From Feb. 7 to 10, the Whiman swim and dive team competed in the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships (Metros). The team had an impressive outing, with the boys placing ninth out of 36 teams, recording 160 points, and the girls placing 10th out of 31 schools, with 147 points.
The most notable placements of the week came from the dive team. On Feb. 7, senior Tynan O’Donoghue came in first place in the boys’ one-meter dive with a final score 529.30. O’Donoghue separated himself from the jump and gained a commanding lead of over 50 points by the end of the event. Junior James Skipper followed, placing second with 469.95. Junior Sam Adeleson also received points for the Vikes, placing ninth with a final score of 357.90.
“Our performance couldn’t mean any more to me this year,” Skipper said. “At Metros, we wanted to make sure everyone knew it was our year, and we did exactly that.”
The next day, the girls’ dive team looked to build on the success of the boys — and they did just that. Sophomores Kaarina Williams and Katya Peresunko took second and third place, scoring 439.10 and 400.50 respectively. Junior Anne Kessner came right behind, notching fifth place with a score of 359.30. The final diver who placed was junior Addie Lockard, who received a score of 314.75, finishing 12th. The dive team amassed a whopping 127 points going into a weekend of swimming, placing them first out of 38 teams overall.
Following the diving competition, the swimming finals began on Saturday. Last year, the boys’ team won states, though seven of the nine Vikes that competed then have since graduated. The boys’ team placed ninth at this year’s competition; their best result from the boys came from a relay team comprising sophomore Kyle Chen and juniors Charlie Conroy, Luca Kantovits Nociti and Casper Svensson. They placed eighth in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with a 3:13.48 time, gaining 32 points. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Nociti, Chen, Svensson and sophomore Amrab Hida placed ninth, recording a time of 1:30.29 and winning 28 points for the team.
“The team as a whole did well, and we have a lot to look forward to in states,” Svensson said.
The girls’ team’s most impressive results came in the 100-yard breaststroke, where junior Kristina Fleck came in tenth with a time of 1:10.32. Right behind her was sophomore Julie Yang, who finished in 11th with a 1:07.38 time, winning the consolation heat. Yang also notched 12th place in the 100-yard butterfly, with a time of 57.57, and was awarded nine points. Fleck and Yang teamed up with senior Chloe Murphy and junior Chloe Green to take 14th place in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team had a time of 1:41.73 and added 14 points to the overall total.
“I’m so proud of our performance at Metros,” Yang said, “but I think there’s always room for improvement when it comes to swimming.”
Overall, the Vikes had an exciting weekend and showed promise. On Feb. 19, the Vikes will compete at The University of Maryland College Park pool for the regional championships, ultimately deciding who moves on to the state championship. Last year, the boys won the state championship and look to repeat this year, while the girls placed seventh.
“We plan to keep this momentum going into states and land nothing short but a full sweep,” Skipper said.
