Washington Metro Championships (METROS) 2022
By Reach for the Wall Staff
The Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championship (METROS) is back! We’re going to try to keep a running post of results as things unfold. Since there are no spectators allowed, we’ll be following the live stream: MoCoRec YouTube channel as well as on Meet Mobile :2022 METRO Championships, along with posting any photos/media sent to us from the volunteers who managed to get a spot on deck.
The Meet Website also has some good information on the overall timelines.
Finals Meet Program:
Saturday Prelims
The meet opened up this morning to crescendo of cheers from the attending schools and coaches as the pool was cleared for the first event. The Boys 200 Medley Relay kicked off with many teams besting their seed times and Gonzaga (JT Ewing, Collin McKenzie, Mac Marsh and Aiden Bond) setting a new METRO record in a blistering 1:31.76!! In the girls heats, Stone Ridge set the top time of 1:45.54, while Wootton, Walter Johnson, and Whitman all touched in 1:48. It will be a close race tonight and likely will set the tone for the rest of the meet.
In the 200 freestyle, expect to see a tight race for places 1-4 for the Boys as they are bunched pretty close together from 1:41.9 through 6th seed at 1:42.9. In the Girls race, Erin Gemmell swam an uncontested 1:45.52 to lead the qualifiers, however Madison Smith, Maren Conze, and Lauren West all have potential to dip under the 1:50 mark to lay claim to 2nd-4th.
The Boys 200 IM top seed is Collin McKenzie (Gonzaga) 1:50.45, closely followed by Toby Barnett (Rockville), Zak Owen (Whitman) and Adriano Arioti (Georgetown Day). Each of these swimmers have been under 1:50 in their Club season, so it will be interesting to see how many will go under for the final. Sophie Duncan (Holton Arms) has a comfortable margin between her qualifying time of 2:00.32 and 2nd seed Sienna Karp at 2:06.41. Sienna swam a 2:01 in December and could get there tonight to make it an interesting race.
The Boys 50 Freestyle prelims held pretty close to the psych sheet, where all 4 of Gonzaga’s entries finished in the top 10, with Mac Marsh leading the way in 20.69. Owen Watkins (Good Counsel) was the only other swimmer under 21 as he has the 2nd seed at 20.92. Amy Qin (Wootton) held her top seed with a 23.27, Nina Allen (BCC) was 2nd in 23.50, Healy Morgan (WJ) 3rd 24.02, and Ainsley Taylor(QO) 4th 24.04. This should be a fun race tonight to see if anyone else can get under 24 in the quest for a top 5 finish.
Adriano Arioti led the way in the Boys 100 Butterfly with a 49.45, closely followed by Kris Lawson (Whitman) 49.61. Everett Oehler (Richard Montgomery) and JT Ewing (Gonzaga) have also cracked the 50 second barrier in the Club season and expect to be in the hunt tonight. Eleanor Sun (Stone Ridge) set the top time in the Girls 100 fly and it will likely be a 3 girl race for the podium with Carly Sebring (Damascus) and Sophie Duncan (Holton Arms).
In the Boys 100 free, Gonzaga again placed their 4 swimmers in the top 8. Mac Marsh led the way in 45.45, with his teammates Jack Maloney 2nd in 46.13 and Aiden bond 4th in 46.23. Zak Owen (Whitman), Nicholas Arndt (Georgetown Prep) and Kyle Wang( Churchill) also have a shot at getting under 46 tonight. Erin Gemmell again set herself apart from the field in the Girls race, touching 1st in 49.07. Lauren West (Einstein) was 2nd in 51.00 and Amy Qin 3rd in 51.01. The METRO record of 48.75 could be in jeopardy tonight…
Whitman took the top seed in the Boys 200 Free Relay, closely followed by Gonzaga and will likely be one of these two to take the title tonight. Wootton has the top seed for the Girls in 1:36.93, almost 2 seconds clear of the field. However, Holton Arms has swum a 1:36 in two meets prior, so they should be there tonight to challenge for the title.
Blake Conway (Whitman) had a strong prelims swim to take the top seed in the Boys 100 Back in 50.42, the next three seeds are tightly grouped at 51.3, 51.7, 51.9.
Carly Sebring (Damascus) posted the fastest 100 back in 55.48 wit Victoria Svensson in 2nd 56.59 and Eleanor Sun 56.76. Should be a tight finish for the top 3 places.
The Boys 100 Breaststroke top seed Jordan Kelly (Wootton) 56.16 will have his hands full tonight as each of the remaining swimmers in the top 6 have all gone under 56 in this race at some point this year. This may be the closest race of the night across the field. The Girls 100 breast top seed Sienna Karp (Walter Johnson) set the mark at 1:03.28, closely followed by her Walter Johnson teammate Hannah Bingley in 1:03.51. Stone Ridge has two in the top 5 with Cameron House and Caitlin Hofmann, while Holton Arms Joyce Wu qualified 4th.
