Wootton girls roll; WJHS boys sneak by despite missing key swimmers

Wootton girls were dominant against the Wildcats on Saturday, but the boys team squandered and opportunity against a depleted Walter Johnson boys’ team. [read more here]

Churchill sweeps B-CC

Churchill looked like the paramount team we’ve come to expect, commanding the meet from start to finish. B-CC showed it has some talent, but it lacks the depth to compete for a divisional title against teams like Churchill and Whitman. [read more here]

Woodson remains undefeated; beats TC Williams

*provided by Woodson Swim & Dive

Despite the long layoff over winter break, Woodson was able to rattle off 34 season’s best times to win 224-91 (boys), 213-99 (girls) over TC Williams.

The Cavalier boys and girls swept diving (1,2,3,4) with Eric Pavord and Samantha Eldridge each taking first. More than half of the divers recording season high scores.

James Chung (Woodson) recorded his first individual region time of the season in the boys’ 200 IM in 2 minutes 3.77 seconds.

Gloriya Mavrova won the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke for the Titans.

Leah Rogers (Woodson) easily eclipsed the region qualifying time in girls’ 200 IM (2:13.55), cutting nearly 2 seconds from her personal best.

Titans’ captain, senior Abby Cox scored a regional cut in the 200 IM (2:13.04), winning the event.

One of the standout performances of the night came form Katie McGraw (Woodson), who crushed her personal best time, dropping five seconds, in the girls’ 200 freestyle, and chopped 15 seconds off her previous best in the 500 freestyle for second place, behind Cox, a two-time state qualifier in the event.

Lawrence Lincoln (TC Williams) tied for first in the 50 free style and anchored the winning boys’ 400 freestyle relay.

Despite the dominance by Woodson, the meet ended with excitement. The last event of the night, the girls’ 400 free relay, was decided by .01, with TC edging out the Cavs. The team of A. Cox, Charlotte Sackett, Colleen Cox, and Mavrova set a team new record.

Next week will match the Woodson boys and girls (5-0) against the West Springfield Spartans (5-0, 5-0) in a meet that may very well determine the regular season titles for both.

Patriot beats Broad Run

*provided by Broad Run Swimming

In a meet filled with tight finishes, Patriot High School defeated the Broad Run boys’ and girls’ swim teams in Saturday’s Cedar Run District meet. The Patriot boys won 163-123, while the girls won 166-120.

The night started off well for the Patriot boys, winning the opening 200 medley relay in 1:44.73, with excellent swims by the young team of Marcus Quint, Andrew Proper, Thomas Scot, and Gavin Graham.

Proper was a double winner in the 200 freestyle (1:51.89) and 500 freestyle (5:07.18).

Broad Run seniors Alan Horback and Jacob Leidy each won two individual events with Northwest Regional qualifying times.

In the closest race of the night, Horback edged out Patriot’s Quint in the 100 free, 50.32 to 50.34. Horback also won the 50 free in 22.96.

Leidy’s victories came in the 200 IM (2:01.46) and 100 breaststroke (1:05.18).

Sophomore Jack Morrisroe (Broad Run) also took first in the 100 back stroke (59.58) and second in the 100 butterfly (57.42).

Horback, Leidy and Morrisroe teamed with Michael Kopecky for a win in the 200 freestyle relay in a season-best time of 1:34.28.

Junior Caroline Ruttenberg led the Broad Run girls with two individual first places and two exciting finishes.

Broad Run's Caroline Ruttenberg (top) and Patriot's Samantha Baird go stroke for stroke in the final leg of the 200 IM, which Ruttenberg won 2:20.28 to 2:20.47. (photo provided by Marianne Thiede)

In the 200 IM, Ruttenberg and Patriot’s Samantha Baird went stroke for stroke in the freestyle leg, with Ruttenberg winning 2:20.28 to Baird’s 2:20.47.

After taking first in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.31), Ruttenberg nearly pulled off a come-from-behind win, as she anchored the 400 free relay, but Patriot was able to hang on, 4:05.25 to 4:05.31.

Also a double winner, Sydney Thorpe (Patriot) won the 200 freestyle (2:07.96) and 500 freestyle (5:30.60).

Freshman Emily Adams (Broad Run) notched her first individual win for the season as she out-touched fellow freshman, Baird, in the 100 back, 1:05.46 to 1:05.84.

