Virginia State Independent School Championships

By Brian Savard

MANASSAS, Virginia, March 2. ST. Catherine's School and the Collegiate School won the respective men's and women's Virginia State Independent School Championship titles by more than 100 points on each side.

Team Scores
St. Catherine's School disposed of the women's competition handily, winning with a final point total of 333.5 points. Madeira finished second with 232 points while the Collegiate School fell just short of the runner-up honors, placing third with 230 points.

The Collegiate School schooled the men's competition, taking the team title with a total of 393 points. St. Christopher's School ended up in second with 221 points while St. Stevens and St. Agnes took third with 205 points.

Women's Individual Results
The Collegiate School fielded first-place finishes in the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay. The 200 medley relay grouping of Katie Wiltshire, Lauren Hyslop, Carter Stephens and Rachel Naurath put together a 1:52.61 effort while the 200 freestyle relay of Stephens, Kate Byron, Wiltshire and Naurath clocked a record-setting 1:39.25. The foursome erased the 2005 VSIS record set by Madeira.

Naurath came up big in each of her individual performances, setting VSIS records with each swim. Naurath won by six seconds in the 200 freestyle, clocking a 1:51.35. Leslie Swinley of Madeira set the previous VSIS record of 1:52.06 back in 2003. Naurath returned in the 500 freestyle, blitzing the competition by turning in a blistering 4:50.50. Swinley held the former VSIS 500 freestyle record as well, which she also set at the 2003 championship meet, with a 4:51.78.

Jenna Jacoby, who represented Flint Hill School, surprised the competition in each of her individual events as she was not the top qualifying swimmer in either of the events she ended up winning. Jacoby, who entered the final heat with the third-best preliminary swim, clocked an event-best 2:08.60. She entered the 100 backstroke finals as the second-fastest qualifier, and she emerged victorious in a tight race where she won by .04 with a 59.21.

St. Catherine School's Kate Bassett, a freshman, jumped into the VSIS state championship scene with two individual event wins. Bassett took first in the 50 freestyle (24.34) and the 100 breaststroke (1:06.35).

Men's Individual Results
The Collegiate School toppled VSIS records in each of its two relay event victories. Mac Anthony, Stuart Ferguson, Drake Watson and Thomas Stephens jumped out to an early lead on the first 100 and held on to win in 1:36.99. Their time eclipsed the former 2007 record of 1:37.59 set by the Collegiate School. The grouping of Ferguson, Jamie Anderson, Stephens and Anthony broke the second relay record of the meet with a 1:26.54 win in the 200 freestyle relay. The time bettered the 2007 record of 1:27.80 set by Hargrave Military Academy by more than a second.

St. Stephen's & St. Agnes set a VSIS record in the 400 freestyle as the foursome of Cabell Perrot, Hunter Perrot, Mac Routh and Conor McNair won with a 3:12.89 time. Woodberry Forest set the former record 12 years prior in the 1996 championship meet with a time of 3:14.08.

Ferguson, who is tabbed as one of the top high school breaststrokers in the country, lived up to his hype by turning in an unbelievable 55.24 in the 100 breaststroke. Ferguson reset his 2007 record of 56.65 by just less than a second and a half. Ferguson also flashed his stroke versatility in the 100 butterfly, winning the event in 49.86.

Nevin Cook from the Seton School edged out the former VSIS record in the 200 IM with his 1:54.70 event-winning time. Chris Soniak from Bishop Ireton set the former record in 2003 with a time of 1:55.07. Cook also took second in the 100 breaststroke with a 58.80 time. Cook is a Swimming World three-star recruit who will attend Virginia Tech in the fall.

Colin Heinrich of Trinity Episcopal scrounged up gold medals in each of his individual event efforts. Heinrich staved off Hunter Perrot in the 200 freestyle, stopping the clock at 1:43.03. Heinrich nabbed the 500 freestyle title later on in the meet, clocking a 4:37.28.

Diving Results
Chloe Grishaw from the Potomac School dove her way to a VSIS title in the women's diving competition (339.05). Neena Maizels of the Collegiate School placed second (326.55) while Nicole Cochran, an eighth-grader from Trinity Episcopal, finished up in third (283.90).

Briggy Imbriglia from Bishop Ireton added to the record-breaking theatrics on the men's side of the meet, winning the men's diving competition with a score of 470.85. His score reset his own VSIS record score of 442.10 that he set at last year's meet. James Ross of the Collegiate School picked up the silver medal with a 364.75 score while Jim Kuhn of Bishop Ireton rounded out the top three with a score of 359.70.

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