High school championships are well underway, as the area's first wave of meets took place over the weekend. Swimmers who just raced last week will barely have time to dry their suits in time for round two this weekend, however. Diving began on Tuesday at the Va. AAA Northern Region championship meet.
Defending state champion Carl Buergler (Washington-Lee) took first on Wednesday night with a score of 491.40. Cory Bowersox (Robinson) was second with 472.00, followed by Joe LeBerre (Oakton) with 461.40. Taking fourth through sixth, Woodson got a boost from Ben Schiesl, Eric Pavord, and Matt Hubbard heading into swimming prelims.
For the girls, Thomas Jefferson‘s Emily Saitta took first (286.85) over Marshall‘s Katherine Van Winkle (263.65). Hayfield teammates Anise Muir (253.20) and Haley Adducci (245.60) were third and fourth.
Swimming prelims begin Thursday night for the girls and Friday night for the boys, with combined finals on Saturday, Feb. 4, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Also in Virginia, the AAA Cedar Run District championship will take place at the George Mason – Freedom Aquatic Center in Manassas. Patriot High School, in its inaugural season, will face off with Battlefield, Freedom-South Riding, and Broad Run for the district title. They will see Cardinal District champion, Osbourn Park the following week at the AAA Northwest Region championship meet.
In Maryland, Montgomery County high schools will hold their division championship meets. Divers will be up bright and early, with diving beginning at 7:30 a.m. Swimming starts at 9:30 a.m. For the county's top squads, this weekend will be a warm-up for their showdown with the WMPSDDL schools, Feb. 8-10, at the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving championships. Also in action, Anne Arundel County championship meet will be on Friday at the Arundel Olympic Swim Center, starting at 3:00 p.m.
WMPSSDL schools will be in the water on Saturday at their league's championship, with morning prelims (7 a.m.), followed by evening finals (5:30 p.m.), held at Takoma Park.
Swimmers to watch this weekend:
At WMPSDDL's, check out Good Counsel's unstoppable pair, Sarah Haase and Jack Conger, last year's All-met Swimmers of the Year. Haase will have competition this year for the meet's best female swimmer however, as Stone Ridge freshman Katie Ledecky will be competing in her first prep league championship. Also keep your eye on Gonzaga's Sean Sullivan, hot off a big team win at National Catholics, where he was the meet's high point scorer.
In the Northern Region, Cyrus Hashemi (Marshall) seems to be unmatched in the freestyle events, he'll swim the 100 and 200 free, with his sites set on Bradley Phillips' 200 freestyle record. Stephen and Andrew Seliskar are also hoping to have big meets for Jefferson individually and in the relays. For the girls, Janet Hu continues to be the one to watch at every area meet she participates. She'll face stiff competition in the 100 freestyle, however, in one of the fastest fields in years. Top five could all be under 52 seconds.
Montgomery County's best will square off in the Division I championship. Wootton's Kristina Li and Churchill's Austin Cole hope to continue the success from the regular season into the first championship meet. They will have to race again next week at Metros, as well as further down the road at Maryland states.
Out in Prince William County, Battlefield star Ford Whitticar is ready to roll in the freestyle events. The competition will only get exponentially harder after this weekend. Nina Tremols, Natalie Martin, Holly Criscuolo, and Sophia Revilak also hope to impress for the Bobcats. They have their sites on the girls 200 medley relay title at states this year.
Round-up: Jan. 24 through Feb. 1
Gonzaga wins National Catholic High School Championship; Josh Klotz named Coach of the Meet
Led by the meet's high point winner, Sean Sullivan, Gonzaga took down four-time defending champions Loyola Blakefield (Towson, Md.), to win this year's National Catholic High School Championship swimming meet, 465-434. Georgetown Prep was third with a score of 254.
First-year Gonzaga coach, Josh Klotz, was named Coach of the Meet.
Sullivan was untouchable in the sprint events, beating out all four of Loyola Blakefield's sprinters to win the 50 freestyle in 21.04. Loyola Blakefield would take second through fifth place behind him, led by James Cameron (21.97). Teammate Tim Barry was sixth (22.76).
Barry would win the boys 100 backstroke (53.35) later in the meet. O'Connell's Conor Chamness (55.69), Georgetown Prep's Andrew Gibson (55.74), and Gonzaga's John Rozier (55.99) went 4-5-6 in the top heat.
