FEDERAL WAY – It was a race against the clock for Gig Harbor junior Evan Indahl.

Sure, he was in the finals of the Class 4A state swimming and diving championships Saturday afternoon. But so was Logan Rysemus, a junior from Stadium whom Indahl called super-human.

Instead, Indahl focused on a goal he felt was closer, and he snapped it in two. He broke the Tides’ school record in the 200-yard individual medley -- the oldest record on the books -- and placed second at the King County Aquatic Center.

“That was definitely the high point for me,” Indahl said. “That school record just swept me off my feet.”

Indahl also medaled in the 500 free, and sophomore Erik Nielsen finished fifth in the 100 free. The Tides’ freestyle relays each sewed up top-five spots, and senior Matthew Collins turned in his best 100-breaststroke performance of his career to lead Gig Harbor to a sixth-place team finish.

While they couldn’t catch Narrows League rival Stadium, which outscored Issaquah 229-205 to win the team title, the Tides were ecstatic with their performances.

“If you stood on the deck with me in November, you would probably say we’d get two to state,” said Gig Harbor coach Mike Kelly, who was named the Class 4A Coach of the Year.

Kelly wasn’t quiet about how he felt about his team’s prospects. They were out of shape, he said. They didn’t look like one of the swimming teams the Tides are used to putting together.

Indahl was one to question that logic.

“I was always the one arguing with that,” he said. “I always believed in our team getting beyond our expectations.”

Start with Collins, who had qualified 12th in the 100 breast. On Saturday, he dropped two seconds off his personal best and won the consolation heat in 1 minute, 0.78 seconds.

“I don’t often say, ‘Wow,’ ” Kelly said. “But, ‘Wow.’ ”

Collins only missed the school record by about sixth-tenths of a second, Kelly said.

“That has to be the race of the meet,” Indahl said. “It wasn’t a school record, and it wasn’t in the finals, but that was a great race. I just wish we had him for that last year.”

Nielsen excelled in a 100-free finals field that was half-full of fellow Narrows League swimmers. He placed fifth in 48.41, a time that was better than all three of his familiar foes.

“I finally got to race against a lot of the older guys I was hoping to race all season,” Nielsen said.

He also won the consolation heat in the 200 free, placing ninth in 1:47.12.

“It took me over half of the season to get here,” Nielsen said. “It was overwhelmingly great.”

Indahl battled back from a No. 8 seed to the finals to place fifth in a fast 500-free heat. His time of 4:45.93 was five seconds better than his preliminary performance on Friday.

Yet it was icing on the cake following his record-breaking effort in the 200 IM. He finished in 1:56.20, finally wiping out Kurt Dodge’s mark. Dodge is now a meet official and posed with Indahl for a photo after the event.

“I went in a little too confident in the prelims and kind of got slapped in the face,” Indahl said of Friday’s time of 1:58.00. “In the finals, I got whipped into shape.”

And it was still well shy of Rysemus, who won the event in 1:50.97.

“Logan is on a whole ’nother level,” Indahl said. “There’s Logan, and then there are the humans in the race.”

The Tides’ relays also provided a boost. Gig Harbor senior Andrew Van Camp and junior Daniel Arroyo combined with Indahl and Nielsen to place fourth in the 200-free relay (1:30.69, a personal best), and Arroyo, senior Baylor Stearnes, Indahl and Nielsen added a fifth-place finish in the 400-free relay (3:18.07, also a personal best).

Sophomore diver Bastian Weyn completed his final three dives during the finals and finished 11th after he compiled 283.45 points.

The Tides’ third relay, the 200 medley, finished 13th in 1:44.08. That team consisted of Van Camp, Collins, senior Jeffrey Hale and Arroyo.

Hale also competed individually, and he finished 23rd in the 100 butterfly on Friday in 57.87.

Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 253-853-9245 or by email at brian.mclean@gateline.com. Follow him on Twitter, @gateway_brian.