Senior trio James Murphy, James Jones and Hannah Baker each won dual individual state titles to lead Robinson Secondary to boys and girls state titles in Virginia’s Class 6A.
6A, housing the state’s biggest schools, saw 6 state class 6A records broken, along with two overall Virginia high school state records.
Boys Meet
The boys 6A meet was all about keeping up with the Jameses, as James Murphy and James Jones each won two individual titles and combined for two relay titles in their senior sendoff seasons.
Murphy broke the 6A state record in the 200 freestyle twice, besting the old mark in prelims and finals. He wound up winning in 1:37.42, with Stonewall Jackson junior Sam Pomajevich also getting under the old record at 1:37.79.
Instead of defending his state title in the 500 free, where he already holds the state record, Murphy elected to swim the 100 backstroke, winning by more than a full second in 48.99.
Jones, meanwhile, swept the sprint freestyles, going 20.48 in the 50 and 45.39 in the 100 – those times were just off the state records he set last year.
Both are big-time Division I prospects, with Murphy joining Stanford next year and Jones heading to Michigan.
The two combined with junior Roman Lowery and sophomore Peter Brukx to win the 400 freestyle relay. Murphy led off in 45.42 and Jones was nearly identical on the anchor leg at 45.49 as Robinson went 3:08.39 for the win.
Murphy, Lowery and Brukx joined senior Luke Jones to win the 200 free relay, with Murphy keying a 1:24.79 effort on a 20.77 leadoff leg. James Jones swam the 200 medley relay instead, finishing second.
Patriot High won that medley relay, breaking one of two overall Virginia state records. Will Cumberland, Spencer Rowe, Cole Cooper and AJ Ross went 1:32.88, breaking an all-time Virginia record set by Thomas Jefferson High and all-world recruit Andrew Seliskar a year ago. They also broke a 6A state record that belonged to current Texas Longhorn standout John Shebat and his Oakton teammates.
Cumberland had the field’s best backstroke split at 23.71, and Ross led all freestylers with a 20.48.
Rowe won the 100 breaststroke individually for Patriot, going 56.00.
The other all-time state record went to James Madison’s Grayson Campbell in diving. He scored 607.60 to break the 6A and all-time records.
Other event winners:
- Stonewall Jackson’s Pomajevich came off his second-place finish in the 200 free to get under another 6A state record, going 48.84 to win the 100 fly and down the class record.
- Langley’s Casey Storch won the 200 IM in 1:50.44.
- West Springfield took home the 500 free title, with junior Lane Stone going 4:27.64.
Top 5 Teams:
- Robinson – 235
- Langley – 190
- Patriot – 178
- McLean – 161
- Woodson – 146.5
Girls Meet
On the girls side, Robinson senior Hannah Baker went 4-for-4 to help her team win the 6A trophy.
Baker won the 50 free (23.41) and 100 free (50.56), then provided clutch legs on both freestyle relays. Holding a narrow lead when she dove in for the anchor leg of the 200 free relay, Baker split 23.0 to seal the 1:36.22 win for herself, Lisa Zangla, Grace Gartman and Livi Schmid.
In the 400 free relay, Baker anchored in 50.58, helping the same quartet win by more than two seconds in 3:30.39.
Also doubling individually was West Potomac’s Cassidy Bayer. The sophomore successfully defended her state titles in the 200 IM and 100 fly, going 1:59.59 in the former and 53.30 in the latter. Her IM time was just a half-second or so off her own state record, but she was .9 seconds away from Janet Hu’s state record in the butterfly.
Bayer also split a blistering 23.91 on the fly leg of the 200 medley relay to join Alexandria Puskar-Beckett, Holly Jansen and Jenna Martin as state champs. The team went 1:45.46, about a second off the state record.
The only swimming state record fell to Jacquee Clabeaux of Chantilly in the 100 breaststroke. Clabeaux went 1:01.51 for that Class 6A record, with Jansen also getting under the old mark in 1:01.83.
Diver Hailey Fisher also broke the 6A state record in diving with a score of 447.10 for Mount Vernon.
Other event winners:
- Oakton senior Megan Byrnes doubled up, taking the 200 free (1:49.13) and 500 free (4:46.81) for the state runners-up, finishing just off her own state records in both races.
- Senior Chloe Hicks won the 100 backstroke for Westfield, going 55.32 and knocking off defending state champ and 6A record-holder Emily Meilus.
Top 5 Teams:
- Robinson – 212
- Oakton – 171
- McLean – 169
- West Potomac – 163
- Langley – 152
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