Churchill Boys Break 17-Year Private School Streak at DC Metro Champs

2018 Washington Metro Champs

• February 7th-10th, 2018
• Germantown Indoor Swim Center, Boyds, Maryland
• 25 yard, invitational, prelims/finals format
• Complete boys’ results
• Complete girls’ results
• Team Scores
• Individual high points

While the Washington Metro Champs, like most swim meets, pits every team for itself, there was a hushed anticipation in the crowd for a community victory of sorts.

The meet, which is the primary focus meet for most high schools in Washington D.C. and the Maryland suburbs, has been won by a private school for the last 17 years – specifically by Gonzaga and Georgetown Prep. That streak ended on Saturday, when Churchill High School scored 324.5, finishing ahead of 2nd-place Georgetown Prep (298).

That made for a public school sweep, with the Sherwood High SSchool girls winning the girls’ title.

Boys’ Meet

The Churchill boys didn’t win their first race of the meet until the final race of the meet: the boys’ 400 free. There, Noah Rutberg, Sanjay Wijesekera, Tanhung Nguyen, ad Steven Mendley combined for a 3:09.68.

There were no records broken in the boys’ meet, but there were several double winners. Ryan Vipavetz conserved energy in prelims to cruise into mid-seeds in prelims, but then exploded in finals to win the boys’ 200 free in 1:39.14 and 500 free in 4:26.91. Those were both lifetime bests for him, including a second-and-a-half drop on his 500 free from December.

Wisconsin commit Eli Fouts was the only senior boy to win an individual event on Saturday, and he picked up two of them. First he won the 100 fly in 49.09, beating out 200 IM winner Alex Colson (49.74) for the title; and he returned later in the meet to take the 100 backstroke in 55.08 (after a 54.69 in prelims). The 100 fly/100 breast double used to be unusual, but it is becoming more-and-more common across the country: Forrest Frazier pulled off the same twosome in Iowa on Saturday, with very similar times – 49.10/54.16.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Brett Feyerick from Georgetown Prep was the only freshman to win an event, and he two picked up a double. He won the 100 free in 46.35 and the 100 back in 49.87. Those were both lifetime bests for him.

Other winners:

• Wheaton junior Alex Colson won the boys’ 200 IM in 1:50.87. He was more than a second beyond Timothy Ellett after the breaststroke leg, but was a second-and-a-half better to win by .13 seconds.
• Junior Adam Fischer won the boys’ 50 free in 21.35. He was 16th in his other swim, the 100 free, in 48.89.
• Our Lady of Good Counsel won the boys’ 200 free relay in 1:26.15, with the team of Vipavetz (21.65), Brady Ott (21.69), Jonathan Crocker (21.81), and Gabriel Laracuente (21.00). Laracuente had the fastest split of the field.
• Sherwood freshman Michael Parker won the boys’ 1-meter with a score of 419.90.
• Quince Orchard won the boys’ 200 medley relay in 1:33.99. The winning team was made up of Jacob Lindner (24.20), Fouts (24.36), Diego Morales (23.92), and Evan Judge (21.51). Fouts’ breaststroke split was the fastest in the field by a second-and-a-half. Fouts clocked a 22.96 breaststroke split in prelims, but all evidence, including Lindener’s backstroke split, appears to be a timing error.

Team Scores – Top 5

1. Churchill – 324.5
2. Georgetown Prep – 298
3. Richard Montgomery High School – 261.5
4. Gonzaga College High School – 231.5
5. Our Lady of Good Counsel – 224

Girls’ Meet

Unlike the boys’ meet, there were a pair of Meet Records broken in girls’ competition – and Stone Ridge sophomore Phoebe Bacon was involved in both of them. First, she swam a 52.91 in the 100 fly to win by almost a second and break the old Meet Record of 53.04 set by Kylie Jordan in 2016.

Bacon also won the 100 breaststroke later in the meet by almost 2 seconds in 1:02.02, and later led Stone Ridge’s 400 free relay to a 3:27.07 with a 50.94 anchor split. That Stone Ridge relay, which won by over 4 seconds, also broke a Meet Record. The old mark of 3:27.63 was set in 2012 by Whitman High School. What’s more, the Stone Ridge relay of Makenzie Higgins (53.02), Erika Chen (50.66), Tia Thomas (52.45) and Bacon (50.94) are, in total, 3 sophomores and 1 freshman. Stone Ridge’s girls team finished 3rd as a team, but are well-perched for future titles.

Stone Ridge also had the two highest individual point scorers – Erika Chen was 2nd behind Bacon with 45 points, thanks to a win in the 200 free (1:49.19).

As for present titles, Sherwood had big performances from a sophomore as well en route to the 2018 title. Amanda Wenhold was the 3rd-best point scorer, winning the 100 free in 51.96 and taking 2nd in the 50 in 24.16.

She was one of 2 individual event winners for Sherwood. Junior Kaitlin Gravell won the 200 IM in 2:03.89.

Other Girls’ Event Winners:

• Holton Arms won the 200 medley relay in 1:44.71 with a team of Jing-E Tan (25.88), Olivia Jubin (29.30), Jillian Johnson (25.95), and Tatum Zupnik (23.58). Of note, Our Lady of Good Counsel’s Olivia French split a 23.85 on her team’s fly leg. She took 3rd place in the individual event.
• St. Johns junior Keyla Brown won the 50 free in 23.46 for an All-America Consideration Time.
• Madeline Pfaff won girls’ diving with a score of 485.50.
• Holton-Arms junior Olivia Jubin won the girls’ 500 free in 4:53.33. She built her lead early, with a 2-second margin after 400 yards, and while Chen fought back big in the last 50, Jubin’s margin was enough to hold on for the win.
• Montgomery Blair won the girls’ 200 free relay with a group of Elise Kinyanjui (25.13), Alexandra Marney-Bell (23.96), Jordan Wallace (24.50), and Sammie Grant (23.80).
• Blair senior Hannah Kannan won the girls’ 100 breaststroke in 55.07. This was an event that Bacon won last year – she swapped both of her individual events this season.

Team Scores – Top 5

1. Sherwood High School – 362
2. Holton Arms – 304
3. Stone Ridge – 293
4. Montgomery Blair – 289
5. Our Lady of Good Counsel – 228.5