Nerves were abundant as senior Nate Johnston stepped up to the blocks for what would be his last solo race of his high school career.

Johnston went into Friday as the two-time defending state champion in the 100 breaststroke and was trying to win his third straight individual title in the event.

The Powell High School senior got out to a strong start as he was tied for the lead after the first touch with freshman Tommy Wonka from Buffalo.

Wonka took the lead heading into the second turn, setting up an exciting finish down the stretch for the final 50 yards.

“It was the last 50 and I remember seeing his hands out in front of me and thinking ‘I have to go as hard as I can,’” Johnston said. “I knew I could catch him on that last 50, but I just had to push myself as fast as I could.”

Johnston continued to trail heading into the final 25 yards, but would not give up.

Closing down the stretch, Johnston passed Wonka and touched the wall first, winning a thrilling final with a time of 57.63 seconds — ahead of Wonka’s 57.92. In the process, Johnston also broke his own Powell High School record, which he’d set the day before (58.20).

“It meant a lot because there was so much stress behind it,” Johnston said. “I have been pushing hard a lot in practice and I hate to lose. Winning that for the last time was pretty cool.”

Taking the event for the third year in a row is a difficult accomplishment in itself, and Class 3A boys swimming saw some of the toughest ever competition this year; three state records were broken over the two-day event in Gillette.

Johnston had not competed in the breaststroke much going into the final weekend of the season, so he was pleasantly surprised when he put up some of his fastest times ever.

“It was extremely rewarding because I have not swam the breast much throughout the year and then swam it at conference and blew it out of the water,” Johnston said. “Then you end up swimming a time you have never swam before at state prelims and know you have to go faster than that.”

Johnston also set a new PHS record in the 200 IM in Thursday’s preliminaries. He swam the event in 1:59.32, shattering a 34-year-old record held by Jory Turk (2:03.71). Johnston went on to place fifth in the state event with a finals time of 2:02.07.

Now that Johnston has capped his decorated career as a Panther, he is going to miss the teammates who made the journey so fun.

“I am just going to miss going around and knowing everybody,” Johnston said. “Everyone is just one big family and that is something I am going to miss.”