Led by the strength of its upper class, Woodson girls’ (7-0) rebounded from a third place finish last year, to win the 2012 AAA Patriot District Championship. They beat West Springfield 414 to 353.
The Cavalier boys’ team (7-0) could not be slowed down again this year, winning the district championship for the third straight year. They were chased by West Springfield all night, but the experienced group of senior boys for Woodson would not be denied in a 525 to 476 win. Lake Braddock finished third in both meets.
Woodson got off to a blazing start with a win in diving from Ben Schiesl. Woodson divers would take first, third, fourth, and seventh on Friday morning, its second highest scoring event behind boys’ 100 breaststroke.
Bo Ilgenfritz stood out for the Cavaliers, winning both the 200 IM (1:59.43) and 100 breaststroke (58.74). Ilgenfritz broke the district record in the 100 breaststroke, set in 2003 by Andy Pelenberg (Annandale). He beat senior teammate Nathan Pease, who was over a second ahead of third, with a time of 1:00.01. Cory Hansen and Reid Penzler would complete the sweep for Woodson in 1:01.32 and 1:01.42.
Ilgenfritz fueled the second place 200 medley relay (1:38.58) and the winning 400 freestyle relay (3:18.38). They lost to West Springfield’s 200 medley relay (1:37.15), who broke the Patriot District record set by Woodson in 2010. The team of Sean Mayer, William Bryan, Colin Stephenson, and Jacob Anderson combined for the record.
South County‘s Evin Rude came up big for the Stallions in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle. He cruised in the longer event to an easy win in 4:42.96, ahead of Woodson’s Colin Chartier (5:04.76). The 200 freestyle was a much closer race with West Springfield’s Mayer. But Rude was too much for Mayer in the end, winning 1:44.17 to 1:45.42.
Rude’s teammate Michael Herrmann was also a double winner, earning individual titles in the 100 butterfly (51.72) and 100 backstroke (51.96). He got an impressive win in the butterfly early in the meet over Stephenson (52.80), Jesse Kane (53.41), Cole McGarry (53.75), and Eric Chestnut (53.87), all with strong swims.
Herrmann was even better in the backstroke, crushing the field with a 51.96. Mayer was second for the second time that night in 54.55. He was followed by Woodson’s Alex Saffran (55.72) and James Chung (55.99).
Despite Ilgenfritz being their lone winner, Woodson’s boys kept getting on the wall in the top five all night.
The girls’ meet was won in similar fashion, capitalizing on the depth that has propelled them all season.
Woodson finished first in the girls’ 200 freestyle relay (1:40.98), second in the 200 medley relay (1:50.10), and third in 400 freestyle relay (3:42.22). Freshmen Lead Rogers and Rachel Ward were crucial ingredients in those relays, as was junior Morgan Bui and senior Rachel Rogers.
Leah Rogers was the only individual winner for the Cavalier ladies. She gutted out a tough win in the 100 butterfly (58.39), just ahead of Sara Bertram (58.69), Lauren Yi (58.95), and Jordan Parry (58.96).
Brooke Malone was one of only two double winners on the girls’ side of the meet. The South County sophomore earned an impressive win in a hotly contested girls’ 200 individual medley with a winning time of 2:11.33. She beat out West Potomac‘s Bertram (2:11.58), L. Rogers (2:12.14), and TC Williams Abigail Cox (2:12.43).
Malone also won the 100 breaststroke in 1:06.51, beating Sophie Chase (Lake Braddock) and Rachel Rogers (Woodson), who finished in 1:07.68 and 1:08.40.
The other big winner on the girls side was Reanna Dona, senior at West Potomac, who finished her Patriot District career as the winner in the 50 freestyle (24.43) and 100 backstroke (57.95), the latter a new district record.
In the girls’ 200 freestyle, Robyn Dryer beat out West Potomac’s Hellen Moffitt and Lake Braddock’s Alyssa McGarry. Dryer finished in 1:55.63, pulling away from Moffitt (1:56.44) and A. McGarry (1:56.91) for the win.
Dryer and Moffitt would meet again in the 100 freestyle. This time Moffitt came out on top, winning in 53.89. She combined with teammate Maxine Clifford (54.01) to go 1-2 in the event. Robyn fell to third with a time of 54.08. TC Williams’ Gloriya Mavrova finished fourth in 54.62. Ward was fifth in 55.06.
Dona, Clifford, Bertram, and Moffitt got together to break the 200 medley relay record in a new time of 1:47.02, shattering the previous record of 1:50.50, set in 2008 by Lake Braddock. The same relay team would later win the 400 freestyle relay in 3:37.51.
In one of the few non-contests of the night, A. McGarry swam to a commanding lead in the 500 freestyle, winning by 11 seconds, with a time of 5:16.76, over Colleen Cox (TC Williams), who finished second in 5:27.96.
It will be a different game for the Cavaliers next week when they meet the winners from the Concorde, Liberty, and National Districts.
Defending girls’ regional and state champs Langley got an impressive win Saturday night, making a case for why they are still the team to beat, as did perennial challengers Yorktown and Oakton.
The boys’ regional meet will be a horse race between Woodson, Madison, and Oakton, who will stack up their super stars side by side next weekend at Oakmarr RECenter.
The AAA Northern Region championship meet gets started on Tuesday, Jan. 31, with girls’ diving. Boys’ diving will follow the next night, Feb. 1. Swimming relims this year will be split up, with the girls on Thursday and the boys on Friday. Finals will take place Saturday night with two heats in each event.
Read more about the 2012 High School Championship meet season here.
Tags: 2012 High School Championship Meets, AAA Northern Region, Abigail Cox, Alex Saffran, Alyssa McGarry, Annandale, Ben Schiesl, Bo Ilgenfritz, Brooke Malone, Cole McGarry, Colin Chartier, Colin Stephenson, Eric Chestnut, Evin Rude, Hellen Moffitt, Jacon Anderson, James Chung, Jess Kane, Jordan Parry, Lake Braddock, Lauren Yi, Leah Rogers, Lee High School, Maxine Clifford, Michael Herrman, Morgan Bui, Nathan Pease, Patriot District, Rachel Rogers, Reanna Dona, Robyn Dryer, Sara Bertram, Sean Mayer, Sophie Chase, South County, TC Williams, Virginia High School Swimming, West Potomac, West Springfield, William Bryan, Woodson
The region girls prelim session will be on Thursday and the boys prelims will be on Friday this year, at least according to the Oakton HS athletic website and they are the host.
Thank you for point out the error. I was working off an incorrect schedule. You may have saved some poor diver from showing up on the wrong day!
The Northern Region girls dive Tuesday and boys on Wednesday. The information on the Virginia High School League page is also incorrect. Apparently it rotates from year to year and their information didn’t get rotated. All of your district stories in the Northern Region have it reversed also. Let’s hope the coaches all have it straight!
Most of the team websites that list schedules beyond the dual meet season have the girls diving on Tuesday.
While we love the fact that Ben (Woodson diver) has had so many mentions in your articles, it would be great if you could get the spelling right. In fact, it has been different in almost every article. It’s Schiesl. Thanks!
Where can we find the psych sheet for Northern Virginia HS Regional Finals scheduled for
February 4 at Oakmar Rec Center???
Really will appreciate your help with this! Thanks in advance
mds