FLOWOOD — The MAIS State Swimming Championship was clipping along at such a fast pace Wednesday that no one even seemed to notice St. Aloysius had had one of its state relay championships taken away.

By the time they did, nearly two hours later, it was the lesser of two prizes the Flashes had lost.

St. Al’s winning 200-yard freestyle relay team was disqualified for a false start on one of the later legs. The mistake cost St. Al 18 points in the team standings and proved to be the difference between a team championship and a runner-up finish.

St. Al finished second to Jackson Prep in the team standings, losing 257.5-244.5. Jackson Prep, which had 83 swimmers in the meet to St. Al’s 22, won its 42nd consecutive MAIS championship.

“That’s the way it goes,” St. Al coach Bruce Ebersole said with a mix of disappointment and acceptance. “I knew we couldn’t make a mistake and still win. We talked about that before the meet. Sometimes it happens. Someone gets a little excited and off they go.”

The disqualification was just about the only misstep St. Al made in the meet. It won four individual or relay state titles, a number of other top-three finishes, and had a host of personal-best times.

Senior Katie Martin won the high school girls championship in the 50-yard butterfly, and was on the 200-yard medley relay team that easily won the gold medal. Adrienne Eckstein, Katelyn Brock and Christie Johnson were also on the relay, and the same swimmers comprised the 200 freestyle relay that was disqualified.

“It was an excellent day for us, team-wise. We’ve been training hard and everything came to fruition,” Martin said. “The entire thing was a team effort, from the seventh graders to the seniors. Everybody had a hand in it. I’m very proud of my team. They did awesome.”

The junior high boys team of Adam Eckstein, Andrew Ulmer, Matthew Copes and Tommy Martin won both the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays.

There were separate divisions for junior high swimmers in seventh through ninth grade, and high school swimmers in 10th through 12th grades. Junior high swimmers were not allowed to compete for individual titles in the high school meet, but the points they earned were combined with the high schoolers to make up the team totals. The boys and girls scores for each school were also combined in the team standings.

“Me and Matthew (Copes) never won at state before, and now we won two state championships,” Adam Eckstein said. “It feels really good. We put all the work in, and it proved to us we’ve got it.”

Of the 336 swimmers participating in the meet, Chip Fields was the only one from Porters Chapel Academy. He made his appearance count.

The senior clocked a time of 23.64 seconds to win the boys’ 50-yard freestyle. He said he used some last minute advice from Mathew Mixon, his coach in the Vicksburg Swim Association, to adjust his stroke and record a personal-best time when it mattered most.

“I didn’t really feel so good going in and didn’t figure out what (Mixon) wanted me to do until yesterday. So it feels good to take what your coach is telling you and put it into practice in the race,” said Fields, who also finished fourth in the 50 breaststroke.

Fields was home schooled last year. In his first high school state meet he earned a lifetime’s worth of bragging rights.

“I’ve been swimming for eight years and that’s the first time I’ve ever been a state champion,” he said. “It builds your confidence. It’s one thing to win your heat, but winning the whole event fills you with confidence.”