2024 Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships
- February 9-10, 2024
- Boyds, MD
- SCY (25 yards)
- Meet Central
- Girls Results
- Boys Results
- Team Scores
The 2024 Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships brought together some of the fastest high school swimmers from 54 high schools around the DC metropolitan area for two days of gripping competition from Feb. 9-10. The boys’ and girls’ 1-meter diving competitions took place on Wednesday and Thursday prior to the start of racing.
Girls’ Recap
The Richard Montgomery High School’s girls’ swim and dive team made program history by clinching their first-ever Metros Championship title.
The team finished with 336 points, narrowly edging out Walter Johnson High School’s 330. Prior to this year, the highest RM had ever placed at Metros was 3rd, all the way back in 2006.
This was an unexpected victory for RM. Stone Ridge High School had won each year since 2020, only to take 9th in a major upset this year after graduating 12 seniors last season, including top point scorer Erin Gemmell.
The Metros Championship for the girls turned out to be a battle between RM and Walter Johnson High School, amping up the excitement as it came down to the very last relay.
The two teams were tied heading into the 400 free relay, only for RM’s team of Livia Venditti, Anna Mitchum, Julie Schwieters, and Sarah Eliason to race past Walter Johnson on the last few legs to take first place and secure the championship title. RM posted a 3:26.94, while Walter Johnson’s relay, made up of Healey Morgan, Isla Bartholomew, Elanor Saybolt, and Madeleine Simmons, turned in a 3:29.16.
The 200 IM also proved to be a nail-biting race between the two schools. RM senior Eliason, seeded 3rd from the morning, threw down a time of 2:02.09, dropping five seconds from prelims and dropping a new personal best. Walter Johnson junior Simmons, who had gone into the race as the top seed, touched just behind her in a time of 2:02.25, dropping two seconds from her morning time.
RM took first in the 200 free relay as well, finishing solidly ahead of the competition with a 1:34.89. Venditti, Schwieters, and Eliason were this time aided by junior Lauren Gotting.
Eliason, who is committed to Brigham Young University, proved to be a powerhouse for Richard Montgomery as she defended her championship title in the 100 fly, taking the win for the second year in a row in a time of 54.49.
Venditti was another top performer for RM; aside from racing on the three relays, she came 2nd in the 200 free (1:50.75) and 3rd in the 100 back (55.96).
Another standout swimmer of the meet was Bethesda-Chevy Chase sophomore Virginia Hinds, who picked up a win in the 100 back in 53.36, over two seconds faster than her prelims time and just half a second off her best time set earlier this season. This marks Hinds’ second Metros victory in the event; she won at the 2023 championship in a 54.79 her freshman year.
Hinds also won the 100 free, throwing down a personal best of 49.78 and touching first by nearly two seconds.
Other Event Winners
- Andrea Dworak, a junior at James Hubert Blake High School, won the 500 free (4:50.99) for the second straight year.
- Dworak also won the 200 free (1:47.14) after taking second last year.
- Wootton High senior Amy Qin touched first in the 50 free (22.79) by nearly a full second.
- Bartholomew, a junior at Walter Johnson, took home the 100 breast (1:03.42), a jump up from last year’s sixth place finish.
- Flint Hill’s Michayla Eisenberg won the Girls 1 Meter Diving with 467.55 points.
Girls Team Scores – Top 10
- Richard Montgomery High School – 336
- Walter Johnson High School – 330
- Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS – 265
- Our Lady of Good Counsel – 212
- Wootton High School – 211
- Winston Churchill Swim/Dive – 203
- The Holton-Arms School – 187
- Montgomery Blair – 154
- Stone Ridge – 150
- Walt Whitman High School – 147
Boys Recap
On the boys’ side, Winston Churchill High School predictably solidified its position as reigning champions by taking first for the third straight year. The team racked up 411 points over the weekend, giving them a significant edge over Gonzaga College High school, which took 2nd with 324 points.
The Metros Championship meet is no stranger to impressive feats of swimming, as swimmers such as Katie Ledecky, Phoebe Bacon, and Jack Conger all hold multiple meet records from their time competing here.
Records fall and are rewritten nearly every year during the competition, and this year was no exception with two new records being set.
Georgetown Day School senior Adriano Arioti broke his own meet record twice in the 200 IM, clocking 1:45.47 in the prelims before posting a time of 1:43.58 in the final to touch 1st by nearly four seconds. His time is the fastest performance by a high school male swimmer so far this season.
A Harvard commit and a member of the U.S. Junior National Team, Arioti proved to be a powerhouse throughout the meet. On top of the 200 IM, he won the 100 back in a time of 47.44 and was awarded the Frank Martin Award for Outstanding Performance.
A new meet record was also set in the 400 freestyle relay by Churchill. The relay team, consisting of Brady Begin, Samir Elkassem, Nasim Elkassem, and Kyle Wang, swam a time of 3:01.57, knocking down the previous record of 3:04.91 set by Gonzaga in 2020.
Churchill’s boys’ team continued to exhibit the dominance they had been showing in the pool for the last two years. The team swept the freestyle events, giving them a clear advantage over the other schools.
Wang was one of the top swimmers for Churchill. In addition to his relay performance, he took 1st in the 200 free (1:38.14) and third in 100 free (45.11), as well as being a part of the winning 200 freestyle relay (1:23.25).
Begin cruised to victory in the 500 free in 4:25.95, finishing nearly six seconds ahead of the runner-up. He was just behind Wang in the 200 free (1:38.58), handing the team a 1-2 finish in the event.
Teammate Nasim Elkassem demonstrated his prowess in sprinting, claiming both the 100 free (44.73) and the 50 free title (20.39).
Churchill proved less dominant in the other strokes, falling slightly lower down the rankings in comparison to their freestyle performances.
The 100 fly was won by Elliot Lee, a senior at RM and Yale commit , in a time of 48.30, only .01 off of his personal best set just that morning. Lee was something of a breakout swimmer at Metros this year; it was his first year competing at the championship meet.
Simon Bermudez took home the 100 breast for Flint Hill School, winning in 54.90 to overtake top seed Brian Wilbur, who swam a 55.17.
Georgetown Prep snuck in a win in the 200 medley relay (1:32.42), narrowly out-touching Gonzaga (1:32.53). Both teams dropped over two seconds from their morning swims and wound up flipping results; Gonzaga had placed first in prelims with Georgetown Prep seeded second behind them.
Other Event Winners
- Walt Whitman High School senior Tynan O’Donoghue won the Boys 1 Meter Diving with 529.30 points.
Boys Team Scores – Top 10
- Winston Churchill Swim/Dive – 411
- Gonzaga College High School – 324
- DeMatha Catholic High School – 254
- Walter Johnson High School – 213
- Georgetown Preparatory School – 202
- Richard Montgomery High School – 185
- Montgomery Blair – 164
- Our Lady of Good Counsel – 164
- Walt Whitman High School – 160
- Wootton High School – 137.5
