Yorktown senior Kaitlin Wolla reacts to breaking 11-year-old butterfly record at the National District championship. (Photo by Paul Tenorio/The Washington Post)
COMPLETE RESULTS, TEAM SCORES, INDIVIDUAL SCORES, BOYS DIVE, GIRLS DIVE (pdfs)
For the second consecutive year, Washington-Lee’s boys swim team suffered the heartbreak of seeing a district championship slip away, falling by just eight points to Yorktown in the National District championship meet in Arlington on Monday night.
The Generals fell just short against a Patriots team that swept the titles at Washington-Lee pool, with the girls’ team turning in a dominant performance by scoring 606 points, 357 more than second-place Falls Church.
Washington-Lee’s boys’ opened the meet strong, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:43.08. Senior Freddy Crawford then won the first of two events – - the 200 freestyle — in a district-record time of1:43.02, outracing Edison’s Balazs Kiss (1:44.31). Crawford also took the title in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.75, two seconds ahead of Hayfield’s Brian Heilbronner (49.76).
“I feel I’ve really stepped up to my potential,” Crawford said of a season in which he has proven to be a challenger at the regional and state level. “I had been swimming great in practice but it really hadn’t translated to meets until last June a little bit and then I gradually started to kind of understand where I was going. And this winter I just did awesome, [I] went 1:39 in the 200 free, and [was] nationally ranked. It’s pretty sweet to get back on top, so it was good.”
Yorktown picked up a win in the 200 individual medley from junior Matthew Essig (2:03.90) and had a balanced, depth-driven effort that would lead them to the win with 408 points – just eight points more than Washington-Lee.
The Generals had another double winner in senior Jake Huston, who took titles in both the 100 fly (53.70) and 100 breaststroke (1:00.32).
Other winners included Falls Church senior David Blincoe in the 50 free (22.88), Edison’s Kiss in the 500 free (4:42.57), Falls Church’s 200 freestyle relay of Michael Clingaman, Jesse Kane, Alex Howe and David Blincoe (1:32.73), Washington-Lee senior Matthew Allen (100 back, 58.55) and Washington-Lee’s 400 freestyle relay of Allen, David Palmer, Huston and Crawford (3:23.87).
On the girls’ side, the highlight of the night came from Yorktown senior Kaitlin Wolla, who bested a 100 butterfly district record that had stood since Feb. 5, 1999.
Wolla, who also won the title in the 50-freestyle with a time of 25.12, turned in an All-American consideration time of 56.71 to best Bridget Mallon’s 57.59 set 11 years ago.
“I’ve been nervous for about a week now,” Wolla said. “I knew that it was a possibility that I could get it, so I was hoping that I would. I was really nervous before my race, but it just kind of happened. All my team was behind my lane cheering for me that’s probably why I did it. If they weren’t there it probably would have been hopeless.”
Yorktown’s girls opened the meet by winning the 200 medley relay with Angela Slevin, Lydia Carpenter, Amanda Didawick and Carly Hinkle in a time of 1:55.77. Then Patriots never looked back, winning all but two of the remaining events.
Only Falls Church freshman Laura Schwartz was able to register a district title while not wearing a Yorktown cap. Schwartz took home championships in both the 200 IM (district record 2:09.00) and 500 freestyle (5:07.86).
Other winners for Yorktown on the night were sophomore Stephanie Romano (200 free, 1:59.58), junior Molly Merkel (100 free, 56.64), the 200 free relay of Wolla, Ann Carpenter, Lydia Carpenter and Abigail Ortmayer (1:43.13), Slevin (100 back, 1:01.18), senior Ortmayer (100 breast, 1:07.92) and the 400 freestyle relay of Wolla, Ann Carpenter, Merkel and Ortmayer – which, with a time of 3:44.47, knocked off the district record of 3:47.55 set by Yorktown in 2003.
Tags: Edison, Falls Church, Hayfield, Washington-Lee, Yorktown
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you are the man Paul, that meet literally just ended
Please take note that this article seems to forget that diving is a competition within this championship meet and ignored the accomplishments of the divers from Falls Church and Washington Lee. Maggie Cullather of Falls Church and Carl Buergler of WL each defended her/his district diving championship Both divers won with state qualifying scores.
man, everybody’s gotta complain about something here. I appreciate the coverage.
i appreciate the low-down on our district meet. it was one of the greatest district meets i’ve had in my 4 years of high school swimming. if dive wanted an article so bad then dive should have it’s own writer. it was a good meet all around and i was honored to swim with some of the fastest.
