish for Hanover was freshman Miles Molina, who won the one-meter diving competition held Friday night and was in the pool Saturday.
“He did very well in the 200 (free), contributed in a relay and dove for us,” Bedford said of Molina in a phone interview on Sunday.
Having not competed against Souhegan or Oyster River during the season, Bedford initially thought his teams would likely land in second among 20 teams.
“I wasn’t sure the girls could win, but they all swam up really well,” said Bedford, referring to improved times at the meet. “I felt good going into the state meet because we had consistent drops throughout the year. Every week, they were making progress and that was a good sign.”
The lead in both the boys and girls scores went “back and forth” with Souhegan with several lead changes, Bedford said. “It was a great meet.”
The girls team of 10 swimmers had 15 personal bests for times and the boys team, also with 10, had seven, Bedford said.
Besides Bedford, Hanover is coached by his wife Linda, Trent Staats and Sean Uiterwyk.
“For us, the focus at the start of the year is always on the state meet, qualifying as much as we can,” Bedford said. “It maximizes our opportunities (to score points).”
Points are awarded to the top 12 finishers in each event. For individual events, first place is awarded 16 points and for relays, first place earns 32 points.
“I am very happy with the team,” Bedford added. “They performed really well but also they were very supportive of each other throughout the year and they are easy to coach.”
Lebanon sophomore Hailey Belardo finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Hanover girls: Ruby Lintner, Addy Cesanek, Joy Cheng, Kai Britton (3rd, 200-year medley relay), Cesanek (4th , 200-yard free), Grace Staats (5th, 200-yard free), Britton, Bea Bornholdt Collins (6th, 9th, 200-yard IM), Abigail Williams (4th, one-meter diving), Cesanek, Bornholdt Collins (4th, 5th, 100-yard butterfly), Britton (5th, 100-yard free), Staats (6th, 500-yard free) Mimi Al-Nimr, Lintner, Borhnoldt Collins, Staats (4th, 200-yard freestyle relay) Cheng (7th, 100-yard backstroke), Al-Nimr (7th, 500-yard free)
Hanover boys – Miles Vogt, Alan Zheng, Gael Popescu, Alex Chen (4th, 200-yard medley relay), Miles Molina (6th, 200-yard free), Zhang (5th, 200-yard IM), Chen (6th, 50-yard free), Vogt (3rd, 100-yard butterfly), Chen (2nd, 100-yard free), Haoyi Liu (4th, 500-yard free), Liu, Nate Holt, Landes Hough, Popescu (6th, 200-yard free relay), Vogt (3rd, 100-yard backstroke), Popescu, Liu (7th, 8th, 100-yard breaststroke) Molina, Zhang, Chen, Vogt (2nd, 400-yard free relay), Molina (1st, one-meter diving).
Results: Girls – Hanover 192, Souhegan 150, Oyster River 149, Derryfield 114, Hollis-Brookline 82, Coe-Brown 61, Bow 61, Kearsarge 55, Saint Thomas Aquinas 46, Boys – Souhegan 233, Hanover 204, Oyster River 164, Coe-Brown 112, Hollis-Brookline 90, Saint Thomas Aquinas 88, Pelham 50, Derryfield 48, Newmarket 38, Laconia 34.