It’s been nearly 50 years since the Astoria High School swimming program debuted during the 1978-1979 season.

Now, the program has its first state champion.

Finn Bizzell cemented his legacy as the greatest swimmer in Astoria High School history on Saturday, Feb. 22, as he won the state title in the 50-yard freestyle at the 4A/3A/2A/1A State Swimming Championships in Beaverton.

Not only did Bizzell win the title, he set a new school record in the process. His time of 22.01 was one of three school records set by the senior at the state meet. The others came in the 100-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay.

Bizzell finished fourth in the 100 butterfly and broke his previous record in the event by swimming the race in 53.59. He wrapped up his Astoria career by posting a 100-yard relay split time of 48.53.

After his performance on Saturday Bizzell owns four of the eight school records for the boys team.

Bizzell wasn’t the only Astoria swimmer to post terrific times during the state meet. Senior Hazel Towsey-French set three personal best times during her 500-yard freestyle race.

Towsey-French finished in 11th place with a time of 6:00.45, an improvement of 6.5 seconds from her previous best time. Paul Gascoigne, the team’s head coach, said Towsey-French posted personal best times at both the 100- and 200-yard points of the race.

The Fishermen also brought two relay teams to state and saw improved finishes.

The Astoria boys 200-yard freestyle relay team of John Ero, Gabe White, Casey Dopp and Bizzell came into the weekend seeded 12th and ended up improving one spot to 11th, after dropping two seconds from their previous season-best time.

The boys 400 freestyle relay team followed a similar script, as they came in seeded 11th and improved to 10th. The foursome consisting of Bizzell, Sam Reid, Dopp and Ero dropped 8.63 seconds from their previous season-best time.

Astoria boys finished tied for 10th overall in the team competition with Bizzell scoring all their points.