The Mercer Island boys swim team completed what to some had become the inevitable — an undefeated regular season record to win the KingCo dual meet title.

The victory came against Newport on Thursday at Mary Wayte pool, 121-65.

Despite nearly doubling the Knights’ score, the meet matched the Islanders’ smallest in-league margin of victory this year.

“This season has been eye-opening for a lot of reasons,” said Mercer Island coach Jeff Lowell. “The learning curve of the younger kids is phenomenal.”

The win marked the ninth consecutive year the Islanders have won the KingCo title. The last time Mercer Island lost an in-league dual meet was in 2005 to Newport.

The Islanders picked up a few more state times to give the team 20 overall. Nine swimmers have events that they are just seven-tenths of a second off the state qualification.

“Most of them should get in,” said Lowell. “For these guys, I just want to push them to see how good they can be.”

The Islanders’ in-league domination is no more evident than state qualifying times in the 200-yard freestyle. The Islanders have six swimmers qualified, and there are two other swimmers in KingCo from other schools with state qualifying times in the event.

One Islander took the meet as an opportunity to accomplish a career-long goal.

Junior Henry Brockway has been striving to complete the 500-yard freestyle in under six minutes. He accomplished his goal and then some, posting a time of 5:53.91. The time was not a state or even a district qualifier, but his teammates’ enthusiasm might have made one think it was.

“That kind of support has been key,” said Lowell.

Lowell said that the contributions of senior swimmers such as Jacob Bruckner, Ryan Ellis, Matt Sims, Brian Harmon, Kirk Harbaugh, David Veith, Mike Camp and Chris Ferrell can’t be overlooked in winning the league title and beyond.

The Islanders’ quest for perfection this year in the postseason may depend on the arms and legs of the younger athletes such as Theo Danciu, Chris Picardo, Alex Tao, Will Voit, Ian Fisk, Andy Wigerson, Duncan Howard, Tyler Benster and others, most of whom would be No. 1 or 2 swimmers on any other team in KingCo.

And while athletes such as Murray Longbotham and Beau Riebe break records and garner headlines, the others will help the team to dominate the postseason meets.

“We have a strong group, and we are going to be well off for a long time,” said Lowell.

The Islanders’ postseason trek will begin on Friday, when they host the KingCo meet at Mary Wayte Pool.