Depth, versatility and more depth led the way for Albemarle’s girls swim team in the 5A championships in Richmond last Saturday.
Without a single individual champion, the Patriots overwhelmed the field with 341 total points, outpacing second place Thomas Jefferson’s 190 points. With the victory, Albemarle’s girls secured their first ever state championship in the first year of the new format.
“I remembered before the season even started people coming up to me and saying ‘the girls are looking pretty good this year, they could win states’,” said first year head coach Ellyn Baumgardner. “I was like, okay, we haven’t even started the season yet but we’ll see. Then as we started the season and started going through our meets and into championship season it was pretty clear they were going to do something special.”
The Patriots piled up points in the relays with wins in the 200-medley relay and 400-free relay as well as a second place in the 200-free. In the individual races, eight different Patriots scored in two different events, led by senior captain Corie Morton’s two second place finishes in the 200-free and 500-free.
“It was a really great atmosphere, we were all really hyped up,” Morton said. “We knew we had a good shot at winning, so we wanted to give everything we had.”
Hannah Harper also got in on the act with a third place in the 100-butterfly and sixth in the 200-freestyle. Harper has seen the Patriots’ game-changing depth build over the last few years.
“Each year we just keep getting a really strong freshman class,” Harper said. “They really help us out, each year everyone just keeps getting so much better.”
Katie Pajewski took sixth in both the 200-free and 500-free. Emma Lockman took sixth in the 100-back and seventh in the 200-IM. Maggie Woods took fourth in the 50-free and seventh in the 100-free. Abby Wuensch took eighth in both the 50 and 100-freestyle races. Madison Noga took fourth in the 500-free and fifth in the 100-fly. Jeanette Yan rounded out the double-even scorers with a fifth in the 100-back and seventh in the 100-fly.
Megan Jones also scored for the Patriots with a ninth in the 100-breast.
Albemarle’s boys turned in a solid state performance as well, taking fourth overall in 5A behind champion Princess Anne, Thomas Jefferson and Hickory.
While the girls squad was overwhelming with so many versatile swimmers, a tight knight group of Albemarle boys had to provide the bulk of the scoring. Jack Robbins took third in the 500-free and fourth in the 200-free while Hogan Harper snagged fourth in both the 200-IM and 100-back. Andrew Williamson’s fourth in the 100-breast and Reece Echelberger’s seventh in that race bolstered the effort. The Albemarle boys also took third in the 200-medley relay and fifth in the 400-free relay.
Orange County’s Larissa Neilan also had a huge day at the 5A state meet, winning the 100-breaststroke and placing fourth in the 200-IM. Her sister Alexandra Neilan took sixth in the 100-fly as well.
