For the first time, Montgomery County teams will compete in the Maryland 4A-3A Swimming and Diving Championship, held Feb. 24-25 at the University of Maryland’s Eppley Recreation Center. Diving will take place on Friday at 5 p.m.; swimming will follow on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Churchill, Whitman, and Wootton should dominate the girls’ competition, just as they did at the Washington Metro Interscholastic and MCPS Division I championships. Walter Johnson and Churchill will battle for the boys’ title.
Churchill’s girls won both earlier contests, but the difference at those meets was Churchill’s substantial advantage in diving, led by freshman star Kali Becker, who has placed first in every championship appearance of her brief high school career.
However, at the Maryland championship meet, diving is exhibition only, with no points counting towards the competition for the team title, evening up the competition between Churchill, Whitman, and Wootton. Whitman was only one point behind Churchill at Metros, and finished nine points ahead of Churchill to win the West region championship meet last weekend. Wootton finished third, five points behind Churchill.
Walter Johnson’s boys were fourth at Metros, behind private school powerhouses Gonzaga, Georgetown Prep, and Good Counsel. As they have all season, the Wildcats will be challenged by Churchill’s boys, who finished 1.5 points and 10 points back at Metros and the Division I championship meets, respectively.
(photo by Bryan Flaherty)
If swimmers can replicate the impressive performances from the Metro championship, nearly every state record has a chance of being broken. Star swimmers from Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, and Churchill enter the competition with season-best times already under the majority of the records, but nearly every one of those times were achieved at Metros, swimming rested, against the area’s elite.
Plus, with club championship meets approaching, club teams are focused on preparing swimmers for the long course championships in March, with several still hoping to reach Olympic Trials cuts, and not on breaking records at a meet in which they have never participated. Regardless, records will fall, even if not in the same spectacular fashion they did at Metros.
Charlotte Meyer‘s time from Metros in the girls’ 200 individual medley is a staggering 10 seconds under the state record. It will be hard for the Whitman junior to replicate that performance without Good Counsel senior Sarah Haase pushing her, but she should still be comfortably under the previous record of 2:08.82.
Meyer will also battle Kristina Li (Wootton) for the record in the girls’ 100 backstroke. Li got the better of Meyer at Metros, finishing in 54.85 to Meyer’s 55.55. The current record is 1:00.53.
Senior Ellen Anderson (Gaithersburg) will lead a field of Montgomery County swimmers in the girls’ 500 freestyle who have all gone under the current record of 5:08.06 at some point this year. Anderson’s season best is 4:52.02. She will also have a shot at the record in the 200 freestyle (1:52.69). Her season best is 1:51.23, but will have to get past Sherwood’s Anna Kolanowski (1:49.85) and Churchill’s Natalya Ares (1:51.98).
Ares has been under the record in the 100 butterfly, going 55.05 two weeks ago at Metros with an inspiring swim from the outside. The current record is 56.22.
Whitman’s team of Reia Tong, Sarah Kannan, Audrey Gould, and Meyer should also set new records in the girls’ 200 freestyle and 400 freestyle. The current records of 1:39.86 and 3:38.07 are well within reach for the Vikings’ stars. Whitman’s season best are 1:35.39 and 3:27.13.
Tong will be close to the record in the 50 and 100 freestyle events, as will Gould in the 100 breaststroke.
The fastest girls’ state record is the 200 medley at 1:48.36. Wootton’s girls’ 200 medley relay was 1:48.54 at Metros, but had Good Counsel’s speedy relay to chase down in the effort. The team of Li, Jessica Chen, Scarlett Sun, and Emily Zhang are all underclassmen and will have plenty of opportunities to eclipse this record in the years to come.
The boys’ side of the meet could have a similar story. Walter Johnson is aiming for more than just the team title. They also have a shot at collecting a number of records on the way, including all three relays records. But they face stiff competition in both 200 relays from the rest of the county elite.
Wootton and Walter Johnson’s boys’ 200 medley relays were separated by less than half a second at Metros, where they were more than four seconds under the current Maryland state record of 1:42.81. Blair was not too far behind Wootton and Walter Johnson in 1:39.85.
Churchill, Walter Johnson, Wooton, and Whitman will duke it out in the 200 freestyle relay. As with any relay, who wins will largely depend on where coaches decide to place their stars.
Walter Johnson has owned the 400 freestyle relay all year in MCPS. At Metros, the team of Barry Mangold, Garrett Powell, Ryan Whitescarver, and Jean-Marc Nugent finished in 3:08.73, which, if they could replicate that performance, would put them almost 15 seconds under the state record.
Senior Powell will be a big part of any relay record for Walter Johnson and is the favorite for two individual records as well.
