The swimmers from Maggie Walker Governor’s School in Richmond won all except one relay en route to winning both the boys and girls at the Virginia 2A state championship meet last week at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center.
The Maggie Walker boys kicked off the meet with an exciting win in the medley relay, beating George Mason 1:42.34 to 1:42.39. Individually, they were led by senior Nicholas McClure, who won the 200 IM (1:58.93) and 100 fly (52.46). The Maggie Walker boys also set a new meet record in the 200 free relay (1:31.49), before wrapping up their victory with a 2nd place finish in the 400 free relay, which was won by the George Mason High School boys in 3:18.80.
George Mason kept it close throughout the meet. Senior Justin Britton set a new meet record in the 50 free (21.12) and also picked up a win in the 100 back (52.04). Sophomore Adam Jainicki closed out the boys individual events with a win in the 100 breast (1:03.08).
Bruton High School juniors Evan Lynch and John Morrow rounded out the individual event winners. Lynch set a new meet record in the 200 free (1:46.02), then rounded out the sweep of the distance events with a 4:53.38 in the 500 free. Morrow took the 100 free in 48.30, as Bruton finished 4th, behind Maggie Walker, George Mason, and Clarke County High School.
On the girls side, Maggie Walker capitalized on team depth, sweeping all three relays and winning by 180 points despite not having any individual events championships.
Two girls came away with double victories during the meet. Union High School’s Ashley Cusano set a pair of meet records. She touched in 57.18 in the 100 fly, and 56.76 in the 100 back; the latter mark lowered the existing record by over four seconds. Central Woodstock’s Ashley Funkhouser swept the sprint freestylers, recording times of 24.60 in the 50 free and 54.28 in the 100 free, the latter a new meet record.
Other individual event winners including Claudia Gohn of Madison County in the 200 free (1:59.76), Glenvar senior Cassie Wheeler with a 1:11.14 100 breast, Glenvar junior Madilyn Wheeler with a 2:14.63 200 IM, and Bruton senior Jenny Schuster with a 5:30.77 500 free.
Note: the Virginia High School League (VHSL), which consists almost entirely of public schools, runs five different state meets, for divisions 2A (smaller schools) to 6A (largest schools). Additionally, most of the state’s private schools compete as part of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA), which runs its own meet. We’ll be recapping all six of those meets here.
