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METROS 2024 Retrospective: Churchill Boys Repeat; Richard Montgomery Girls Win Team Title

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By Rich House;
Photos by Marcus Chen; David Meisel

February 10- Boyds, MD

Fifty five schools both private and public (along with hundreds of coaches, swimmers, and spectators) from across the DMV, descended on the Germantown Swim Center Saturday morning to not only strive for personal achievements, but also garner bragging rights for their school as one of the top in the DMV! With the diving competition decided on the 7th and 8th, and prelims of both the 500 Freestyle and 400 Free Relays, Saturday was packed with morning prelims of the remaining 2 Relays and 7 Individual events. The session started off fairly typical, with the top seeded teams in the 200 Medley Relays swimming fast enough to ensure their place in the final/consolation heats of the event. The 200 Freestyle saw some of the top seeds push , with the boys defending champion Kyle Wang (Churchill) besting his winning time from last year, qualifying in 1:39.58 (AAAC) and last year’s runner-up for the girls Andrea Dworak (Blake), qualified with a 1:47.59 (AAAC), which also bested her final time from last year! The boys 200 IM heats were predictable, with the top seeded swimmers winning their heats and securing their spots in finals, until…the final heat was swum. I was positioned behind the starting area as Adriano Arioti was churning through his swim. I glanced at the clock after the 100 split and saw 49.25 and immediately thought…he’s got a chance to put together a really good swim. As he touched at the 150, the breaststroke split flashed 30.89- 1:20 overall. The swimmers and timers behind the blocks started buzzing- ‘he’s going for it …in prelims!’ Sure enough, he hit the wall 1:45.47!!! The first METRO record broken on Saturday…in the 2nd event…in prelims! The crowd exploded and a standing ovation ensued. That set the tone for the rest of the day- we were in for an exciting meet.
I was able to catch up with Adriano a bit after his IM swim and asked what inspired him to go s fast in prelims. “This is my 3rd year swimming this meet and it has always been special to me. Before I was in highschool I watched this meet from the back stairs and loved the excitement and atmosphere.” ” I go to a small private school in DC and it’s great to swim against my friends who attend public schools (in Maryland), and I am more excited to perform well.” I brought it back to his accomplishment in the IM…”I look at every swim as an opportunity to go fast” I asked where he thought he may be able to improve his swim for Finals…” I think the middle 100 has room for improvement”. I wished him good luck and he was on his way to swim the 200 Free Relay where he anchored for his team (Georgetown Day) and split a 19.80…the fastest 50 free swum by anyone for the meet.

Back to the Prelims- in the next event, the Girls 200 IM, Madeleine Simmons (Walter Johnson) qualified 1st in 2:04.35, followed by Maria Webb 9Magruder) 2:07.08 and Sarah Eliason (Richard Montgomery) 2:07.17. In the Boys 50, Jayson Ross (DeMatha) qualified 1st in 20.57, followed by Owen Watkins (Good Counsel) 20.68 and Malcolm McKenzie (Gonzaga) 20.72, all achieving AAAC times. The Girls 50 Free, the top seed Amy Qin (Wootton) was the only girl to break 23 seconds, qualifying in 22.93 an Automatic All American time (AAU). the events picked up again after a short break with the 100 Butterfly. Elliot Lee (Richard Montgomery set the standard to beat, qualifying 1st in 48.29 (AAU), Malcolm McKenzie was 2nd in 48.95 (AAAC) followed by DeMatha freshman Alexander Jungbluth 49.88 to round out the qualifiers that dipped under 50 seconds in prelims. the girls prelims were led by Sarah Eliason (Richard Montgomery) in 55.51, followed by Campbell Scofield (Wootton) in 55.91. Kyle Wang (Churchill) stepped up as the top qualifier in the boys 100 free in 45.36 (AAAC), Prep sophomore Andrew Vanas was 2nd in 45.77 and Owen Watkins 3rd in 45.89 to round out those under 46 for the morning. Virginia Hinds (B-CC) sprinted her way to the top seed in the girls 100 free with a 51.79. Healey Morgan (Walter Johnson) was 2nd in 52.10 and Gabrielle Day 3rd in 52.63. Adriano Arioti qualified 1st in the 100 Backstroke, posting another blazing prelim swim of 47.28 (AAU) followed by Finn Bacon (Gonzaga) 49.50 (AAAC), and Griffin Oehler (Georgetown Prep) 49.79 (AAAC). Virginia Hinds (B-CC) 55.75 (AAAC), Nadia Thomas (Holton-Arms) 56.19 and Livia Venditti (Richard Montgomery) 56.33. The last race of the morning- the 100 Breaststroke, featured Brian Wilbur (Sherwood) blasting a lifetime best 55.11 (AAU) to qualify 1st, followed by Simon Bermudez (Flint Hill) in 56.52 (AAAC) and Cole Hilton (Northwest) in 57.22. The girls prelims had Isla Bartholomew (Walter Johnson) take the top spot in 1:03.96, closely followed by Cameron House (Stone Ridge) 1:04.03.