Powell was an amazing 4:20.04 in the 500 freestyle at Metros, behind Jack Conger, who nearly broke the national high school record. Even if he is no where close to that time, he should go under the current record of 4:43.13. He will be pushed by a pair of Blair swimmers, Jack Foster (4:34.96) and Brian Tsau (4:36.87).
Powell will also compete in the 100 backstroke where he finished almost two full seconds under the state record at regionals last weekend.
Austin Cole (Churchill) and Mangold (Walter Johnson) will battle for the record in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Cole is the top seed in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.34, nine-hundredths of a second ahead of Mangold, and .11 ahead of the current record. Mangold is highly favored in the 100 freestyle after an impressive 45.87 at Metros. The current record is 47.35.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s Graham Baird is the top seed in the boys’ 200 freestyle. His season best of 1:43.38 is well under the record of 1:45.89, but Wootton’s Kevin Fu (1:44.30), Churchill’s Joey Bieda (1:44.65), Clarksburg’s Joshua Kiehl (1:44.93), and Baird’s teammate Jamie Stevenson (1:45.19) all have a shot at stealing this one away from the sophomore. Baird is also the top seed in the boys’ 100 butterfly with a 52.13. The current record is 53.03.
[Updated] Blair’s Foster, Tyler Pham (Gaithersburg) and Harrison Gu (Churchill) will battle for the record in the 200 individual medley – currently 1:57.41, – with season best 1:54.02, 1:55.01, and 1:55.07, respectively.
In the final individual event, the 100 breaststroke, will most likely come down to who is ready to race that day, just as it has all year. Austin Dickey (Wootton), Fletcher Tollefson (Walter Johnson), and Gu all have a shot at the record and the individual championship title, making this an interesting race to keep an eye on.
Additional information on the 2012 MPSSAA State Championship can be found here.
Tags: Anna Kolanowski, Audrey Gould, Austin Cole, Austin Dickey, Barry Mangold, Charlotte Meyer, Churchill, Clarksburg, Ellen Anderson, Emily Zhang, Fletcher Tollefson, Gaithersburg High School, Garrett Powell, Graham Baird, Jamie Stevenson, Jean-Marc Nugent, Jessica Chen, Joey Bieda, Joshua Kiehl, Kevin Fu, Kristina Li, Maryland 4A-3A State Swimming Championship Meet, Maryland High School Swimming, MCPS, Montgomery Blair, Natalya Ares, Reia Tong, Richard Montgomery, Ryan Whitescarver, Sarah Kannan, Scarlett Sun, Walter Johnson, Whitman, Wootton
You forgot to mention Blair’s Jack Foster, who is probably the favorite in the 200 IM after coming in 2nd at metros by .04 with a time of 1:54.02.
Bryan, the March PVS championship meets are in short course yards. The long course championships are held in July. And, you left out other reasons for the fast times seen at Metros. One is that the Metros swimming events are split into two days with individual 500 free and 400 free relays swum on a separate day from the other events. And, the fastest times were achieved at finals, not during the preliminary heats. At the Maryland regional and state meets, all swimming events are swum in one session, and all events are timed finals. Insinuating that the slower times observed at the West Region Meets (and, likely, at this weekend’s Maryland State Meets) are due to club swimmers focusing on club championships in March is taking a rather narrow view. So is discounting the times and abilities of swimmers from other regions of the state.
MDSwimMom, NCSA Junior Nationals finals and sectionals this year will be in long course meters.
MDSwimMom, you are correct. The PVS championship is SCY. However, as stated above, the meets most of the mentioned swimmers are training for are Sectionals (LCM/LCM) and NCSA Junior Nationals (SCY/LCM), both of which run finals in the long-course format.
Secondly, Metros is a multi-day meet, but the format is prelims-finals, which means swimmers have to swim every event twice. Events are not swum on separate days. This is unlike Maryland’s regionals and states where swimmers are only asked to swim the event once per a meet. As such, I would attribute the fast times at Metros not to the format of the meet, but to the atmosphere of the meet and that MCPS (along with WMPSSDL) teams have traditionally viewed Metros as their championship meet, not states.
Lastly, while I was not purposefully discounting the times and abilities of swimmers from other regions, the swimmers from Montgomery County are the top seeds in every event except for the boys 100 breaststroke (Michael Seaberg, South River, 58.85), even without using the times swam at Metros. If you did use times from Metros, they would be the top seed in every event.
There is great swimming taking place all over the state of Maryland, but, on paper, the competition for the 4A/3A championship, as well as the vast majority of individual titles and records, will be between the MCPS swimmers and teams. I look forward to being proven wrong. I love seeing underdogs and overlooked teams jump out and surprise everyone, ultimately making everyone swim better and the meet a more exciting environment. Thank you for your comment.
