Albemarle’s girls swim team, the defending Group 5A state champions, made quick work of the Region 5A North field Friday night with an incredible show of depth.
The Patriots got a huge boost from their relay squads that won the 200-medley relay and the 200-free relay while also placing second in the 400-free relay to cap the meet.
The Patriots got a pair of titles from Abby Wuensch and Maggie Woods, with Woods winning the 100-backstroke and Wuensch taking home the 200-freestyle relay championship. Woods also posted a runner-up finish in the 100-free (where Yan and Grace Farmar piled on with third and eighth place finishes) while Wuensch notched a seventh place swim in the 50-free behind second place Emma Lockman. Albemarle’s Grace Farmar also got through to the state meet with an eighth place finish in the sprint.
In the backstroke behind Woods, Lockman took second, Maren Weathersby took sixth and Wang grabbed ninth place to help Albemarle rack up the points.
Megan Jones finished third in the 100-breast and Beth Kelly followed her with a seventh-place clocking.
Beth Kelly placed ninth in the 200 IM, Rachel Wang was eigth in the 100-fly and Ashley Huang was 10th in the same event. In the 500-free, Madison Noga took third and Katie Pajewski took fifth.
On the 200-medley relay, Yan, Jones, Noga and Woods combined for the win while Wuensch, Farmar, Lockman and Woods teamed up for the 200-free relay. Wunesch, Noga, Lockman and Yan handled the runner-up effort in the 400-free relay.
Albemarle’s boys, who finished fourth behind, among others, champion Thomas Jefferson, got a strong performance from Hogan Harper, who took second place in the 200-IM and sixth in the 100-butterfly to help spark the Patriots. The Patriots three relay squads also notched a big night with two fourth place finishes and a 10th place slot in the 200-free. The 200-medley and 400-free relays will both advance to states.
Jack Robbins posted two nice finishes with a sixth in the sixth in the 200-free and a fifth in the 500-free.
Caleb Smith also put together a pair of state qualifying swims with a ninth place finish in the 200-free and an eighth place finish in the 500-free. Nick Pease took eighth in the 100-back and 10th in the 100-fly to grab a pair of state qualifying placements and Jeffrey Leckrone took eighth in the 100-breast to earn his way to states.
Conference 16
The Patriots’ performance at the Region 5A North meet came just a week after Albemarle swept the Conference 16 titles, with the girls beat second place Orange while the boys held off runner-up Patrick Henry Ashland. At times on the girls side, the meet must’ve looked largely like an Albemarle practice.
The Patriot girls won all three relays and every individual event title in the rout save for one, when Orange’s Caroline Marquis pulled out a win over Hannah Pajewski in a down-to-the-wire 100-yard breaststroke.
Outside of that it was all Patriots, as Jeanette Yan led a 1-2-3 finish in the 100-back, Sierra Strickler paced another 1-2-3 sweep in the 500-free, Abby Wuensch led a 1-2-3 in the 100-free and Emma Lockman coasted in the 50-free to lead another trio of Patriots. Madison Noga, Katie Pajewski and Maren Weathersby also went 1-2-3 in the 200-free.
Even in the relays multiple Albemarle girls squads scored big points with 1-2 finishes in the 200-medley, 200-free and 400-free.
Maggie Woods won the 100-fly, with Rachel Wang in second and Beth Kelly won the 200-IM, with Huang and Yan in third and fourth. Orange’s Alex Neilan finished second in that race.
Orange’s girls relay team mustered third place finishes in the 200-medley and 400-free relays behind the back-to-back AHS finishes in each event.
On the boys side, Albemarle won the title with a slew of first place finishes, including the 200-medley relay and the 400-free relay. Individually, Jeffrey Leckrone won the 100-breast, Joe Keller won the 500-free and Nick Pease won the 200-IM. The Patriots went 1-2-3 in the 500-free with Keller, Nick Ashby and Danny Jacobson combining for the sweep. Jack Hensien took second in both the 50-free and 100-free behind a pair of Patrick Henry-Ashland racers. Leckrone took second in the 200-IM behind Pease with Alex Tan of AHS taking third.