Whew, that was prelims! In the team competition, it was clear that the boys from Churchill were poised to repeat as champions, but were to face a stiff challenge from Gonzaga. On the girls side, it was a toss up between Walter Johnson, Richard Montgomery and B-CC. We did a little number crunching based on the prelim results and Churchill had 22 swims returning, with only 5 that were in consolations. Gonzaga had 19 swims, with 4 in consolations. Scoring the meet based on prelim results had Churchill with 419 and Gonzaga with 370. Richard Montgomery had 20 swims returning, with 11 in consolations. Walter Johnson had 19, with 6 in consolations and B-CC has 12 with 4 in consolations. Scoring it out on prelims Walter Johnson had 345 and Richard Montgomery 344!

Finals

The session kicked off with an electric 200 Medley Relay as the boys from Georgetown Prep and Gonzaga swam side by side and stoke by stroke to the finish. Prep’s team of Max McMillan, Griffin Oehler, Andrew Vanas, and Johnnie Hughes prevailed in 1:32.42 to Gonzaga’s 1:32.53, both achieving Automatic All American times. Wootton raced to 3rd in an All American Consideration time of 1:33.43 on the strength of Tyler Coapstick’s 20.58 anchor! The girls race was equally exciting as B-CC’s sophomore phenom Virginia Hinds blasted a 24.84 leadoff. Stone Ridge clawed their way back into the race as Cameron House blazed her breaststroke leg and touched the wall at the 100 split 55.85 ahead of B-CC 56.00 and Wootton 56.34. Wootton then followed up with Campbell Scofield in Fly and Anna Nishnianidze in Free to take the title in 1:45.40- an All American Consideration time.

Boys:

  1. Georgetown Prep 1:32.42 (AAU) #40 in the country
  2. Gonzaga 1:32.53 (AAU) #45 in the country
  3. Wootton 1:33.43 (AAAC)

Girls:

  1. Wootton 1:45.40 (AAAC) #82 in the country
  2. Bethesda Chevy Chase 1:46.69
  3. Stone Ridge 1:47.15

200 Medley Relay Photos

200 Freestyle

The boys 200 Freestyle race featured some of the same competitors as in 2023- top seed Kyle Wang (Churchill- defending champion), 3rd seed Brady Begin (Churchill), as well as Mikhail Kojanov (Blair), and Andrew Vanas (Georgetown Prep). Others that swam the B-Final in 2023 that joined the top 8 are Joshua Lopez (DeMatha), and Alex Nguyen (Richard Montgomery). Newcomers to the 200 free final were Elliot Lee (Richard Montgomery- previously attended Daniel Hand High in Connecticut), Andre Brooks and Anderson Bishop from Gonzaga and Linus Ament from Rockville. Kyle Wang took the race to the field from the outset, hitting the wall 1st at each 50 of the race, taking it out in 47.13, with only Andrew Vanas claose by in 47.27. Brady Begin had closing speed and out-split the field on the final 50 (24.81), but didn’t have enough room to catch Kyle. At the final touch, Kyle hit the pad in 1:38.14, Begin 2nd in 1:38.58 and Elliot Lee 3rd in 1:38.79! Kyle and Brady achieved the Automatic All American standard, while Elliott met the Consideration time.
Andrea Dworak (Blake) made it known from the start that she wanted this victory in the 200, she was the only swimmer out under 25 in the 1st 50 and expanded her lead to over 2 seconds by the 100. She handily out-split the field in the next two 50’s and touched the wall in 1:47.14, a personal best time and Automatic All American standard!