In the overall team standings, we think it will be a back and forth meet between Stone Ridge and Holton Arms, where the 400 Free Relay may be the clincher for either team. On the Boys side it looks as though Gonzaga is poised to repeat as champion, but you have to swim the races first!
Good luck everyone!
Friday Night Prelims- 500 Free and 400 Free Relays
The prelim session Friday night started off with the Boys 500 Freestyle. Matheus Feltrin (Magruder) set the pace early out lane 8 in Heat 2, besting his seed time by over 22 seconds, posting a 4:49.70 (a personal best), which ultimately garnered him a spot in tomorrow’s consolation final in 18th place. In the next heat, Evan MacKesey (Magruder) also swimming out of lane 8 must have felt the ‘magic’ , and crushed the heat, touching the wall in 4:40.67 (personal best by 3 seconds), good enough to qualify for 8th for the final heat tomorrow. Heat 4 was the first of the ‘circle seeded’ heats for the event & the race was between Lane 4 Miles Haraldsson (BCC) and Lane 7, Theodore Ament (Rockville). Sticking to the theme of the night, Miles crushed his seed time and posted a personal best 4:35.87, which was the time to beat going into the last two heats. Theodore Ament hit the wall in 4:37. 57 while just off his personal best, is good for 6th overall leading into tomorrow’s final. Heat 5 was a three person race from the outset with Churchill teammates Brady Begin and Samir Elkassem dueling with Jacob Lowrey (Northwest). Brady put some distance between the other two swimmers at the 250 mark and never relented. He touched the wall in 4:33.39 to post the top time leading into finals. Lowrey finished 2nd in the heat in 4:36.42 (4th for finals), and Elkassem 3rd in 4:37.25 (5th for finals). The last heat of the prelim session featured the top seed Sean Santos (Good Counsel) and Xavier Orlic (Maret) going stroke for stroke through 275 yards. Sean broke away and hit the wall in 4:34.78, the 2nd fastest time of the night. Orlic touched 2nd in the heat in 4:39.27, qualifying 7th for finals.
Top 20 qualifying for Finals:
| Name | School | Time |
| Brady Begin | Churchill | 4:33.39 |
| Sean Santos | Good Counsel | 4:34.78 |
| Miles Haraldsson | BCC | 4:35.87 |
| Jacob Lowrey | Northwest | 4:36.42 |
| Samir Elkassem | Churchill | 4:37.25 |
| Theodore Ament | Rockville | 4:37.57 |
| Xavier Orlic | Maret | 4:39.27 |
| Evan MacKesy | Magruder | 4:40.67 |
| Alex Nguyen | Richard Montgomery | 4:41.47 |
| Orluke Borjigin | Poolesville | 4:42.00 |
| David Yune | Wootton | 4:42.20 |
| Charlie Greenwood | St. Albans | 4:47.70 |
| Aydin Erkan | Wootton | 4:46.48 |
| William Sheeran | Poolesville | 4:46.56 |
| Palmer Bice | Gonzaga | 4:46.81 |
| Nikita Bityutskiy | Blair | 4:49.13 |
| Caelan Fulton | Walter Johnson | 4:49.50 |
| Matheus Feltrin | Magruder | 4:49.70 |
| Brandon Hebert | Damascus | 4:49.87 |
| Mikhail Kojonov | Blair | 4:50.18 |
The Girls 500 Freestyle started to get speedy during the 3rd heat (first of the circle seeds) where Ella Myers (Holton Arms), Lauren Tucker (Stone Ridge) and Caitlin Hofmann (Stone Ridge) were clear of the field for the duration of the race. Myers kept about a body length lead throughout the race and touched first in 4:56.44 (3rd best overall), Lauren was 2nd in 4:58.42 (4th best overall) and Caitlin 3rd in 5:05.21 (6th best overall. In the next heat, Madison Smith (Good Counsel) commanded the lead from the outset and posted the top time of the night touching in 4:51.64. Rin Iimi (Holton Arms) touched 2nd in the heat in 5:05.21, qualifying 5th for finals and Adriana Caponiti (Sherwood) finished 3rd in 5:05.95, good enough to qualify 8th for finals. The final heat of the night featured top seed Maren Conze (Walter Johnson), Emma Flickinger (Holy Child), Kate Hallmark (BCC) and Delia Fritz (Holy Cross). Maren swam an unpressured race as she was 3 seconds clear of the field by the 200 yard turn. The race was tight for 2nd-4th As Emma Flickinger hit the wall in 5:05.86, Kate Hallmark in 5:06.56 and Delia Fritz in 5:06.63. All four girls qualified for the final heat tomorrow!