Patriot junior Hannah Romine took first in the 50 freestyle in 27.65, and teammate Caroline Rector took first in the 100 freestyle in 1:02.15.

Adams, Ruttenberg and Anna Sarman teamed with Brooke Graham to win the 200 medley relay (2:03.44), while Sarman and Graham teamed with Gina Pappagallo and Megan Thiede for the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:54.40). Sarman was also an individual winner in the 100 fly (1:06.81).

The Spartans have a double-header this weekend, facing Stonewall Jackson on Friday and Osbourn on Saturday at the Freedom Center in Manassas.

Yorktown sweeps Wakefield in lopsided wins

*provided by Yorktown Swim & Dive

The Yorktown Swim and Dive team headed to the Wakefield pool on Friday, January 6th for a swim meet with Wakefield High School, emerging as the winner in both the boys’ and girls’ meets. Both teams are now 5-0 for the season.

The boys won their meet with a score of 131 – 51, with eleven first place wins in the twelve events.

First place finishes in individual events came from Jason Henley (200 freestyle), Will Tarkenton (50 freestyle), Chris Saulnier (diving), Max Fish (100 buttefly), Henry Love (100 freestyle), Crosby Sensibaugh (500 freestyle), David Emson (100 backstroke) and Peter House (100 breaststroke). The three relay teams also came through with first place finishes: 200 medley relay (Henley, Jack Storrs, Sean Coleman, Quinn Romanek); 200 freestyle relay (Emson, Fish, Eric Newton, Tarkenton) and 400 free relay (Shahan Jayasinghe, Love, Sensibaugh, Coleman).

The girls won their meet with a score of 147 – 21, also with first place finishes in every event. Mason Nassetta was a double winner in the 100 butterfly and diving events.  Other individual event winners were Greta Mosley (200 freestyle), Anastasia Gustafson (200 IM), Ellie Belilos (50 freestyle), Amanda Didawick (100 freestyle), Abby Young (500 freestyle), Rachel Robertson (100 backstroke ) and Katie Linek (100 breaststroke). The girls also won each of the relays:  200 medley relay (Didawick, Lauren Allard, Young and Mason Nassetta); 200 freestyle relay (Allard, Belilos, Gustafson, Stephanie Romano); and 400 freestyle relay (Allard, Grace Greenwood, Romano, Young).

Click here for Yorktown results.

The Patriots return to the pool next weekend with a meet against Edison at the South Run Pool.  The meet begins at 6:30 p.m.

Gaithersburg and Magruder boys tie; Trojan girls fall

*provided by Gaithersburg Swim & Dive

Gaithersburg started out strong against Magruder, with a first and third place finish in the boys’ medley relay. The first place boys’ team had a very close race and fought to the finish to in a time of 1:50.54, nearly five seconds faster than their best relay time this season.  The first place team members were: Tyler Pham, Kieran Mahoney, Jacob Ado, and Daniel Valencia.

Gaithersburg continued the meet with several first places, best times, and new team record.

Senior, Pham, broke his own record in the 100 breaststroke with a new time of 1:01.92 a 1.71 second improvement.

Tyler Pham wins the 100 breastroke against Magruder (photo provided by Maria Brunett)

First places were earned by Ado in the 200 freestyle and 100 freestyle; Pham in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke; Ellen Anderson in the 200 IM and 500 freestyle; Valencia in the 50 freestyle; and Nicole Polen in the 100 buttefly.

Gaithersburg boys also took first place in the 200 freestyle relay.  The team members were: Chris Munoz, Adam Foreman, Brian Houk, and Valencia

For Gaithersburg’s results, click here.

Other headlines and results:

Wednesday, Jan. 4

Cathedral and St. Albans beat Bullis, 138-28 and 138-21. [click for full results]

Thursday, Jan. 5

Holton-Arms beats Georgetown Visitation, 122-64. [click for full results]

Gonzaga rolls over Landon, 125-61. [click for full results]

Friday, Jan. 6

Oakton boys pull off the win against the Chargers, 160-155; Cougar girls strong against powerhouse Chantilly, 177-135.

Westfield girls get past tough part of their schedule, beating Robinson 180-132; boys fall to Rams in a close one, 154-161.

West Springfield advances to 5-0, beating Lake Braddock 204-111 (boys), 176-139 (girls).