Boys:

  1. Kyle Wang 1:38.14-AAU (Churchill) #30 in the country
  2. Brady Begin 1:38.58-AAU (Churchill) #48 in the country
  3. Elliot Lee 1:38.79-AAAC (Richard Montgomery)

Girls:

  1. Andrea Dworak 1:47.14 AAU (Blake) #10 in the country
  2. Livia Venditti 1:50.75 (Richard Montgomery)
  3. Addison Mostofi 1:53.81 (B-CC)

200 Freestyle Photos

200 IM

After the 200 freestyles, the crowd buzzed in anticipation to see what Adriano Arioti would accomplish in the IM race. He did not disappoint. As you recall he told us after his prelim swim he wanted to attack the middle 100 of this race at Finals. Well… he attacked the race, and actually made the largest improvement on his first 100, and swam the fastest 200 IM ever at the Metro meet, and the #1 time in the country– 1:43.58!

Comparison from Prelims to Finals:

Fly: 23.48 (P), 22.59 (F)
Back: 25.77 (P), 24.60 (F)
Breast: 30.89 (P), 30.78 (F)
Free: 25.33 (P), 25.61 (F)

Flint Hill’s Simon Bermudez captured 2nd place in 1:47.28 which is also an amazing swim, posting the 12th fastest IM swim in the country. Third place went to Griffin Oehler who is a Freshman at Georgetown Prep and posted a personal best 1:49.47. The top 3 swims met the Automatic All American standard. Charlie Greenwood (St. Albans) also earned All American Consideration, finishing 4th in 1:51.39
There were 3 girls in the race for the top spot, Madeleine Simmons from Walter Johnson, Sarah Eliason from Richard Montgomery and Maria Webb from Magruder. The three hit the wall after backstroke in a virtual tie. In the breaststroke leg, Sarah and Madeleine broke away and again were even at the turn. Sarah then made her move and put some distance between her and Madeleine through to the final touch where Sarah took the top spot in 2:02.09 to Madeleine’s 2:02.25, both meeting the All American Consideration standard.

Boys:

  1. Adriano Arioti 1:43.58, Metro Record, AAU (Georgetown Day) #1 in the country
  2. Simon Bermudez 1:47.28 AAU (Flint Hill) #13 in the country
  3. Griffin Oehler 1:49.67 AAU (Georgetown Prep) #49 in the country

Girls:

  1. Sarah Eliason 2:02.09 AAAC (Richard Montgomery) #48 in the country
  2. Madeleine Simmons 2:02.25 AAAC (Walter Johnson) #53 in the country
  3. Maria Webb 2:04.44 (Magruder)

200 IM Photos

50 Freestyle

The ‘splash & dash’ has always been an exciting race at this meet and this year was no different. The boys race was a toss-up between 4 swimmers from prelims: top seed Jayson Ross (DeMatha), Malcom McKenzie (Gonzaga), Owen Watkins (Good Counsel, defending champion), and Nasim Elkassem (Churchill). At the final touch it was Nasim Elkassem out of lane 7 with the win in an Automatic All American time of 20.39! Jayson Ross hit the pad in a close 2nd in 20.52 just .02 ahead of Malcom McKenzie and Own Watkins .05 behind McKenzie in 20.57, places 2-4 hitting the All American Consideration standard.
The girls race was dominated by Amy Qin (Wootton) as she had her eyes set on the meet record. As the race unfolded, the crowd rose up out of their seats and roared as she neared the wall- she hit in 22.73, just .04 shy of the meet record from 2015! Healey Morgan (Walter Johnson) and Reagan Phillips (SAES) rounded out the top 3, both under 24 seconds!