I just dare someone to ask one of the multiple MoCo “State Champs” what meant more – the state champs title or a Metros title – my guess is, most would say a Metro’s A final beats a “state champs” title against weak competition each and every day of the week.
While I agree the montgomery county schools will probably dominate the meet, I would not overlook some of the better Frederick County swimmers….Check out some of there best times and you will find they will compete for some od the top spots. While I agree Metros is a much better meet, I say let the kids swim and see if they like the state tournament. This is not a competition to see which meet is better. Let the kids have fun and swim.
The reference to the State Diving being exhibition is incorrect. While the points earned will not add to a team score (only 2 counties have diving), the divers are none the less, competing for a State title. The top four male and female individual divers advancing from their region to compete at the state meet. After the first five dives, the top-eight scores will advance to 11 dives to determine the state championship.
Sorry if that was confusing Swimsupporter. The diving EVENTS are scored and an individual title is awarded to the winner. However, no POINTS will be awarded to teams, as referenced in the article, taking away any advantage a team with strong diving may have.
Let the kids have fun and swim. My son is a year-round public school swimmer in MoCo who enjoys competing at Metros but we both agree that public school kids should compete against each other at the state championships. The private school kids already have their own championships anyway. To most year-round swimmer from MOCo public schools, Metros is just a glorified PVS meet.
It’s just too bad that the rules for swimming in MoCo are not consistent with the other counties in the state and don’t follow COMAR rules / regulations. This meet will be dominated by MoCo schools, but don’t rule some other eastern state counties out on some good swims. It’s just not totally fair competition.
Hi Dave, can you elaborate on what you mean? What are the COMAR rules/regs that are not followed by MoCo teams, and how will this effect the outcome of the meet? Thanks!
It would be nice to have an evenly matched state meet again. As far as I know or have been told, the HS teams in MoCo do not practice with their HS team. 95% of the kids are club swimmers. And b/c they dont have HS practice on a regular basis they are able to swim both club and HS. Teams in Frederick and Harford and Eastern Shore do not have a whole lot of club swimmers b/c their respective club teams have practice at the same time as their HS, or their practice is right after. So going to both EVERY DAY is almost impossible. Also, I know for a fact that MoCO does not have pools in their HS (if any). The MOCO Aquatic club is used for this and also Fairland. I am just saying this is going to be a romp and I may not even care about states anymore. MAKE ALL THE RULES THE SAME FOR ALL COUNTIES. When I swam you had to make at least 5 practices a week (morning practices were available) Frederick county lost alot of great swimmers bc of that rule and now we are going against that.
Last time I checked, this was a Swimming AND Diving competition. Why on earth would you state that with diving being exhibition, it evens out the competition between Churchill, Whitman and Wooton? Aside from the fact that I completely disagree with the State’s decision to exclude diving from team points, I take offense to your characterization that diving is somehow not important. These kids train hard, every day. They love their team. They want to contribute.
Divemom: He stated that it would even out the competition because it DOES. Churchill’s girl divers scored many points for them and were a big part of why they won Metros. Taking away those points evens things out. You are indeed correct that it IS swimming and diving, and I agree that diving is important. However, in stating that diving was exhibition (at least as far as the team scores go), Bryan in no way characterized diving as unimportant. In fact, taking out the diving scores from some teams illustrates just how important it is (my team always scores heavily in the diving and the divers and swimmers are all important parts of our teams). I would guess that in not including their scores, diving would probably be more catagorized as an unfair advantage than unimportant. Looking at the other regional meets, it seems that most areas do not have diving (I know at VA States, there were only 15 divers each for the boys and girls because some areas like Loudoun etc… do not have diving). It doesn’t even look like diving was a part of the previous State meets (at least on the results. Someone please let me know if that is not correct). So including them is a nod to how hard they worked, and allows divers to compete for a state title, while not giving a totally unfair advantage to already heavily favored MCPS schools in their first trip to States.
@Willfightforhsswimming – Our MoCo HS team practices together 2x/week because, as you correctly stated, we don’t have pools in our schools and hence can’t find pool time . Perhaps you all could talk to your county and the swim clubs to find some sort of equitable solution . Seems counter-intuitive that you should lose good swimmers because they choose to practice more with their club. Good luck
@novaswimcoach – thanks for your reply. I have these conversations all the time with my swim parent friends. Let me give you an example of how diving is viewed so you can understand my frustration: it was reported by reachforthewall that the Churchill girls were 62 points ahead before the competition even started. No… The competition had already started the day before when the diving event was held and the girls took 1, 3, 7, and 19th places. So, I get annoyed with the reporting sometimes! But, I love both swimming and diving and will continue to support it!