Sullivan would follow up the earlier performance with a win in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.39, again over Loyola Blakefield senior Cameron who trailed by just .65 seconds. Gonzaga swimmer Madison Hardimon and Chamness would come in third (48.45) and sixth (49.83), respectively.
Sullivan would cap off his impressive individual races by anchoring the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:27.19), alongside Paul O'Hara, Barry, and Hardimon. Connor McGarvey, JP Clancy, Trey Perry, and Alex Bennett from Loyola Blakefield would finish in second in 1:29.12. Georgetown Prep would finish fourth (1:30.63); Bishop Ireton fifth (1:32.15).
Gonzaga out shined everyone at finals on Saturday, right from the beginning. An all senior relay won the boys 200 medley relay in 1:38.12 to start the meet off right for Gonzaga. The team of Barry, Sean Spata, Nick Brooks, and Patrick Reyes would beat out Loyola Blakefield's relay (Thomas Brennan, Kendrick MacDonald, Clancy, and Cameron), who finished in 1:39.00. O'Connell finished third in 1:39.20; Georgetown Prep fifth (1:41.60).
They would use the momentum from the relay to score a second through fourth sweep in the boys' 200 freestyle. Andrew Valentine finished second in 1:46.33, quickly followed by Madison Hardimon in 1:46.49. Billy Cowden was fourth (1:48.03).
O'Hara placed second in the 200 IM in 1:57.83. Spata was sixth in 2:06.03, just behind Georgetown Prep's Carl St. John (1:59.82). Prep freshman Grant Goddard placed first in the boys 100 butterfly, winning the event in 52.38.
It was a tight race between first through fifth in the boys 500 freestyle. Valentine led the way for area swimmers, taking second in 4:48.00. Prep's Joey Snodderly touched just behind in 4:48.19. Gonzaga's Brennnan Novak was fifth in 4:50.52.
To end the meet, Carsten Vissering (Georgetown Prep) won the boys 100 breaststroke in 59.52. Don Tucker (O'Connell) was fourth in 1:01.09; fifth was O'Hara in 1:01.39; sixth was Spata in 1:01.82.
For the girls, Emma Merrill (Paul VI) placed third in the girls' 100 butterfly (59.63) and fourth in the 200 IM (2:12.28). Kara Osborne would place fifth behind her in 1:02.73. Senior Morgan Whyte (St. John's) took a close second in the girls 50 freestyle (24.66). Later, she would drop to fourth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 55.70, less than one second behind first place. Holy Cross senior Ashleigh Ferguson placed second in the girls 100 backstroke (1:00.31). Maddie Zeigler (Bishop Ireton) was fourth (1:02.62). Sarah Cahill (O'Connell) finished sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:10.70. Elena Marsili (O'Connell) finished third in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:11.29. Kelly Palmer (Bishop Ireton) was sixth (5:26.05).
Complete results can be found here.
Osbourn Park repeats as AAA Cardinal District Champions
There are wins that are lopsided and then wins that are lopsided. Osbourn Park‘s performance Saturday night at the Chinn Aquatic was definitely the latter.
The Yellow Jacket boys won all three relays on their way to racking up 221.5 points, including several first through third sweeps, doubling up runner-up Woodbridge Senior in points.
The girls' team had a tougher fight after finishing second in the 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. They would win the final relay of the night to seal a 192.5 to 116 over the Vikings and the rest of the AAA Cardinal Districts [Complete scores and times available here].
After swimming on the same relay in the opening 200 medley, Gregory Stoffa and Peter Lord battled it out, just three events later, in the boy' 200 individual medley. Stoffa would get the win over Lord, just out-touching his teammate 1:58.46 to 1:58.81.
Stoffa would later win the 500 freestyle in commanding fashion, with a time of 4:39.05. Lord would get an individual title in the 100 backstroke (53.84), blowing away teammates Cameron Young (56.38) and Kenny Parker (57.01). Parker also finished third behind fellow Yellow Jacket Samuel Stronko in the 500 freestyle.
Osbourn Park's boys could not be slowed from the get-go. In the first individual event, the boys' 200 freestyle, they swept first through fourth. Stronko finished first in 1:46.60, quickly followed by Joseph Worrick in 1:47.43.
