Albemarle’s boys swim team was down 2.5 points going into the break of Saturday’s Commonwealth District meet.
But there was no reason to panic. The Patriots just wanted to make sure they were close because rival Mountain View’s first few events were strong.
Albemarle turned up the pressure after the break and built an insurmountable lead even before the final relay entered the water. The Patriots took second in the 400-freestyle relay to cap a 126.5 to 110 win over Mountain View giving Albemarle its seventh district title in a row.
Orange County took an impressive third in the Hornets’ first year of competition at the Group AAA level.
Matt Lockman put together an incredible day with a state meet—qualifying time in the 50-free to win that race by more than a full second. He didn’t miss a beat when the distance extended to 100 in the freestyle either, rolling by more than two seconds to another victory. Lockman also anchored the title winning team in the 200-freestyle relay, handing him three district event titles on the day.
His effort in the 50-free headlined a strong event for Albemarle as Collin Hensien and Sean McPhillips took fourth and sixth in the event.
The Patriots strung together dominant point performances in two other events, with Lockma, Hensien and Matthew Porter going one, five, seven in the 100-free while Jacob Lescault and Reece Echelberger took second and third in the 500-freestyle. The Lescault and Echelberger tandem already had a third and sixth place finish in the 200-freestyle earlier in the day.
Andrew Williamson had an incredible individual day too, opening the day on the third place medley relay squad, then taking a sixth in the 200-IM before picking up a district event title with a solid run in the 100-breaststroke. Robbie Robison picked up key points on two relay teams and with a fifth in the 100-butterfly and a fourth in the 100-breaststroke.
On the Orange side, Justin Barden and Alex Montes de Oca, as usual, provided a lot of the highlights that led to the Hornets’ third-place finish.
A team of Barden, Montes de Oca, John Marquis and Ryan Hofmann placed second in the 200-medley relay to open the day and Montes de Oca won the 200-IM by nearly seven seconds in a dominant race. His 1:58.73 time qualified him for the Group AAA meet.
Barden placed second in the 200-freestyle immediately after racing in the first relay. He also swam a leg of the 200-freestyle relay for the Hornets that finished in second just behind the Albemarle squad. He pulled another quick turnaround in the next event, the 100-backstroke and this time won it to wrap up his strong day.
Ryan Hofmann also got in on the event-champion act by winning the 100-butterfly with a key performance for the Hornets. Hofmann was also on the runnerup 200-medley and 200-freestyle relay squads.
Northwest Region qualifiers will move on to the Northwest Region meet Friday at George Mason’s Freedom Center in Fairfax.
