2023 Virginia High School League Class 6 Swimming and Diving State Championships
- February 16-18, 2023
- Hampton Virginia Aquaplex, Hampton, Virginia
- Short Course Yards (25 Yards)
- Full Meet Results (PDF)
- Results on MeetMobile: “2023 VHSL Class 6 State Meet”
Dave Bell contributed to this article.
In a meet that featured Junior National team members Camille Spink and Bobby DiNunzio, high school sophomore Josh Howat shone, setting the overall state record in the 100 free with a time of 44.06. On the girl’s side, the meet came down to the final event while Langley’s depth helped them to win by a wider margin.
Girl’s Meet Recap
The girl’s meet came down to the wire, with the 400 free relay ultimately deciding the state title winner. With Yorktown leading by just 12 points, the team needed to finish at least fourth in the relay to guarantee their state title. With Battlefield winning in 3:28.16, Yorktown secured 3rd, solidifying their state title despite not winning any events throughout the meet.
The Battlefield team that Yorktown was able to hold off was led by Camille Spink, who completed her perfect high school state championships career with a pair of individual gold medals. The future Tennessee Volunteer did so in dominant fashion, handily winning the 50 free by nearly a second in 22.55. That’s two-tenths slower than what she swam last season when she claimed the state title. She followed that performance with a second gold in the 100 free, touching in 48.52. She narrowly missed Torri Huske’s state record set two years ago when she touched in 48.13.
Spink also anchored both of Battlefield’s freestyle relays to exciting comeback wins. In those races, she teamed with Madison Richardson, Sophie Hayden, and Emma Hannam in the 4×50 relay (1:35.76) and Richardson, Hayden, and Alyssa Sagle in the 4×100 (3:28.16). Spink swam a 21.67 on the first relay, and her team needed every bit of that herculean effort to pull off a win by just 0.02 seconds over Justice High School. On the second relay, she entered the water almost 2.5 seconds behind the leader and closed the entire gap with an opening 50 of 22.33 to her feet. Her full split of 48.02 led her team to a convincing win.
During Spink’s high school career, she was the state champion in the 50 free on three occasions and the 100 free champion four times. She swam the 100 all four years but opted to take gold in the 200 free as a freshman instead of the 50.
On the 1-meter board, Westfield senior Amanda Stalfort repeated as the Class 6 state champion. Stalfort, who will be heading to Texas in the fall to continue her diving career, finished just shy of 500 points, recording a score of 498.80.
After taking third in the event a year ago, James Madison’s Charlotte Dixon returned for her junior year to claim gold in the 200 free. Finishing almost two seconds faster than her bronze medal time from a year ago, Dixon touched in 1:50.35 for gold. The 100 back also saw a returning junior improve upon her finish from last year, with Lexi Stephens of Cosby taking gold after finishing second last season. Stephens, who is committed to Alabama, finished in a lifetime best of 53.55.
Emma Redman of Justice also picked up her first state, winning the 200 IM. Redman was the only swimmer to dip below the 2:00 barrier, finishing in 1:59.46. That takes over two seconds off of her previous lifetime best from just two weeks prior at the VHSL Northern Region meet. Redman also swam the fly leg on Justice’s winning 200 medley relay, splitting 24.36 as the team finished in 1:45.03.
The runner-up spot in the IM went to McLean junior Catherine Hughes, who later picked up a state title in the 100 breast. The junior touched in 1:01.28 to take the gold.
Fairfax junior Sophie Scadron continued her improvement in the 100 fly, finishing over a second faster this season than she did a year ago. After posting a lifetime best of 55.72 to take 4th a year ago, Scadron touched in 54.64 for gold this year. That time marks Scadron’s first time finishing under 55.0 in the event.
Senior Virginia Tech commit Delaney Bookstein came home with the gold in the 500 free, touching in 4:53.20 in finals for a new lifetime best. Entering the meet she had only been under 4:55.0 once, touching in 4:53.55 two weeks earlier at the Regional Championships.