Anthony Shields soared to a first place finish in the 100 butterfly (56.55). Forest Park's Jordan Kiernan was second in 58.03.
Kiernan's teammate Jordan Murrin was the big winner in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.42) over the Osbourn Park duo, Kenneth Poague (1:07.54) and Sean Rouffa (1:08.46).
Woodbridge shined in the boys' sprint freestyle events, where Harrison Sweeney swept both the 50 free (23.19) and 100 freestyle (50.55). Teammate Joseph Handy finished second in the 50 freestyle in 23.34. Hylton's Shaka Kuykendall was second in the 100 freestyle in 51.50.
On the girls' side of the meet, Osbourn Park girls picked up where the boys left off, taking huge points with top five finishes in nearly every event.
A first through third sweep came in the girls 200 freestyle from Emma Skelley (1:55.41), Audrey Kula (1:58.19) and Jillian Stevens (2:00.89), as well as a first through fourth sweep in the 100 butterfly kicked off by Kula, who finished with a winning time of 59.80. Skelly and Stevens would go 1-2 in the 500 freestyle, finishing in 5:07.02 and 5:16.01, respectively.
Despite the depth of the Osbourn Park ladies, the rest of the district did a better job keeping them off the podium than they did the Yellow Jacket boys.
In the girls 200 IM, Gar-Field swimmer Kelly Henry was able to break up an Osbourn Park sweep, taking second in 2:11.75 behind Courtney Mizerak (2:11.12).
Taylor Vincent (Woodbridge) impressed in the 50 freestyle, winning easily in 24.52, as did teammate Victoria Coughlin in the 100 freestyle with a time of 54.95.
Woodbridge was not done reaching the top-spot that night, as Emily Kelly and Courtney Laird each took first in the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke, respectively. Kelly won the breaststroke event in 1:01.33, just ahead of Osbourn Park's Ashley Clark (1:01.67). Laird pulled away from a trio of Yellow Jackets to win in 1:07.72.
The top performers for Woodbridge were able to secure two relay wins for the Vikings in the 200 medley (1:50.44) and 200 freestyle (1:39.86) relays. Taylor, Kelly, Madison West, and Victoria Coughlin combined for the win in the 200 freestyle relay, beating out an Osbourn Park's team that set a new team record in 1:40.91. Clark, Natalie Tabor, Mizerak, and Christine Souther broke the record for the Yellow Jackets.
The third try would be the charm for Osbourn Park, however, who won the final relay of the night. The team of Clark, Kula, Tabor, and Skelly finished first in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:48.52 over Woodbridge (3:52.19).
Despite the great performances by the Viking ladies, it was not enough to compete with the depth the Yellow Jackets were able to bring to the meet.t
They will meet again in two weeks at the AAA Northwest Regional Championship meet at the GMU-Freedom Aquatic Center in Manassas.
Potomac Falls wins AA Dulles District
The departure of last year's boys' champion Broad Run, and girls' and boys' runner-up Freedom, did n0t slow down the AA Dulles District one bit. Five district records went down on Friday night at Claude Moore Rec Center in Sterling, including one by the boys district champions, Potomac Falls.
The Panthers team of Gavin Saunders, Sean Hurrell, Riley Jamison, and William Lin broke the record in the 400 freestyle relay with a new time of 3:25.84. The record was set just last year by Broad Run, now in the AAA Cedar Run District.
Lin would lead Potomac Falls scorers with standout performances in the 200 IM (1:59.94) and 500 freestyle (4:55.52).
The record was just icing on the cake for Potomac Falls who finished with a team score of 433.5 points in the boys' meet.
The girls team slipped by defending champions, Briar Woods, to win 349.5 to 343 [Complete results available here].
They were led by Kiri Harvey, winner in the girls 200 freestyle (1:57.23) and 100 backstroke (1:02.11). Kiri would also anchor the winning 200 medley relay, with Karen Hood, Ariana Staffen, and Carson Newton, finishing in 1:55.42.
Heritage High School's Kaleigh Rosenburgh set a new girls 200 IM record with a new time of 2:10.49. She would later break shatter the girls 100 breaststroke record by 1.5 seconds, in a new time of 1:06.30.
