The Yorktown swim and dive team traveled to Washington-Lee on Friday for the final dual meet of the season. The meet between undefeated National District and county rivals concluded with everyone having something to cheer about. The Yorktown boys fell behind early, but fought back in the second half of the meet only to lose a close meet by a 168-147 score. The girls dominated and beat the Generals 241-74. The boys concluded the dual meet season with a 6-1 record and the girls remained undefeated at 7-0.
While the boys won only two events, they picked up many valuable points with second-, third-, and fourth-place finishes. The Generals started fast and built a 25-point lead by the midpoint of the meet. Led by a victory in the 100 freestyle by Connor Healy and a 1-2 finish in the 500 free by Max Fish and Will Tarkenton, the Patriots cut the deficit in half. Second-place finishes in the 100 back by Matthew Essig and the 100 breaststroke by Greg Crosswell, combined with several others finishing in the top six, allowed Yorktown to be only nine points down going into the final event. W-L took first and second in the final relay to secure the victory. Other second-place finishers for Yorktown included Essig (200 IM), Healy (50 free) and Angus Moloney (diving). Third-place finishes were registered by Carson Barry (diving), Collin Condron (100 fly), Scott Liddell (100 free), Tarkenton (100 back), and Fish (100 breast). The 200 Medley Relay team of Jimmy Linek, Crosswell, Essig, and Healy finished second with a Region-qualifying time. Essig also secured a Region-qualifying time in the 200 IM.
The Yorktown girls won 11 events and had seven sweeps (top four places) in a dominating performance. The sweeps occurred in the 200 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 fly, 100 free, 500 free, and 100 back. Stephanie Romano was a double winner (200 free, 500 free). The other event winners were Abigail Young (200 IM), Ann Carpenter (50 free), Kaitlin Wolla (100 fly), Lydia Carpenter (100 free), Angela Slevin (100 back), and Abigail Ortmayer (100 breast). First place relays – 200 Medley Relay (Slevin, Ortmayer, Wolla, Carly Hinkle), 200 Free Relay (Hinkle, Wolla, Lydia Carpenter, Ann Carpenter), and the 400 Free Relay (Romano, Kerry Sutherland, Carla Vazquez-Ramos, Katie Gentsch). The winning 200 Medley relay achieved a State-qualifying time, as did Wolla in the 100 fly. Region-qualifying times were achieved by Romano (200 free and 500 free), Amanda Didawick (100 fly), Molly Merkel (500 free), Slevin (100 back), Abigail Young (100 back), and the 200 Free Relay.
The Patriots return to W-L next weekend for the National District meet. The girls will be looking to keep their perfect record intact as they have won every District meet since the National District was formed. The boys will be swimming for their first title since 2007. They have finished first or second the past eight years with three titles.