By Matt Brooks

Montgomery County Division I swim teams returned to the pool Saturday for their first competitive action of the new year — the relay carnival at Martin Luther King Swim Center. And while the meet does not factor into team standings, the razor-thin margin that separated the top two teams definitely increased the anticipation for the upcoming county and Metros meets.

In a meet that featured multiple record-breaking relays and came down to the final race, defending girls Metros champion Churchill slipped past Whitman, 68-65. Wootton (46) finished in third followed by Walter Johnson (45), Bethesda-Chevy Chase (32) and Richard Montgomery (30).

In a Dec. 12 dual meet, Whitman’s girls pulled the upset against the Bulldogs, earning a 94-77 win and showcasing their potential to again challenge for the Metros title. Churchill turned the tables with a lop-sided victory on the boys’ end to win the meet. Saturday was similar, with the Vikings girls running away with their relays — winning seven of the 13 events — and the Bulldog boys doing just enough to pull out the victory. Churchill edged Walter Johnson in the final event to seal the victory while breaking the Montgomery County Public Schools record in the 400 mixed freestyle relay.

“I actually was surprised that we won,” Churchill Coach Rodney Van Tassell said. “I thought after our loss to Whitman that we might get beat at the relay carnival but our kids showed a ton of spirit and pulled out the win. We had a lot of girls step up and swim very fast and that made the difference.”

The Whitman girls set the tone early, winning many of their events going away and setting multiple school records. In the 200 butterfly, Lauren Poore, Audrey Gould, Dani Schulkin and Charlotte Meyer set a new MCPS record with a 1:47.69. The old mark was 1:48.41.

Video: Whitman girls break MCPS 200 fly relay record (Drew Meyer)

“When we won a race, there was nobody near us,” Whitman Coach Geoff Schaefer said. “I wasn’t expecting that but I was very pleased to see my girls swim that well.”

Gould, Meyer, Reia Tong and Lauren Levy beat out Churchill’s duo of seniors Cathy and Karen Chen to take first in the 200 breaststroke relay with a school-record time of 2:11.06 and the Vikings narrowly missed breaking three more MCPS records in mixed relay events. Schulkin, Victoria Kuhn, Serge Gould and Patrick Scordato took first in the 200 mixed medley with a time of 1:43.99 – just off the county record time of 1:43.15. In the 200 mixed backstroke, Poore, Kuhn, Serge Gould and Adam Wise (1:44.32) fell just short of the record 1:43.91 and in the 200 mixed fly, Poore, Scordato, Schulkin and Serge Gould missed the record by three hundredths of a second.

Video: Whitman girls break school record in 200 breastroke relay (Drew Meyer)

Serge Gould’s 23.7 split in the backstroke was one of several pleasant surprises for Schaefer’s Vikings on the day.

“He really shocked me,” Schaefer said. “He really stepped it up and it was his split that put that record in reach.”

The Bulldog boys made waves of their own as Tim Buettner, Brian Xiao, Brent Reinhardt and Austin Cole set a new record in the 200 backstroke relay with a time of 1:41.45. Buettner joined Natalya Ares, Odin Soevik, Colin Asbury, Michelle Illig, Shannon Ridge, Alicia Watkins and Chris Verboncoeur on the record-breaking mixed free relay team (3:11.40).

“The boys backstroke was a total surprise for me,” Van Tassell said. “I put together a good lineup but I never thought they would go that fast. Austin is a freshman and split 24.1 on the end of the relay — way faster than I thought he could go.”

The tight finish between two teams whose girls finished first and third at Metros last season, should only intensify the competition next month at the Montgomery County Division I meet and Metros.

“If you hype an event up like this, the girls really get into it,” Schaefer said. “I want them to take the confidence from their performances and use it to fire us up for the rest of the season. Coming in second should fuel the fire for Metros.”

Tags: Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Churchill, Richard Montgomery, Walter Johnson, Whitman, Wootton

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