State Records Fall As Walter Johnson Sweeps MPSSAA 4A/3A Championships

2025 MPSSAA 4A/3A Swimming Championships

• February 22, 2025
• College Park, MD
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Complete Results

Walter Johnson High School swept the MPSSA 4A/3A Swimming Championships last month. The girls’ team won its title by 64 points over Montgomery Blair, while the boys triumphed with a 69.5 margin.

Walter Johnson’s Grand Day Out

The school won nine individual event titles—five on the boys’ side, four on the girls’—on the way to its overall victories. Sophomore Luc Dionne was central to the effort, winning his two individual events and factoring on both of the Walter Johnson boys’ relay wins.

Dionne won the 200 IM with a 1:50.25, then closed out the individual event slate with a 55.67 for gold in the 100 breaststroke. He swam breaststroke on Walter Johnson’s winning 200 medley relay, teaming with backstroker Owen Friedman, butterflier Noah Potter, and freestyler Ray Mukoyama for a 1:33.36 final time. Dionne and Potter also struck gold on the 400 freestyle relay, clocking 3:06.04, ending their team championship effort on a high note.

Potter improved on his silver medal-winning performance from last season in the 100 butterfly, swimming a lifetime best 48.10 for gold. He touched .24 seconds ahead of Northwood’s Quinn Marchionini (48.34).

Senior Madeleine Simmons earned the first victory of the day for the girls’ team. The Northwestern commit swam 2:02.83 to win the 200 IM, then earned silver in the 100 butterfly with a season-best 55.65. Simmons also collected two relay wins at the meet, leading off the 200 freestyle relay in 24.41 as she, Elanor Saybolt, Isla Bartholomew, and Fayth Jeffrey swam 1:38.22 for gold, out-touching Walt Whitman’s quartet by .23 seconds.

The Walter Johnson girls matched the boys’ team with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. There, Saybolt, Anne Mulkey, Jeffrey, and Simmons picked up the win at 3:30.90.

After registering third and fourth-place finishes in her individual events last year, the sophomore Saybolt got to stand atop the podium for the first time in her career. She swam a dominant race to win the 500 freestyle, clocking 5:00.87. She won by 7.18 seconds.

Record Breaking Spree

Four Maryland 4A/3A State records went down at the championships. Georgia 2026 commit Virginia Hinds was at the forefront of this effort, breaking the records she set last year in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

First, Hinds, who swims for Bethesda Chevy-Chase, swam 49.41 in the 100 freestyle, winning a close race against James Hubert Blake senior Andrea Dworak. Dworak, who’s headed to Wisconsin in the fall, hit a lifetime best of 49.49 for silver. Both swimmers were under Hinds’ former record of 49.93. Dworak picked up an event win of her own in the 200 freestyle (1:47.10).

Later, Hinds undercut her 100 backstroke record by three-hundredths with a 53.32. She’s been faster in both events, boasting lifetime bests of 49.35 and 52.87. She was also part of the winning 200 medley relay, swimming backstroke ahead of Tory Morse, Hailey Hammond, and Maia Mendizabal (1:45.29).

Double-event winners Misha Kojanov and Tyler Coapstick each broke a state record to win one of their individual events. Kojanov, a University of Chicago commit, undercut the state record in the 200 freestyle, the first individual event of the meet. He swam 1:37.85, bringing the record sub-1:38 as he bettered the 1:38.04 Everett Oehler swam in 2022. The Montgomery Blair senior’s second event win came in the 100 backstroke, where he clocked a lifetime best of 49.42.

Coapstick, a Wootton senior, swept the sprint freestyle events. He first crushed the field in the 50 freestyle; he was the only swimmer to break 21 seconds, winning with a 20.67. Next, he won the 100 freestyle, breaking another Oehler record with a 45.22. He took .18 seconds off Oehler’s former record with his swim. Last year, Coapstick was runner-up in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.

Other Event Winners

Boys’ Events

• 500 free: Charlie Begin, Winston Churchill junior, 4:28.96
• 200 free relay: Walt Whitman (Luca Kantovitz Nociti, Kyle Chen, Graham Starr, Casper Svensson), 1:25.91

Girls’ Events

• 50 free: Anna Nishnianidze, Wootton junior, 23.64
• 100 fly: Maria Webb, Magruder senior, 54.65
• 100 breast: Catherine Bu, Winston Churchill junior, 1:03.16

Final Standings

Boys’ Top 5:

1. Walter Johnson — 315
2. Walt Whitman — 245.5
3. Winston Churchill — 199
4. Wootton — 185
5. Montgomery Blair — 179.5

Girls’ Top 5:

1. 1. Walter Johnson — 298
   2. Montgomery Blair — 234
   3. Walt Whitman — 229
   4. Winston Churchill — 226
   5. Bethesda-Chevy Chase — 218