Langley girls win, 204-107; boys team falls to Madison, 118-197. [edited]

Stone Ridge gets past Holy Child, 105-78. [click for full results]

Loudoun County goes 2-0 in double-header meets on Saturday; beats Heritage, 164-122 (girls), 157-129 (boys) and Handley, 94-76 (girls), 97-73 (boys) [click for full results]

Northwood and Clarksburg split meet; Gladiator girls win, 97-68; Coyote boys win 89-72 [click here for full results]

Northwest boys win over Poolesville; girls team comes up short [click here for full results]

Seneca Valley wins big over Paint Branch [click here for full results]

Sherwood girls roll over Quince; Quince boys return favor [click here for full results]

2008 All-Met Swimmer of the Year Eric Friedland won two Big 12 titles this weekend for Texas. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The University of Virginia’s men’s team won its third consecutive ACC championship this weekend, totaling 806 points behind top performances from several local products — ahead of second-place UNC (656.5) and Florida State (566.5).

Virginia Tech finished fourth with 417.5 points, while Maryland took eighth with 197 points.

Potomac Falls product Matt McLean took home titles in the 500 freestyle (NCAA ‘B’ standard 4:17.21) and was second in the 200 freestyle with an NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 1:34.76.

McLean took third in the 1650 freestyle with a NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 14:56.91.

Former All-Met Swimmer of the Year Josh Hafkin (Georgetown Prep) finished 20th in the 50 freestyle (20.65), sixth in the 100 backstroke (48.39) and 18th in the 200 backstroke (1:47.87).

Maryland’s Andrew Relihan (Georgetown Prep) finished seventh in the 200 IM (NCAA ‘B’ standard 1:47.69), ninth in the 400 IM (NCAA ‘B’ standard 3:52.88) and 10th in 200 backstroke (1:46.67).

North Carolina’s Andy Brake (Lake Braddock) took 20th in the 200 IM (1:51.05), fourth in the 400 IM (NCAA ‘B’ standard 3:50.75) and 17th in the 200 butterfly (1:49.26).

Among other locals (of which there were many): Boston College’s Sean Heffernan (Gonzaga), N.C. State’s Kevin Vallario (Good Counsel), Maryland’s Sean Stewart (Wootton), North Carolina’s Brock Park (Landon) and Robert Grimmett-Norris (Georgetown Prep), Virginia Tech’s Mikey McDonald (W.T. Woodson), Phil LaRosa (Osbourn) and Logan Shinholser (Paint Branch), U.-Va.’s Briggy Imbriglia (Ireton) and Duke’s Ben Tuben (Jefferson).

Local Longhorns perform well at Big 12s

Several area alums had strong weeks at the Big 12 championships for Texas.

Former Yorktown standout and two-time All-Met Maren Taylor finished fourth in one-meter and three-meter diving and third in platform diving in her first collegiate championships, as the No. 3 Longhorns took second at the meet.

Diving teammate and Whitman alum Matt Cooper finished second in three-meter diving and took the platform diving title with a score of 434.60.

2008 All-Met Swimmer of the Year Eric Friedland (Walter Johnson) also had a standout meet. The sophomore won Big 12 titles in the 100 breaststroke with a NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 53.44 and the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:54.32. He also finished fifth in the 200 IM with a NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 1:46.72.

Friedland’s time in the 200 breast set a new meet record and was the fastest time registered in college swimming this year. The mark broke the previous meet record of 1:54.41 set last season by Texas’ Agustin Magruder.

The two titles were the first of Friedland’s career, as No. 1 Texas claimed its 31st consecutive conference title.

Danner, Knight named CAA’s top championship swimmers

Both 2008 All-Met Swimmer of the Year Ashley Danner (Lake Braddock) and Westfield grad Eric Knight earned CAA Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Championships honors for the second time in their respective careers.

Danner, in addition to her titles in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, also earned an automatic bid to the NCAA championships with a record-breaking time of 2:08.66 in the 200 breaststroke.

Knight, who took a medical redshirt last season after winning the top honor in 2007-08, finished fourth in the 50 freestyle (20.13) and won titles in the 100 freestyle (record and NCAA ‘B’ standard 44.06), 200 freestyle (record and NCAA ‘B’ standard 1:35.85).

George Mason’s men’s team took second place while the women finished fifth.