Boys:

  1. Nasim Elkassem 20.39 AAU (Churchill) #44 in the country
  2. Jayson Ross 20.50 AAAC (DeMatha) #60 in the country
  3. Malcolm McKenzie 20.52 AAAC (Gonzaga) #62 in the country

Girls:

  1. Amy Qin 22.73 AAU (Wootton) #11 in the country
  2. Healey Morgan 23.69 (Walter Johnson)
  3. Reagan Phillips 23.73 (St. Andrew’s Episcopal School)

50 Free Photos

100 Butterfly

After a short break and awards presentation (yes, awards presentation!!) the meet got back to a fever pitch with the 100 Butterfly. In the boys race, Malcom McKenzie and Elliot Lee were about a body length clear of the field at the 50, splitting 22.47 and 22.56 respectively. The next two lengths, Elliot was able to edge forward to take the win in an Automatic All American time of 48.30. Malcolm McKenzie was a close 2nd in 49.14, meeting the All American Consideration standard. The next 3 places also dipped under the 50 second mark with Evan Mackesy 49.39 and Michael Kaiser 49.52 also meeting the Consideration standard.
The girls race was decided at the final touch, with three swimmers finishing within .3 tenths of each other. Clara Moschella hit the 50 first, followed by Maria Webb and Sarah Eliason 25.56, 25.69, 25.79…at the final touch it was Sarah that got her hands to the pad first, winning in 54.49, Clara 2nd in 54.68 and Maria 3rd in 54.84, all achieving the All American Consideration standard. In 4th place, Campbell Scofield also met the standard in 55.23!

Boys:

  1. Elliot Lee 48.30 AAU (Richard Montgomery) #29 in the country
  2. Malcolm McKenzie 49.14 AAAC (Gonzaga) #62 in the country
  3. Evan Mackesy 49.39 AAAC (Magruder) #96 in the country

Girls:

  1. Sarah Eliason 54.49 AAAC (Richard Montgomery) #46 in the country
  2. Clara Moschella 54.68 AAAC (Georgetown Visitation) #59 in the country
  3. Maria Webb 54.84 AAAC (Magruder) #74 in the country

100 Butterfly Photos

100 Freestyle

Nasim Elkassem did it again! Swimming from an outside lane, Nasim got his hand to the wall 1st to take the 100 Freestyle crown in 44.73, the only swimmer to go under 45 seconds in the race. Andrew Vanas (Georgetown Prep) captured 2nd and Kyle Wang was 3rd. Owen Watkins placed 4th also meeting the All American Consideration standard, finishing in 45.45.
Sophomore Virginia Hinds left no doubt from the start that she wanted this race and at the first 50 had a full second lead on the field, splitting 23.69. She brought it home in 26.09, again well ahead of the field to grab the title in an Automatic All American time of 49.78

Boys:

  1. Nasim Elkassem 44.73 AAU (Churchill) #46 in the country
  2. Andrew Vanas 45.06 AAAC (Georgetown Prep) #64 in the country
  3. Kyle Wang 45.11 AAAC (Churchill) #66 in the country

Girls:

  1. Virginia Hinds 49.78 AAU (B-CC) #32 in the country
  2. Gabrielle Day 51.64 (Bullis)
  3. Healey Morgan 51.81 (Walter Johnson)

100 Freestyle Photos

500 Freestyle

The 500 traditionally has swimmers that also compete in the 200 and this year it wasn’t any different. Four of the 10 finalists in both the boys and girls races swam in the 200 final. In the boys 500 final, Evan Mackesy, fresh off his 3rd place finish in the 100 butterfly, took the race out well ahead of the field, flipping at the 200 in 1:44.45. At the 250 turn Brady Begin started to chip away at Evan’s lead. With each ensuing 50, Begin closed the gap until the 350 mark where he turned .05 ahead of Mackesy. Begin continued to outsplit the field and ended the race with 5+ second gap, winning in 4:25.95! Mackesy held off the hard charging Joshua Lopez from DeMatha, both meeting the All American Consideration standard.
Andrea Dworak qualified almost 10 seconds ahead of her closest competitor and as the race unfolded, quickly opened an unsurmountable lead. At the 200 she was 6 seconds clear of the field and continued to click off 29’s and low 30’s, the only race she had was to better her time from prelims, which she was just a bit off as she touched 1st in an Automatic All American time of 4:50.99.