Top 20 qualifying for finals:
| Name | School | Time |
| Madison Smith | Good Counsel | 4:51.64 |
| Maren Conze | Walter Johnson | 4:55.57 |
| Ella Myers | Holton Arms | 4:56.44 |
| Lauren Tucker | Stone Ridge | 4:58.42 |
| Rin Iimi | Holton Arms | 5:05.05 |
| Caitlin Hofmann | Stone Ridge | 5:05.21 |
| Emma Flickinger | Holy Child | 5:05.86 |
| Adrianna Caponiti | Sherwood | 5:05.95 |
| Kate Hallmark | BCC | 5:06.56 |
| Delia Fritz | Holy Cross | 5:06.63 |
| Riley Langdon | St. John’s | 5:06.78 |
| Madeleine Simmons | Walter Johnson | 5:07.55 |
| Elena Baird | Richard Montgomery | 5:08.71 |
| Katherine Blake | Richard Montgomery | 5:10.12 |
| Sophie Elliott | Poolesville | 5:10.48 |
| Natalie Garre | National Cathedral | 5:12.59 |
| Clara Hinds | BCC | 5:13.14 |
| Lauren Connelly | Stone Ridge | 5:14.78 |
| Natalie Webb | Magruder | 5:15.84 |
| Kristina Fleck | Whitman | 5:16.36 |
The night concluded with the 400 Freestyle Relays and in the Boys preliminaries, the teams that qualified for finals were not surprising. Churchill posted the fastest qualifying relay with a 3:07.36, a bit faster than their seed time. The big surprise is how close Gonzaga came to not making the top 10. Fortunately for Gonzaga their anchor Jack Maloney swam a swift 45.60 anchor leg to conclude their relay in a time just 3-tenths faster than Good Counsel for the 10th spot. Saturday night will see a vastly different lineup for Gonzaga and it should be a good race with Churchill to end the meet. In the Girls heats, Stone Ridge posted the top time 3:28.30 on the strength of Erin Gemmell’s anchor leg of 48.98 (the only swimmer to split under 50 on any team). Walter Johnson qualified 2nd and Holton Arms 3rd. This will likely be a deciding relay at the end of the girls meet as the team race between Stone Ridge, Holton Arms and Walter Johnson looks to be extremely close!
Thursday Night Girls Diving:
41 girls representing 23 different schools entered the competition. Going into the meet, Haley Marshall (Good Counsel) Michelle Mazzara (Stone Ridge), Michayla Eisenberg (Flint Hill), Celia Bidwell (Seneca Valley), Shannon Parrau (Seneca Valley), Callie Borda (Rockville) and Lilia Atanda (Sherwood) were all poised to go after the top spots after great showings in recent Championship meets. In the preliminary round (5 dives), Michelle (216.10) took the early lead over Haley (213.50), followed by Celia and Michayla. In the semi-final round (3 dives), Haley scored a 48.40 on her 8th dive (Forward 1 1/2 Somersault 1 Twist Free) and built a 10-point cushion on Michelle. Celia and Michayla maintained their positions in 3rd and 4th with approximately 7 points separating the two. The final round was as exciting as it gets as Haley and Michelle were locked in a virtual tie going into the last dive:
Haley pulled off a great score on her final dive and ended up on top by 8.2 points! This is a repeat win for Haley as she was the defending Metro Champion from 2020- Congratulations.
Here’s the top 20 finishers:
After Diving the Girls Team Standings:
Seneca Valley 35, Good Counsel 26, Whitman 24, Stone Ridge, 21, Flint Hill 19, St. Stephens/St. Agnes 18, Sherwood 17, Rockville 16, Blair 14, Churchill 12, BCC 9, Einstein 6, Walter Johnson 5
Wednesday Night Boys Diving:
The meet started yesterday with the Boy’s diving competition, and according to the Psych sheet there were 35 divers entered for the meet. Three rounds were held, 5 dives for preliminaries, 3 for semi finals and 3 for finals. Through the first two rounds, Finn Gelbach (The Heights) held a slim lead over Max Weinriech (Sherwood) while Aidan Wang (Wootton), Charles Berman (Churchill) and Ethan Badrian (Blake) rounded out the top 5.
Max excelled on the final 3 dives and pulled away from Finn to take the top spot. Note: Finn and Max finished 2nd & 3rd in 2020, separated by 5 pts., and in 2019 Max won. Congratulations to Max on his 2nd win at this event!:
Here’s top 20 divers and scores for the Boys meet (Thanks to DiveMeets for posting results and links to Diver bios):
After the diving the Boys Team standings:
Churchill 51, Whitman 36 Sherwood 24, Heights 21, Blake 20, Wootton 18, Flint Hill 16, Walter Johnson 16 BCC 15, Einstein 7, Northwood 4, St. John’s 3, Blair 2