Towson’s Meredith Budner (Walter Johnson) equaled Danner’s leading point total on the weekend, while Yorktown grad Katie Radloff was third with 57 points. O’Connell grad Maggie Macedonia was tied for 19th with 34 points.

Mason freshman David Kiss, a two-time All-Met at Edison, finished seventh with 50 points, while Mount Vernon grad Bryan Bahr was 15th with 36.

Oakton’s Pawlowicz up for USA Swimming Race of the Week honors

All-Met Oakton junior Kaitlin Pawlowicz‘s national high-school-record-breaking 200-meter individual medley is up for USA Swimming’s race for the week honors.

You can vote for Pawlowicz here.

Local clubs earn national honors

North Baltimore Aquatic Club, the home of Olympic legend Michael Phelps, was named the 2010 Club Excellence Title by USA Swimming by scoring 56,155 points – just 2,420 points ahead of Swim Atlanta.

Curl-Burke finished sixth with 32,685 points, while Rockville Montgomery Swim Club took 14th with 25,984 points. It was the first time RMSC achieved Gold level.

According to the USA Swimming release, the “2010 program results are based on performances in the 2009 calendar year. Clubs have been selected as Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal clubs according to the following parameters: Gold Level: The top 16 point-scoring clubs eligible for the Gold level. Silver Level: The remaining clubs ranked through #100 and/or not achieving Gold status. Bronze Level: Clubs ranked #101 through #200 and/or not achieving Gold or Silver status.”

The Fish qualified for gold medal status for 2009-10 by having an athlete on the 2008 Olympic team.

QDD Swim Team finished with silver medal status, while Machine Aquatics, Arlington Aquatic Club and Naval Academy Aquatic Club earned bronze medal status.

George Mason's Ashley Danner won a title in the 200 IM on Thursday night on the opening day of the CAA championships. (Photo by Joel Richardson for the Washington Post)

After opening her college career by winning the CAA Swimmer of the Year honors, 2008 All-Met Swimmer of the Year Ashley Danner (Lake Braddock) entered last night’s opening to the conference championships with high expectations.

Danner quickly showed she is up to the challenge, winning the 200 yard individual medley on Thursday night and breaking her own conference record in the process, finishing with a NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 1:58.32.

“I think so,” Danner said when asked if the race set the tone for the weekend. “When I saw the time I was really surprised. I was really happy so hopefully I can keep it up throughout the rest of the week”

Former Walter Johnson standout and Towson junior Meredith Budner won the title in the 500 freestyle with a NCAA ‘B’ standard 4:42.92. 2008 All-Met sophomore Molly Emery (William & Mary/Lake Braddock) finished sixth in 4:55.46.

Earlier in the meet, two-time All-Met David Kiss swam his first collegiate finals and the former Edison star nearly opened the newest chapter of his career with a title.

Kiss finished second in the 200 individual medley with a time of 1:51.13, finishing just behind Drexel’s T.J. Southmayd – who surprised the crowd in Lane 7 by taking the title in 1:50.46.

“I’ve been training really hard this year and I was really excited coming in here,” Kiss said. “I knew I could pull out best [time and] top three, that was my goal, so I was hoping. I got a best time so I’m happy for it and I’ll keep training hard for next year.”

Former Yorktown standout Katie Radloff took second in the women’s 50 freestyle, finishing in a time of 22.74, just one-hundredth of a second behind UNC-Wilmington’s Caitlin Kirsteier. William & Mary freshman Elizabeth Hall (Chantilly) took fifth with a time of 23.56.

Westfield grad Eric Knight, the 2008 CAA Swimmer of the Year, took fourth in the 50 freestyle with a NCAA ‘B’ standard time of 20.13

In the 1-meter diving event, George Mason’s Derrick Butts (Paint Branch) and Bryan Bahr (Mount Vernon) took second and third.

George Mason senior Steven Benecki (Chantilly) took fifth in the 500 freestyle (4:33.58), while William & Mary sophomore Stephen Fay (Chantilly) finished eighth (4:39.07).

Robinson graduate Robby Munch was part of UNCW’s winning 200 freestyle relay and also finished eighth in the 50 freestyle (20.66).

Osbourn Park standout and UNCW freshman Carly Tanner was a member of the Seahawks second-place 400 freestyle relay (3:43.24), while former teammate and All-Met Gabrielle Mizerak swam for William & Mary’s 400 free relay (4th – 3:47.03).