Congratulations Kaitlin, a well deserved win – and Paul – love the videos!
divers….
I don’t think the complaint about dive is that it was not covered. Rather, the statement, “Only Falls Church freshman Laura Schwartz was able to register a district title while not wearing a Yorktown cap” is inaccurate. Yorktown did not sweep all the events. We are all glad that Paul is providing coverage, but he seems to get a lot of things wrong. Diving is a scored team event just like all other events. Take away diving points and the team outcome would have been different. It would be just like taking away the 50 free event.
Although Yorktown did dominate the competition, it would have been nice to see interviews with some of the athletes from other teams. Laura Schwartz broke 2 district records, went into the meet with multiple state qualifying times, and her name isn’t even highlighted. Yorktown is not the only team in the National District with talent.
I love the enthusiasm Of Walla’s comments and giving credit to her team.
Keep your head down and dont breath your last stroke..you can break 56 at states.
Crazy swim parents need to band together and put out their own newsrag. They can brag about their own kid til their knuckles bleed. And then brag some more. And maybe not complain about the poor dude trying his best to cover this sport while also trying to make a living.
And their sure seems to be a lot of them out there .Someone posted that their should be an article about “over involved” parents..and that would be a good idea.
On the other hand, its not unreasonable to ask for well rounded coverage. I actually thought this article and the one about cathlic nationals were refreshing in that they contained new names and faces of athletes that had not been mentioned before. Ha, I hope some of the parents who have gotten used to getting their kids names in every week can find a new activity.
Maybe Paul or the writers can tell us if their are as many “sugestions/requests/complaints” involved in other sports thay cover.
On to the important question, what is going to happen to the championship meets if it snaows this weekend?
i do agree laura schwartz should have been recognized more, she will be a contender for regional and state titles in both events shes entered in.
parent lesson 101
1. Dont predict what your freshman child or another is going to do and post it without knowing who they are swimming against. Let them enjoy what they accomplished ( and she did very well) without putting the expectaion of state title holder on a kid..
Southern VA/AAA and AA region has some very fast high school swimmers that parents around here seem to forget about.
first off im not her parent just a fan of the national district….she IS a contender for both regional and state titles…posted the fastest time out of the 4 districts meets in the northern region for the 500 and second in the 200im and i dont think she went her best times
furthermore i said she was a contender i did not gaurentee anything…im sure there are several very fast swimmers in Sourthern VA/AAA and i do agree that many times people tend to forget that
Not sure about who is up in this neck of the woods but I do know states will have some good races. I dont see any records being broken this year or huge swims like Becca Jones last year but their will be some good races..a lot closer this year. We got 3 or 4 girls that can go a 4:55 in the 500, a couple 55,56 in fly, I think 3 or 4 in the 205/206 200im range, and a 56 backstroker who I think will have the best shot. Those are their times tis year, post fast suit era.
Best races this year will be 100 breast and my favorite , the 50 free because it is going to be up for grabs this year and you dont have to swim year round to make the state cut in it. No great sprinter this year either.
Their will be some great races on the girls side
Ahhh,
you may be forgetting about the girl in the region that won regionals and states last year in the 200im.
I sure hope all the swimmers this weekend get to swim prelims and finals.
The great part about this site (reachforthewall) is the WIKI part.
If there are teams, or swimmers that are worth while to write about, anyone can go ahead and simply click Edit and write their own content on any team page.
No one has to be left out from the spot light.
So go ahead, and start writing about all the awesome races and divers and swimmers!
all the times in EVERY event slower than Concorde District…..but im just saying. WAY TO GO FREDDY AND KAITLIN!!!!! im glad you both were able to bounce back….ill be cheerin you both on at reigionals!
Yorktown has great swimmers and they should be recognized. How many of the kids are all year round swimmers? Falls Church High School was runner up and only 4 girls swim all year with VA clubs.