*By Caroline Lippold*

From Feb. 24-27, the Viking swim and dive team competed in the 46^th annual Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships.  After two days of swimming preliminary rounds, finals were held Saturday night where the girls’ team clinched their first-ever Metros title.

The girls’ team won the title with 447 points, defeating private school powerhouse Good Counsel (333) and public school rival Churchill (321).  The boys’ team placed seventh with 202 points which was enough for the Vikings to take home the combined team title. 

Unlike dual-meets, Metros requires swimmers to compete in a preliminary round for each of their events.   The top 20 swimmers from preliminaries advance to finals where the top 10 swimmers are placed in the “A” heat and the next group of swimmers compete in the “B” heat.

The 200 medley relay consisting of senior captain Danielle Schulkin, sophomores Victoria Kuhn and Reia Tong and freshman Charlotte Meyer, set the tone of the meet with their first place finish and automatic All-American time of 1:46.74. 

Other highlights on the girls’ side included Schulkin setting a Metros record in the 100 butterfly with an automatic All-American time of 55:07.  Schulkin went on to place fifth in the 100 backstroke while fellow teammate Kuhn placed fourth. 

Led by Tong, the Vikings had four swimmers finish in the top twelve of the 50 freestyle event.  In the 100 freestyle, strong performances were made by senior captain Lauren Poore and Tong who placed third and fourth respectively. 

To conclude the meet, Schulkin, Poore, Tong and Meyer won the 400 freestyle relay by over four seconds with an automatic All-American time.  The relay’s time of 3:29.95 was less than three tenths off of the MCPS and Metros record. 

On the boys’ side, freshman Patrick Scordato had a good showing with eighth place finishes in both the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly. 

Senior captain Serge Gould finished second in the 200 individual medley with an automatic All-American time of 1:53.27 and fourth in the 100 backstroke.  Gould and senior Jackson Janezich finished off their high school swimming careers by placing seventh in the 400 freestyle relay with fellow teammates Scordato and Michael Kellman.