Maryland Holds Postponed High School State Championships

Photo Courtesy: Swimming World

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By Emma Foster, Swimming World College Intern

HYATTSVILLE- After having to delay their championship meet due to impending bad weather last week, Maryland High School teams persevered and put together an exciting State Championship meet on February 21, 2015. Poolesville High School won both the men’s and women’s state championship titles, giving the men their third straight title and the women their second in three years. The day saw many dominating wins and close races.

Women’s Race Results

The Poolesville women finished the meet with a commanding 386 points. Easton High School followed in second with 181 points and Urbana High School was third with 163.

Poolesville kicked off the meet with a decisive win in the 200-yard medley relay. Arona Baigal, Sayaka Vaules, Fanny Wu, and Katarina Lechner put together a final time of 1:55.67, out-touching the rest of the field by three full seconds.

After their relay win, Poolesville kept the momentum rolling, and continued their early domination. Teammates Dorit Song and Julia Wang swam to first and second in the 200-yard freestyle. They threw down times of 1:57.17 and 1:59.65 respectively. Song later went on to win her second individual event of the day in the 100-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 53.98, almost two seconds ahead of teammate Vaules who finished second in 55.91.

The 200-yard IM featured a close race between Lechner of Poolesville and Hillary Young of North Harford High. Lechner ultimately overtook the field, cinching the win in 2:15.19 while Young held on for second place in 2:15.37.

In the second half of the meet, Lechner picked up her second individual win in the 100-yard backstroke. She made it another close race, touching the wall in 1:01.27, just 4 one-hundredths off of second place finisher Justine Wantz of Walkersville High School who touched second in 1:01.31

In what was arguably one of the most exciting races of the day, Lindsay Knapp of Poolesville swam ahead of the field to win the 50-yard freestyle in a final time of 25.79. Second place saw a tie between Julia O’Mara of C Milton Wright and Maggie Jones of Kent County who both came scorching into the finish in a final time of 26.28.

Knapp put her sprinting to good use later on in the meet as a member of the Poolesville High 200-freestyle relay. Knapp, along with Song, Vaules, and Wang continued Poolesville’s tradition of relay domination, clearing the field in a time of 1:42.68, well ahead of C Milton Wright’s 1:45.75.

Alexa Stewart of Rockville High School also left the meet with two individual state titles, leading the 100-yard butterfly with a final time of 1:00.88. She was followed by Fanny Wu of Poolesville in 1:01.72. Stewart got her second win of the day in an impressive double, diving in for the 500-yard freestyle shortly after her first win and running away from the field in 5:17.94. Wang held on for second, hitting the wall in 5:26.74.

For the final event of the day, Poolesville High cemented their relay domination with a overwhelming win in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Wang, Lechner, Song, and Lindsay Knapp overtook the rest of the field by over ten seconds, touching the wall in a final time of 3:43.66 and cementing their state championship title.

Men’s Race Results

The Poolesville men tied up their third straight state championship with a dominating 317.5 points, followed by Damascus High School (181) and C Milton Wright High School (164 points).

On the men’s side, Poolesville High School started the meet off with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. William An, Benjamin Kaplan, Ross Lippe, and Conner Dunathan overtook the field with a final time of 1:44.40. They were followed by Oakdale High School, who earned the silver with a time of 1:45.94

John Pressly of Middletown High School, dominated his events, earning state titles in both. He started the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle, establishing a commanding lead with a final time of 1:47.48. Theodore Jagodits of Poolesville followed behind in 1:49.03. Later on, Pressly went on to win his second title in the 100-yard butterfly, taking first in 52.25. He was ahead of Jacob Brown of Queen Anne’s High School who finished in 52.64.

Another double-winner was Kevin Lin of Urban High School. Early on in the meet he dominated the 200-yard Individual Medley, touching the wall first in 1:57.67. Ryan O’Leary held on for second, coming in at 1:59.83. Lin later crushed the 500-yard freestyle, besting the field by a little under six seconds, as he cruised into the wall in 4:50.39. Chris Kahl of Patuxent High School was second in 4:56.28.

The 100-yard freestyle featured Griffin Alaniz of Rockville High School, who claimed the title in a dominating 47.27. He was followed by Anthony Lee of Kent Island High School who touched in 48.97.

Alaniz later gave his encore, winning the 100-yard backstroke in 51.82. He was followed by Chris Kahl of Patuxent High School was second in 52.93.

The 200-freestyle relay saw Poolesville High secure another winning relay. The team of Dunathan, Justin Kim, Theodore Jagodits, and Anthony Kim threw down an impressive 1:32.36, comfortably ahead of C Milton Wright’s 1:34.09.

C Milton Wright’s Ryan O’Leary secured a comfortable win in the 100-yard breastroke, blazing to the wall in 1:00.44. Justin Carestia of Harfod Tech followed behind in 1:02.00.

While Damascus High School couldn’t overcome the team scores, in the final event of the day they did put a stop to Poolesville High’s relay domination. The team of Brady Whitmeyer, Tim Bonvillain, Tyler Maggio and O’Leary overtook Poolesville High in the 400-yard freestyle relay, blasting into the wall in a final time of 3:27.83. Poolesville High School held on for silver, touching in 3:29.21 and securing their third consecutive team State Championship title.

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