Like it was at the All-City girls swim meet back on Sept. 9, the pool was a little more full for the boys All-City meet on Tuesday when Bradley-Bourbonnais hosted Kankakee and, for the first time since 2012, Bishop McNamara.

The host Boilermakers retained their All-City crown, taking first place in all 12 events and earning 26 top-three finishes.

Bradley-Bourbonnais’ Eli Swafford was a part of wins in both the 200-yard medley relay (1:49.61) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:42.52), both with teammates Jett Baker, Charles Quigley and Max LaMore.

Swafford, a junior, also took first place in the 100-yard butterfly (55.55) and, notably, the 100-yard backstroke, where he broke his own school record of 56.03 with a new record time of 55.96.

It was the third time Swafford has set the school record in the event, and he has lower times still in mind.

“That felt great,” he said. “I’m really excited, especially for the end of the season. The state cut is at 52.94, and I’m going to see if I can go get that at sectionals.”

Bradley-Bourbonnais coach Ashley Porter, also the girls head coach, is in her first season coaching the boys team. She said Swafford has done a good job to put himself in position to keep lowering that record.

“He’s been working really, really hard,” she said. “He’s been working on his underwaters, he’s been working on his start, he’s been working on moving more water every pull. We’ve got a couple more tweaks and that record is going to fall even further.”

The Boilermakers also took first in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:48.58) with the team of Kyle Gould, Lucas Porter, Tylen Coyle and Mason Raloff.

Coyle won the 200-yard freestyle (30.63) while Porter won the 100-yard breaststroke (35.85). Quigley took first in both the 200-yard individual medley (2:17.72) and 100-yard freestyle (54.30).

Baker took first in the 500-yard freestyle (6:10.38), LaMore won the 50-yard freestyle (25.08) and Elijah Shold won the 1-meter dive (190.5 points).

Bishop McNamara had five swimmers hit the pool in its return to All-City in Carter Edwards, Noah Bosgraaf, Rocco Haigh, Luis Espinosa and Archer Nelson.

Edwards, Bosgraaf, Haigh and Espinose earned the Irish’s best finish of the day, placing second in the 200-yard freestyle relay (2:02.61).

Nelson, Espinosa, Edwards and Haigh placed third in the 200-yard medley relay (2:19.68), Espinosa placed third in the 100-yard backstroke (1:22.33) and Edwards placed third in the 50-yard freestyle (28.61).

Haigh, who also placed fourth in the 50-yard freestyle (29.40), swam a bit when he was younger and is now happy to be back in the pool, this time representing his high school.

“I used to swim when I was in third grade, but now I’m back at it,” he said. “I just started swimming a month ago, and I like it so far. It’s great.”

Head coach Carley Meier, just four months removed from coaching the girls team in its All-City return, said the boys have done a good job building the program back.

“We’re just looking for time improvements and just having fun, because this is the first time back for the boys as well as the girls,” she said. “We’re just having fun and building that fun team atmosphere so more boys join next year and feel welcomed.”

Kankakee is looking to keep rising as a program as well after bringing back swimming six years ago.

Returning swimmer Dylan Shepard had the Kays’ highest finish, placing second in the 500-yard freestyle (7:12.26) while freshman Rahman Lawal placed third in both the 200-yard individual medley (2:35.02) and 100-yard butterfly (1:16.01).

Lawal said he has been enjoying his first season swimming at the high school level and the competition at All-City.

“It was a really fun meet,” he said. “This swim season so far has been really nice. A lot of hard work, a lot of working out and all that.”

Kankakee head coach Mackenzie Ganger has also coached many of Tuesday’s participants back in their youth swimming days, so seeing even more familiar faces at All-City was special for her.

“It’s a really cool moment for me to look out at the pool and see boys I coached in the past, that I coach currently, that represent all of our schools,” she said. “I think it really speaks to how close-knit our area is when it comes to swimming.”