Boys:

  1. Brady Begin 4:25.95 AAAU (Churchill) #23 in the country
  2. Evan Mackesy 4:31.22 AAAC (Magruder) #66 in the country
  3. Joshua Lopez 4:31.67 AAAC (DeMatha) #40 in the country (from WMPSSDL Champs)

Girls:

  1. Andrea Dworak 4:50.99 AAU Prelims she was 4:48.37 AAU (Blake) #10 in the country
  2. Campbell Scofield 4:59.29 Prelims she was 4:57.91 AAAC (Wootton)
  3. Kellie Kincaid 5:02.01 (Good Counsel)

500 Freestyle Photos

200 Freestyle Relay

Churchill vaulted to the top spot in this event due to a Gonzaga disqualification and was the only team that met the Automatic All American standard. the team comprised of Michael Kaiser, Kyle Wang, Samir Elkassem and Nasim Elkassem finished in 1:23.25. The battle for 2nd and 3rd was betweem Richard Montgomery and DeMatha. Richard Montgomery had a slight lead at the 150 transition, but Jayson Ross hit the water to anchor DeMatha, splitting a 20.58 to out-touch Richard Montgomery 1:26.27 to 1:26.37!
The girls race featured a back and forth battle between Richard Montgomery, Wootton, and Walter Johnson. Wootton had a commanding lead at the 100 after Amy Qin smoked a 21.77 split. Walter Johnson was 2nd and Richard Montgomery close behind in 3rd. After the 150 exchange Wootton still maintained a slight margin, with Richard Montgomery now in 2nd and Walter Johnson 3rd. Sarah Eliason hit the water to anchor for Richard Montgomery and sealed the win, splitting 22.89! This win by Richard Montgomery squad of Livia Venditti, Lauren Gotting, Julia Schwieters, and Sarah Eliason was critical to the team standings as they were clawing their way to the title, only 10 points down to Walter Johnson.

Boys:

  1. Churchill 1:23.25 (AAU) #10 in the country
  2. DeMatha 1:26.27
  3. Richard Montgomery 1:26.37

Girls:

  1. Richard Montgomery 1:34.89 (AAU) #35 in the country
  2. Wootton 1:36.51 (AAAC) #85 in the country
  3. Walter Johnson 1:36.79 (AAAC) #97 in the country

200 Free Relay Photos:

100 Backstroke

Adriano Arioti took to the pool for one last swim in his Metro career and concluded with a win. As with his 200 IM, Arioti was 1st to the wall after the 50, well ahead of the field. This wasn’t a race where he would be in jeopardy of losing, it was ‘how fast will he go’? Ultimately he was bit off his best time, touching the wall in 47.44 (AAU), but was still a full second ahead of 2nd place finisher Griffin Oehler who did post a best time 48.85, also an Automatic All American standard. 3rd place went to Finn Bacon as he touched the wall in 50.02 an AAAC standard!
Virginia Hinds continued her romp through the meet as she took out the 100 back 1.5 seconds faster than the field on her way to a All American standard of 53.36. Nadia Thomas sped to 2nd in 55.44 an AAAC standard and Livia Venditti captured 3rd, garnering key points in the team race. In the backstroke race, Richard Montgomery outscored Walter Johnson 31-9.

