INDIANAPOLIS — Floyd Central junior Andrew Cato had an all-state day in two events on Saturday at the IHSAA Boys’ State Swim Finals held at the IUPUI Natatorium.

Cato was fourth in his first event, the 100-yard freestyle, and later followed that up with another fourth-place finish in the 100 backstroke.

Seeded third after preliminaries in both events, the junior was steady in a pack of swimmers vying for the top four spots in both races. But in the freestyle, Hamilton Southeastern’s Nathan Kinney posted a charge over the final 75 yards to pull away for the victory in a time of 45.51 seconds, while Cato finished in 46.36. Munster’s Kevin Behrens led start-to-finish in the backstroke and finished in 49.51. Cato’s time was 50.96.

“It’s a good day. I finished a little higher than I was seeded in both,” said Cato after completing the backstroke. “I was fourth last year in the backstroke as well, so I wanted to come up here and perform a little better there. But all-and-all, it was a good day.”

Cato wound up being two of Floyd’s three all-state performances on the day.

Teammate Brock Slavens was eighth in the 50 freestyle. Slavens was seeded third coming into the event after last week’s sectional and tied for seventh after preliminaries on Friday.

“Brock’s not a full-time swimmer but he had a great time at sectional and was seeded really high coming here,” Floyd head coach Joe Perkins said. “The 50 is a crazy event and sometimes a swimmer with more experience can adjust a little quicker.

“Still, Brock doesn’t swim year-round and he’s here today putting up an all-state effort so he had a pretty great day.”

The Highlanders also scored points in diving as Brandon Davis placed 13th and the 200 medley relay squad wound up 14th on the afternoon.

“Floyd Central hasn’t had a team come here and score as many points as we have before,” said Cato. “We had a great day all around. We showed we can compete with some of the best programs in the state.”

Jeffersonville’s Zach Blankenbeker placed eighth overall in his lone event on the day, the 200 freestyle. The Red Devil sophomore made the turn at the midway point in fourth place. But he could not mount a charge over the final segment, finishing in 1:44.01.

“The kid is a sophomore and he came to the state finals and placed eight. I’d say that’s a pretty awesome day,” said Jeff coach Keith Gast.

Blankenbeker said he was disappointed in his swim time. But he hopes to use the day as merely a steppingstone to bigger things.

“I feel like I could have done a better job,” Blankenbeker said. “Still the experience is big. I hope to be back here two more times and have bigger days when I come back.”

Carmel junior Matt Gerth won the event in 1:39.61.

Davis advanced out of the morning diving preliminaries into the afternoon finals. He wound up with a score of 389.65.

“We kind of felt like if Brandon could advance out of the diving regional (last Tuesday) at Bloomington, then he’d have a chance to make finals today,” Perkins said. “After prelims, seven of the top 10 divers in the state meet all came from one regional so that shows the strength of what he was up against there.

“Brandon went from 10th last year at regional to sixth there this year and advancing to the state finals where he placed, so it’s a great showing for the kid.”

Floyd Central’s 200 medley relay squad of Oscar Anderson, Cato, Max Hollingsworth and Slavens recorded a time of 1:39.16 in scoring their 14th-place effort in the consolation finals. The team became Floyd’s first relay squad to score at state under Perkins.

“They dropped time at sectional just to be able to make it here and when they got here they dropped time again to slide into the finals,” Perkins said. “And again today they dropped time and swam higher than their seeding, so you really don’t ask for a better effort than those guys gave us.”

New Albany senior Evan Truman was 14th in the 50 freestyle, finishing in 22.10.

The event had one historic finish as Chesterton’s Kyle Whitaker established a new national record in the 200 individual medley, as he rolled to a first-place effort in 1:44.55. Whitaker also established a new state record in the 500 freestyle, winning the title in 4:19.79. The win in the 500 gave Whitaker eight career state championships, which also was a new record.