Pre-season Poll: Men’s Metro Championship
By Rich House.
Reach for the Wall conducted a poll of schools that finished in the top 10 at last year’s Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships (Metro’s) to get their opinion on which teams have the firepower to finish in the top 5 and which swimmers to watch. Last Wednesday, we published the Women’s predictions, and here are the results of the coach’s poll for the Men:
- Gonzaga (3 votes)
- Georgetown Prep (2 votes)
- Churchill
- Richard Montgomery
- Bethesda – Chevy Chase (B-CC)
As with the Women, Reach for the Wall staff pored through the results from last year’s Metro’s to see which team may be best situated to return to the top 5 and who will be a factor during the season.
Gonzaga – 2016 Men’s Champion with 421 pts. Returning points 166
Top returning swimmers:
- Ryan Windus (50 & 100 Free) 33.5 pts.
- William Mudlaff (200 IM, 100 Fly) 33 pts.
- Devin McNulty (50 Free, 100 Breast) 27 pts.
Georgetown Prep – 2016 2nd place with 317 pts. Returning points 153
Top returning swimmers:
- Sam Tarter (200 & 500 Free) 48 pts.
- Andrew Omenitsch (50 & 100 Free) 45 pts.
- Jay Walton (50 & 100 free) 21 pts.
Churchill – 2016 4th place 261 pts. Returning points: 172
Top returning swimmers:
- Zachary Einhorn (200 & 100 Free) 32 pts.
- Sanjay Wijesekera (100 Fly, 100 Back) 31 pts.
- Noah Pereles (50 & 100 Free) 21 pts.
Richard Montgomery – 2016 3rd place 304 pts. Returning points: 146
Top returning swimmers:
- Kenneth Afolabi-Brown (50 free, *100 breast) 34 pts (* breast dq would have been 18 pts.)
- Matt Nguyen (50 Free, 100 Back) 27 pts.
- Jack Rose (500 Free, 100 Back) 21 pts.
- John Clado (200 IM, 500 Free) 21 pts.
B-CC – 2016 6th place 200 pts. Returning points: 91
Top returning swimmers:
- Diego Suarez Touzon (200 Free, 100 Fly) 30 pts.
- Fielding Fischer (200 IM, 500 Free) 29 pts.
- Joseph Turi (200 IM, 100 Free) 17 pts.
Rounding out the top 10 predictions, the remaining teams have an opportunity to move into the top 5 with their returning swimmers and newcomers:
Walter Johnson – 2016 5th place 237 pts. Returning points: 105
Top returning swimmers:
- Abe Kim (200 & 100 Free) 40pts.
- Timmy Ellett (200 IM, 100 Fly) 28 pts.
Wooton – 2016 7th place 168.5 pts. Returning points: 74.5
Top returning swimmers:
- Alex Li (200 & 500 Free) 41pts.
- Daniel Chen (200 Free, 100 Back) 17.5 pts.
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes – 2016 8th place 165 pts. Points returning: 50
Top returning swimmers:
- Brendy Richichi (100 Fly, 100 Breast) 18 pts.
- Andrew Revers (50 & 100 Free) 14 pts.
St. Albans – 2016 9th place 142 pts. Points returning: 72
Top returning swimmers:
- Ruslan Gabidoulline (200 & 500 Free) 26 pts.
Blake 2016 10th place 129.5 pts. Points returning: 40.5
Other Swimmers to Watch: Eli Fouts (Quince Orchard – 100 Fly, 100 Breast, 39 pts.); John McClorey (Heights – 200 & 500 Free, 39 pts.); Brandon Cu (Gaithersburg 50 Free, 100 Fly, 31 pts.); Jason Tang (Landon, 200, 500 Free, 32 pts); Nick Fitzwilliam (500 Free, 100 Breast, 28 pts.); Theodore Jagodits (Poolesville – 200 & 100 Free, 28 pts.)
Top divers: Churchill: Mory Gould, Parker Johnston, Robert Rizzo and Andrew Winer; Walter Johnson: Patrick Collishaw, Dermot O’Kelly; Quince Orchard: Joseph Canova; Richard Montgomery: Ian McBain; Northwest: Andrew Cole.
In 2016, Gonzaga was king of the relays, with a clean sweep of all three events accounting for 144 pts. Gonzaga will be hard pressed to replace their anchor Ryan Baker, who due to injury only swam the relays, but was a huge factor in them winning. Richard Montgomery and Georgetown Prep, battled for 2nd and 3rd in the 200 Medley and 200 Free Relays, with each losing an experienced senior from their squads. They will need help from their talented newcomers to fill the void.
Churchill, on the other hand, was king of the boards where they placed 4 divers in the top 11, amassing 69 of their 261 points. All of these diving points return and if Churchill can improve their relay standings from 2016 (13th, 6th and 4th), they can find themselves in the top 3.
The margin between 2nd and 4th on the Men’s side in 2016 was 50 points, so we expect it to be that close again. Since 2011, Gonzaga or Georgetown Prep has finished 1-2, but this could be the year we see a public school team break into the top 2. The last team to accomplish this was Churchill.
Let the meets begin!
Correction: We incorrectly included James Flood as a returning student at St. Albans; he has graduated. Brady Ott has transferred to Good Counsel from Blake.