Albemarle’s boys and girls swim teams both finished just a spot removed from Northwest Region titles.
They made sure that wasn’t the case in 2013 with decisive performances at the region meet, with both squads picking up Northwest championship victories by at least 30 points.
The Albemarle girls held off second place Osbourn Park with 292 points to Osbourn’s 262 while the boys squad scored 332 points to out-swim Osbourn Park’s boys group who scored 296 points.
Matt Lockman’s double individual titles in the 100-freestyle and 50-free ignited the Patriots. They were Lockman’s third straight individual titles in those events. Andrew Williamson broke the school record in the 100-breaststroke and won the region title in the event for the second year in a row. That ended up being a huge race for the Patriots as Sean Telford rolled to a third-place finish while Colin Hensien snagged the fifth place points and advanced to the Group AAA meet.
The Patriots’ depth came up big in several other events too. Hogan Harper, Sean Telford and Jack Robbins combined for 36 points in the 200-IM, taking fifth, sixth and ninth respectively. Robbins, Reece Echelberger and Jacob Lescault rung up 28 points in the 400-free with a strong outing
In the relays, the Patriots’ boys won the 200 freestyle relay, took third in the 400 freestyle and fourth in the 200 medley relay.
The girls’ kicked off the meet with a second place in the 200 medley relay that set a new school record, breaking the oldest standing mark at Albemarle. The record-breaking didn’t stop there for Morton as she broke the next oldest school record with her second-place finish in the 500 freestyle. Hannah Harper got in on the record-breaking action by besting her own school records in the 200-IM and the 100-butterfly. She grabbed second in the 200-IM and won the 100-fly with an All-American consideration time.
Emma Lockman took sixth in the 200-IM while Jeanette Yan took fifth in the 100-butterfly. Lockman and Yan combined for 29 points in the 100-backstroke with back-to-back fourth and fifth points.
With a solid show of depth, the Patriot girls also placed second in the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay.
A pack of Albemarle swimmers move on to next week’s Group AAA meet. They’ll be joined by Orange County’s Alex Montes de Oca, who rolled to a win in the 200-IM and the 100-backstroke as one of the meet’s top scorers. He led the Hornets to a third-place spot in the 200-medley relay and a sixth in the 400-freestyle. Orange’s Ryan Hofman also had a strong meet, swimming on the third place 200-medley team while also placing second in the 100-butterfly. Orange’s John Marquis took seventh in the 100-breaststroke. The Orange boys finished a solid fifth in the meet team standings. The Hornets’ Larissa Neilan took fifth in the girls 100-breaststroke.rr
