VHSL District Championships
By: Reach for the Wall Staff
This weekend, the Virginia High School League (VHSL) swim teams begin their march to State Championships with their District showdowns. The schools in Virginia are split across 43 districts and 6 regions. In an effort to balance fair competition with athletic department budgets, the league instituted sweeping changes in 2013 in hopes of eliminating playoff games that feature two schools with vastly different enrollments. Further, the regional alignments were modified in August of 2016 to also address geographic differences and reduce the amount of travel needed for the district and regional matchups. Many swimmers used their dual meet season to achieve their times to qualify for the VHSL State Championships being held February 15-17, but those still vying for their cuts will have their opportunity at the District and Region meets. To qualify for Regions, a swimmer has to be one of the top eight finishers in the Finals heat at the District meet or achieve a Region qualifying time at any high school meet during the current season, including any heat at the District meet. At the Region meet, the fastest eight individuals/relay teams will advance to finals, and the second fastest eight swimmers/relays advance to Consolation Finals.
To advance to the State meet, a swimmer must achieve either a VHSL qualifying time (see links below) in one or more individual or relay events, or finish in the top 10 in individual events in his/her respective Regional championship (or finish in the top 8 in relay events in his/her respective Regional Championship).
Follow the links to find times to meet or beat for State Championships:
Qualifying Standards Class 5 & 6
Qualifying Standards Class 3 & 4
Qualifying Standards Class 1 & 2
The following Districts have schools in the Northern VA area:
| Concorde District | Gunston District | Liberty District | National District |
| Centreville | Annandale | Herndon | Thomas Edison |
| Chantilly | Hayfield | Langley | Falls Church |
| James Madison | Mount Vernon | McLean | Jefferson, TJST |
| Oakton | West Potomac | South Lakes | R. E. Lee |
| Westfield | T. C. Williams | Washington-Lee | George Marshall |
| Yorktown | JEB Stuart | ||
| Wakefield | |||
| Patriot District | Cardinal District | Cedar Run | Commonwealth Dist. |
| Fairfax | Charles J. Colgan | Battlefield | Brooke Point |
| Lake Braddock | Forest Park | Stonewall-M Jackson | Colonial Forge |
| James Robinson | Freedom (PW) | Osbourn | Massaponax |
| South County | Gar-Field | Osbourn Park | Mountain View |
| West Springfield | C.D. Hylton | Patriot | North Stafford |
| W. T. Woodson | Potomac | Riverbend | |
| Woodbridge | Stafford | ||
| Battlefield Dist. | Dulles District | Potomac District | Northwestern Dist. |
| Caroline | Dominion | Briar Woods | Brentsville |
| Chancellor | Heritage (LC) | Broad Run | Culpeper County |
| Courtland | Loudoun Co. | John Champe | Fauquier |
| Eastern View | Loudoun Valley | Freedom (LC) | Handley |
| King George | Park View (St) | Potomac Falls | Kettle Run |
| James Monroe | Riverside | Rock Ridge | Liberty (Beal) |
| Spotsylvania | Woodgrove | Stone Bridge | Manassas Park |
| Tuscarora | Millbrook | ||
| Bull Run District | William Monroe | ||
| Central (W) | Sherando | ||
| Clarke County | Skyline | ||
| Madison Co. | James Wood | ||
| George Mason | Warren County | ||
| Rappahannock Co. | |||
| Strasburg |
As noted in our pre-season post, many of the Region champions from 2017 came out of Northern Virginia, best of luck to all the schools competing this weekend!