Ozzy Ledesma breaks every Holland Christian middle school record for swimming - and diving

HOLLAND - Records were made to be broken, especially at the middle-school level. But when someone breaks all of them, they are in a special group.

Holland Christian middle schooler Ozzy Ledesma reached that feat this past season, breaking all of the swimming records - and diving records - something no other athlete has done in area history.

"Ozzy is an incredibly talented athlete and strong leader who always brings a ton of energy to our team every day," Holland Christian coach Mackenzie Mulder said. "He is always a role model and someone that his teammates look up to. Other than his performance, he's always encouraging others and pushing our team to be better. He never fails to make anyone laugh and is always filled with good advice."

Some of his records broke standards set a quarter of a century ago.

In diving his five-dive score of 189.15 and eight-dive mark of 292.85 broke records set by Alex VanderBie in 2001 (156.40 and 237.50, respectively).

More: Meet the Holland Sentinel All-Area Boys Swimming and Diving Team, led by Shoemaker

In swimming, he broke the 200 free mark with a swim of 1:51:96 (previously held by Eric Solis from 2005) and the 100 free in 51.47 (Solis 52.16).

He broke the 100 IM mark in 58.35 (Josiah DeVries, 59.94, 2024) and 100 breaststroke in 1:04.45 (DeVries, 1:05.15) and the 100 backstroke in 56.00 (Colin Kalkman, 56.73, 2017).

He also broke two records set by older brother Basilio Ledesma set in 2021. Ozzy swam the 50 freestyle in 23.03 and 50 butterfly in 24.81, while Basilio, who swims for Hope College, timed 23.82 in the 50 free and 25.53 in the 50 fly.

"Ozzy never gives up on his goals and always comes back willing to try again," Mulder said. "Having Ozzy in our program has made a lasting impact on our team."

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as  Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.   

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland Christian swimmer Ozzy Ledesma breaks every middle school mark