Team Scores
- Yorktown – 216
- Battlefield – 212
- Langley – 186
- W.T. Woodson – 151.5
- Justice / Cosby – 149
Boy’s Meet Recap
The first record of the boy’s meet came in the first event, with Herndon’s 200 medley team taking down the all-time Virginia high school state record. The team of Kim-Long Nguyen (23.36), Noah Dyer (24.83), Rian Graham (21.33), and Liam Rayson (21.22) combined for a final time of 1:30.74. That time put them just under the previous Class 6 and overall state records set by Patriot High School in 2017. That relay featured two members who went on to claim individual medals, with Dyer winning the 200 free (1:37.33) and second in the 100 free (44.66) and Graham finishing as the runner-up in both the 200 IM (1:50.74) and 100 fly (47.99).
While Dyer finished second in the 100 free, it was sophomore Josh Howat who would claim gold in record-setting time. His time of 44.06 makes him the fastest swimmer in state history in the event, surpassing the previous all-time record set by Tommy Hallock in 2017. Howat also picked up a second state title in the 50 free, winning in 20.20 to match his best time from the NCAP Invite.
100 Free Race Video, courtesy of Dave Bell:
Howat then anchored Lake Braddock’s 200 and 400 free relays to dramatic come-from-behind victories. He teamed with Charlie St. Louis, Allan Engstrom, and Josh Donovan on the 4×50 relay (1:24.37) and Engstrom, Ben Tuininga, and Donovan on the 4×100 relay (3:06.11). Howat split a 19.62 on the first relay, and in the latter race, after entering the water in 6th place (and over 2.2 seconds behind the leader), he split a blistering 43.43 to lead his team to victory.
Howat has seen rapid improvements through his first two years of high school. As a freshman, his top finish at the Class 6 State Championships was 4th in the 100 free (46.21). A year later, he finished over two seconds faster. He also dropped nearly a full second in the 50 after taking 6th in the event last season (21.01).
Joining Howat as a multiple-event winner and record-setter on the day was Nolan Dunkel of Yorktown. Dunkel started his meet off in the 100 fly where he took nearly half of a second off of the Class 6 state record to finish with a time of 47.33. The previous record was set last year by Landon Gentry. Adding to his impressive meet, Dunkel finished as the top backstroke in Class 6 for the second straight year, winning the title in 47.91. That time puts him just half of a second off of the Class 6 record set by John Shebat in 2015.
Senior Matthew Bray ran away with the diving event, finishing over 50 points clear of the field. With his win, Bray completed four straight years of making the podium at the state meet, winning three golds and taking bronze as a freshman. Bray, who has finished as high as 16th at USA Diving Junior Nationals, will be joining the University of Georgia to continue his career this fall.
Bobby DiNunzio narrowly missed the state record in his final individual swim, finishing just over a second and a half off the mark in the 500 free. A future Florida Gator, DiNunzio finished just off of his lifetime best in the race, touching in 4:24.56. Last summer, DiNunzio represented the United States in Hawaii at the 2022 Junior Pan Pac Swimming Championships. His top finish at the meet came in the 800 free where he took 5th.
Dawson Truong closed out the boys’ meet with a win in the 100 breast. After finishing as the runner-up in the 100 fly, he claimed the state title in the breaststroke with a time of 55.61.
In the team competition, Langley won the meet despite not winning any events. They put at least one swimmer/diver/relay in the A-Final of every event except two, and that balanced attack gave them a 219-184 victory over runner-up Robinson.
Team Scores
- Langley – 219
- Robinson – 184
- Yorktown – 177
- Herndon – 175
- Lake Braddock, 161
Total respect to Howat for 44.06 🙌
But Brendan Whitfield broke the All VHSL State record in the 100 free on Feb 18th swimming 42.77.
Flutter kick breaking the surface inside the flags and still goes 44.0. Looks like me from 1997 but 6 seconds faster. Pretty darn impressive.