Micah Davis started swimming lessons at 3 years old and swam in his first competitive meet at age 5. His first state championship came at age 9.

“I kind of realized that I had something in this sport that I didn’t have in others,” Davis said.

He played baseball, too, but recognizing his strength in the pool, he decided to focus his competitive juices solely on swimming. It’s worked out well for the eight-time boys high school state champion and 2026 Strib Varsity All-Minnesota Boys Swimmer of the Year.

Davis, a senior on the St. Cloud Crush boys swimming and diving team — a cooperative composed of athletes from St. Cloud area schools Apollo, Cathedral, Rocori, St. Cloud Christian School and Tech — wrapped up his high school career by winning his seventh and eighth state titles at this year’s state meet Feb. 28 at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center.

Davis won the 200-meter individual medley in 1 minute, 46.22 seconds, a touch slower than the 1:46.14 Class 2A and state record set in 2025 by Jackson Kogler of Stillwater. Davis also won the 100 butterfly (47.01 seconds) for the fourth year in a row, just missing his own state record of 46.94 he set as a sophomore.

Davis will compete collegiately for the University of Virginia. He has his sights set on the 2028 Summer Olympics, with his best shot likely coming in the 100 butterfly.

Davis is focusing on dropping his time in the fly over the next two summers. While disappointed he didn’t hit his goal of 45 seconds in the event at state this year, he ended his high school career having won the event four times to go along with three 200 freestyle titles and the 200 IM this year.

“When it comes to swimming internationally and things like that, that’s a huge goal of mine,” Davis said of the Olympics. “That would mean the world to me.”

While the individual results speak for themselves, Davis said he was most proud of his team this year.

“I swam pretty well, but I didn’t have a really good year for me,” he said. “I swam better at sections than I did at state. So, that was kind of disappointing.”

At the state meet, he also swam on the Crush’s second-place 400 freestyle relay.

“That was really cool because our relays never place that high,” Davis said.

Growing up, Davis tried to chase down his older brothers — now 23 and 21 years old – in the pool. His sister-in-law is a swimmer at the University of Minnesota, and Davis said that all three impacted his start in the sport.

“I chased them all through my career, and then finally when I got to the point of catching them, then they were to the point of leaving the sport,” said Davis, who also has a younger sister who’s a freshman for St. Cloud Tech.

His brothers were state-level athletes in relays but never reached the state meet for individual events. Davis also swims to a different stroke than his brothers: The butterfly, his favorite.