Albemarle’s boys team flexed some pretty serious muscle at Friday’s Commonwealth District meet, rolling up a championship with a 127-109 finish over second place Mountain View and the Albemarle girls barely missed making it a sweep with a narrow 97-96 runner-up finish to North Stafford High.
The Patriots’ boys didn’t dominate the event titles in the win— they only managed runner-up or third place finishes in the relays—but Albemarle was a model of consistency. The lowest top-individual finisher in any event was a fourth place in the 100-back and 500-free. Every other event, an Albemarle swimmer or team placed in the top three racking up a ton of points, which paired with individual wins by Matt Lockman (100-freestyle and 50-free) and Tim Webb (100-breaststroke) gave Albemarle all the edge it needed.
Chase Robbins managed a pair of runner-up finishes and Tim Webb added a second place to his title in the breaststroke. Both Albemarle teams in the 400-free and 200-free relays also picked up runner-up honors to help secure the team score victory.
Consistent high finishes in the relays — three runner-ups — put the Albemarle girls in position to knock off North Stafford, the defending champions, but Albemarle couldn’t scrape together enough points for the upset.
Huge individual performances also helped spur the big output, with Holly Harper winning the 200-free and 100-free while sister Hannah, just a freshman, picked up runner-up spots in the 200-individual medley and 100-butterfly. Corie Morton also grabbed a third place for Albemarle in the 500-free.
Albemarle moves a slew of swimmers on to the regional meet, scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Manassas at the Freedom Center.