Boys:

  1. Adriano Arioti 47.44 AAU (Georgetown Day) #8 in the country
  2. Griffin Oehler 48.85 AAU (Georgetown Prep) #37 in the country
  3. Finn Bacon 50.02 AAAC (Gonzaga)

Girls:

  1. Virginia Hinds 53.36 AAU (B-CC) #14 in the country
  2. Nadia Thomas 55.44 AAAC (Holton-Arms) #94 in the country
  3. Livia Venditti 55.96 (Richard Montgomery)

100 Backstroke Photos:

100 Breaststroke

Brian Wilbur (Sherwood) came into the race after swimming his best time in prelims (55.11) and was poised to go even lower, Simon Bermudez (Flint Hill) was the 2nd seed, and had recently gone under 55 in a meet in December. At the 50, Bermudez hit the wall first, splitting 26.03 to Wilbur 26.25 and St. Albans’ Charlie Greenwood 26.57. The race remained close through the 75 and Bermudez was able to pull away the last 25, touching 1st in 54.90. Wilbur was 2nd in 55.17, just off his best time, but still good for an All American standard. Finishing in 3rd was Charlie Greenwood with a 57.00.
The girls race featured Isla Bartholomew (Walter Johnson) and Cameron House (Stone Ridge) who posted qualifying times only .07 apart. In the final, Isla was 1st to the wall at the 50 29.85 to House’s 29.98. Isla was able to put the race away with her strong 2nd 50 and won in 1:03.42, which was a personal best and under the AAAC standard! House finished 2nd in 1:04.17, narrowly holding off the hard charging Viona Sunjaya (Damascus) who touched in 1:04.21.

Boys:

  1. Simon Bermudez 54.90-AAU (Flint Hill) #26 in the country
  2. Brian Wilbur 55.17-AAU (Sherwood) #32 in the country
  3. Charlie Greenwood 57.00 (St. Albans)

Girls:

  1. Isla Bartholomew 1:03.42-AAAC (Walter Johnson) #90 in the country
  2. Cameron House 1:04.17 (Stone Ridge)
  3. Viona Sunjaya 1:04.21 (Damascus)

100 Breaststroke photos

400 Freestyle Relay

Prior to the relays, there was a 10 minute break to distribute awards and announce the team scores. At this point, Churchill boys, were well ahead in the team standings, however in the girls team race, Richard Montgomery and Walter Johnson were announced having a tie score- 288 points each! For one last event, the whole facility was on their feet…and loud! The boys relay result had no impact on how schools would place in the top 3 of the team standings, so this was more or less a race for pride. Churchill jumped to the lead. By the 300 exchange, they had a 3-second lead on DeMatha, who in turn had a 2-second lead on Gonzaga, Blair, and Richard Montgomery. Kyle Wang hit the water for Churchill with the goal of setting a meet record by going under 3:02.85. He was set up well by his teammates, notably Nasim Elkassem who split a 44.38 on the 3rd leg, with a cumulative time of 2:16.79- Kyle needed better than 46.06 to get the record. Kyle delivered a stellar final leg, splitting 44.78 and establishing a new meet record!
The girls race was off with Healey Morgan leading the way for Walter Johnson and Livia Venditti for Richard Montgomery, while Virginia Hinds swam leadoff for B-CC. Hinds was to the exchange first in 50.61 Venditti was next in 51.45 and Healey Morgan was right behind in 51.68. At the conclusion of the 2nd leg, Walter Johnson held the lead by .39 over B-CC and .63 over Richard Montgomery, still anyone’s race at this point. Julie Schwieters (Richard Montgomery) was first to make a major move in the race. She split 51.93 to give her team a .87 lead over Walter Johnson and 1.36 lead over B-CC. Sarah Eliason was no match for the rest of the field as she anchored the Richard Montgomery team to a victory in the race and team championship- she split 50.34, which was the fastest swim of anyone (in any leg) of all the relays!

Boys:

  1. Churchill 3:01.57 Meet Record AAU #7 in the country
  2. DeMatha 3:06.89 AAAC #65 in the country
  3. Gonzaga 3:09.25

Girls:

  1. Richard Montgomery 3:26.94 AAU #25 in the country
  2. Walter Johnson 3:29.16 AAAC #69 in the country
  3. B-CC 3:33.17

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