By Jud Mullins

King house are Kings Of The Pool again in 2026, swashbuckling to a shock triumph in Wangaratta High School's 110th swimming carnival at the Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre, in one of the closest counts in the event's history.

King's total of 588 points pipped Ovens (582) by just six, with Wareena not far behind (537), and champions of the past three athletics carnivals, Merriwa, in fourth place (458).

Senior house captains Stevie Driscoll and Luka Hildebrand lifted the shield on stage in the WHS performing arts centre, flanked by the younger King House captains.

The shield was presented by new staff member and five-time WHS swimming age group champion Rebecca Hogarth, who herself lifted it twice in a row when senior house captain for Merriwa in 1999-2000.

King won on the back of their girls, who accumulated a carnival-leading 222, as well as their relay teams, and novelty event participation.

The 'Green Machine' now boasts four titles in six years, nine of the past 12, and 19 of the last 50.

King's 110-year rival (both were original WHS houses formed in 1916) and last year's champion Ovens, had been favourite to win, considering it had the greater numbers and the most competitors with 35.

King was given the longest odds as the smallest house (36 less than Ovens) and just 25 competitors racing.

Ovens dominated the individual swimming events, amassing 347 points - 84 more than next best Merriwa (263), with King third (242) and Wareena on 229. They looked certain to go back-to-back for the first time in 25 years.

However, in the relays (awarded double points), King closed the gap on Ovens by 50. Its 172 relay points pushed its swimming tally to 414 - just 55 points shy of Ovens' 469, with Wareena on 341 and Merriwa 347.

That meant any challenge to Ovens' dominance in the racing had to be mounted in the novelty events, which are part of a long-standing tradition to encourage everyone to be part of the day and help their house get over the line.

As those tallies came in, Wareena (196), King (170) and Merriwa (120) all picked up more novelty points than the 113 Ovens gathered. This gave King a six-point against-the-odds win.

In the individual racing, it was the year 10 Merriwa girls (as at the past two athletics carnivals) who accumulated the most points with 113 - and that was without last year's age group champion, Inanay Gilson, who is in Spain.

The year eight King girls (104) were next - the only other squadron to break the 100 mark.

Next best were the year 10 Ovens boys (82), year 11 King girls (78), year nine Ovens boys (69), year 12 Wareena boys (53), and then the year eight Ovens girls (50) and year nine Wareena boys (50) also breaking the 50.

The 12 prestigious age group champions medals were presented at the WHS PAC by Lynne Semmler, a five-time WHS champion, state champion, former prefect and King House captain, who still holds two breaststroke records from 1970-'71.

Winners were: 13 girls, Ashton Ryan, King (28 points); 13 boys, Thomas Lindsay, Ovens (18); 14 girls, Imogen Rocchiccioli King (40); 14 boys, Noah Anderson, Wareena (32); 15 girls, Shane Marshall, Merriwa (26); 15 boys, Austin Whitehead, Ovens (30); 16 girls, Ruby O'Kane, Merriwa (34); 16 girls, Oskar McGahan, Ovens (26); 17 girls, Isabelle Christison, King (24); 17 boys, Sam Morey, Merriwa (19); 18+ girls, Milly O'Kane, King (20); 18+ boys, Merlin Tzaros, Wareena (28).

There were some thrilling battles. The closest was the 13 girls, with year eight Ashton Ryan saluting by just one point from brave year seven Matilda Lang.

Next closest was the 16 girls between two Merriwa all-round guns, with Ruby O'Kane (34) pipping her great mate Kaity Ford (32) by just two to win her third title; O'Kane won the breaststroke and butterfly, and Ford got the freestyle and backstroke.

There was, similarly, a two-point margin in the 17 boys, with Sam Morey getting over Kayden Vozlic to win his second title.

They were incredibly given a dead heat in their breaststroke, then Sam's victory in their freestyle battle proved the difference.

In the 16 boys it was a tussle between two Ovens swimmers, Oskar McGahan holding out his mate Lachlan Downing by just three points to win his third straight title.

The only flawless performance this year came from Imogen Rocchiccioli in the 14 girls, who won all four races for a perfect 40 points, with a five to 10 metre margin in each encounter.

There were two inspirational individual performances in 2026.

The first was year 10 Ruby O'Kane who, directly after competing for Merriwa House at the carnival, headed to Melbourne to fly out at midnight for Europe on a 12-month exchange to Spain.

The other came from year 12 Merlin Tzaros. The 2025 Australian champion triathlete, and 2025 School Sport Victoria state champion cross country runner broke his arm just three weeks ago.

Despite the risk of re-injury which would derail his triathlon season, he chose to compete, racing in a waterproof cast in everything but the butterfly, and collecting his sixth straight title.

Merlin became just the 13th person in 110 years, and the first since 2015, to win the 'swimming sweep' of six straight age group medals.

Family history was made too. The O'Kane siblings now move to a total of nine swimming titles - Milly four, Ruby three and Ned two. Only two families have more: the Moroney sisters (20) and the Shiels siblings (13).

PHOTOS: Kev McGennan