The Metro Meet
- January 19-20, 2024
- Westminster School, Atlanta, Georgia
- Short Course Yards (25 yards)
- Meet Mobile: 53rd Metro Swimming and Diving Invitational
The annual Metro Meet hosted by The Westminster School is one of the last chances for Georgia high school swimmers to throw down some fast times ahead of the State Championship in February.
UVA commit and Westminster senior Katie Christopherson easily won both of her individual events, punching a time of 1:58.33 in the 200 IM and 1:02.51 in the 100 breast. Christopherson is the three-time defending 1-5A state champion in the 100 breast. She also won the 200 IM in 2022, but opted for the 100 fly in 2023, where she also picked up a state title. She holds best times of 1:55.49 in the 200 IM and 59.91 in the 100 breast.
Christopherson, who is SwimSwam’s #12 ranked recruit in the class of 2024, also helped Westminster to two relay wins at this meet. In the 200 medley relay, Sadie Clayton (28.17), Christopherson (28.96), Greta Myers (25.67), and Lauren Foglesong (25.77) combined for 1:48.57, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of the runner-ups. Christopherson’s breaststroke split was the fastest in the field. In the 400 free relay, Myers (52.75), Caroline Anderson (56.10), Ansley Sgrosso (55.77) and Christopherson (49.84) once again topped the field (3:44.46), this time by over four seconds.
While Westminster won the 200 medley and 400 free relays, freshman Sarah Paisley Owen of Midtown High School dropped some monster splits to lift her team to podium finishes. After the butterfly leg, Midtown was trailing in 4th place behind Westminster, Marist, and Lovett, but Owen scorched a 21.88 to bring her team into 2nd overall (1:51.43). That appears to be the fastest relay performance of her career. Needless to say, that split led the field by a significant margin, as no other anchor swimmer broke 25 seconds. In the 400 free, Owen dropped another field-best split of 48.94 as Midtown finished 3rd overall (3:38.94), just four-tenths behind 2nd place Marist.
Owen also swept her individual events, swimming 1:52.72 in the 200 free and 50.02 in the 100 free to win by over three seconds in both. Her best time of 49.48 in the 100 free ranks her 23rd all-time amongst 13-14 year old girls, though she recently aged up to the 15-16 age group.
In the boys’ meet, Marist School sophomore Cannon Martenson also completed the 200 IM (1:53.53) and 100 breast (58.68) sweep, hitting a personal best in the former. He lowered his time from the 1:54.85 he swam at the 2023 GHSA 6A Championship, where he recorded a runner-up finish as a freshman by just one-hundredth of a second.
Marist senior Alex Wiegand also won a pair of events, clocking a best time of 51.73 in the 100 fly and 52.24 in the 100 back.
Wiegand (24.69) and Martenson (26.24) teamed up with Grogan Phillips (25.54) and Wyatt Santy (22.38) in the 200 medley relay to give Marist the win (1:38.85). Martenson also anchored Marist’s winning 200 free relay (1:28.04), dropping an anchor of 21.07 alongside teammates Jack Tharp (22.42), Wiegand (22.06), and Santy (22.49).
Freshman Connor Christopherson, the younger brother of Katie Christopherson, continued his breakout season. He was just off his best time of 21.43 in the 50 free, clocking 21.56 for 2nd behind Wesleyan junior Max Perry (21.52). Christopherson got his hand to the wall first in the 100 free (46.72), 1.3-seconds off his best time of 45.42 set in December. That time ranks him 17th all-time in the 13-14 boys age group in the 100 free.
The Westminster boys closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free (3:17.78), with Jake Scott (50.48), Max Rodbell (50.35), Alex Wa (50.03), and Connor Christopherson (46.92) combining to touch nearly three seconds ahead of runner-ups Wesleyan.
The Westminster girls and Marist boys topped the overall team standings. The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) State Championship kicks off with the 1-3A and 4-5A division on February 7, followed by 6A on February 9 and 7A on February 10.
Top 5 Teams – Girls
- Westminster – 177.5
- Marist – 163
- Midtown – 113
- Riverwood – 101
- Blessed Trinity – 97
Top 5 Teams – Boys
- Marist – 190
- Westminster – 176
- Blessed Trinity – 109
- Lovett – 85
- Wesleyan – 84
Other Highlights:
- Andrew Olsen (Holy Spirit Prep) won the boys’ 200 free (1:43.75), just off his best time from last year (1:42.31).
- Kenzie Robinson (Riverwood High School) won the girls’ 50 free in a huge best time (22.84), dropping nearly a second. She also helped Riverwood grab the win in the 200 free relay, anchoring (23.54) the team of Katie Kessell (25.24), Hannah Gosch (25.51) and Emma Freer (25.46) who combined for 1:39.75.
- Greta Myers (Westminster School) clipped her best time in the girls’ 100 fly by eight-hundredths of a second to take the win (56.41).
- Freshman Katelyn Borland (Roswell High School) out-dueled sophomore Kelci Walsh (Blessed Trinity Catholic High School) in the girls’ 500 free, touching in 5:05.24 to 5:05.27.
- Matthew Gray (Blessed Trinity) was the only athlete to break 5:00 in the boys’ 500 free, clocking 4:44.44.
- Hattie Wasmuth (Wesleyan) lowered her best time in the 100 back by eight-hundredths of a second (57.71) to take the win.