Swimming: Cardinal District Championship

Nobody would have faulted the Woodbridge boys swimming team for coming into the Cardinal District Swimming Championships with a bit of an inflated ego. The Vikings had just completed an undefeated regular season in which they took down each of their district rivals one-by-one. Their Jan. 9 win over Forest Park — last year’s district champion — was especially satisfying. It was that dual meet with the Bruins, however, that caused the Vikings to stay focused.

“We had an undefeated season, but that doesn’t mean anything,” said Woodbridge junior Jay Prescott. “It could go either way [at districts]”.

The Vikings dual meet win over the Bruins was by the slimmest of margins — just two points.

“I think that they had more focus and they realized that they had to
work a little bit harder and that just put a little more of a spark in
their attention to what they wanted to do this year. They set out a
goal. Their goal was to win districts,” said Woodbridge head coach Wayne White. “They knew that they had tough competition on the other side. Forest
Park is always good competition and that’s what gets them up. When we
swim against them, we do our best. They knew coming out of that meet
when they won by two points that it was even going to be more difficult
in the district. It helped them to focus harder.”

That focus paid off. The Vikings edged the Bruins by four points to reclaim the Cardinal District title, 159-155.

“Because they only won by two points and it could have gone either way, they knew that they had to focus to take these guys on,” said White.

The Vikings’ win was a total team effort. Prescott and fellow junior Daniel Francis took home the Woodbridge boy’s only individual gold medals, in the 100 yard backstroke and breaststroke, respectively. The Vikings however, finished the night with a total of seven second-place finishes, a trio of third-place finishes and had 24 swimmers place in the points overall. The Vikings also had two relay wins in the 4×50 medley and 4×100 freestyle that helped push them over the edge.

“When we do the seedings, we have to take into consideration all of the
other teams and where their strengths and weakness are,” said White. “You have to
figure out what you can capitalize on. They have to present you with
opportunities that you have to capitalize on. You roll the dice. There is no magic to it. It’s educated guesses in most cases.”

The goal wasn’t to grab a lot of gold medals, it was to hold the team trophy at the end.

“Sometimes its better to get that third, fourth and fifth place and let
the other kids beat themselves up to get the first and second place,” said White.
That’s what helps you. I know that Forest Park has a bunch of
sprinters. In the 50 and 100 [freestyle], they’re very strong. I’m not
going to focus on that, I’m going to focus on the off-strokes.

Murphy, Bruins Win Girls Title

Forest Park’s Briana Murphy specializes in the 50 yard and 100 yard freestyle. So when Bruins head coach Lindsey Brauzer asked Murphy to compete in the 500 at the Cardinal District Championships, the sophomore was understandably nervous.

“Looking over a what everybody was swimming and where we thought coaches
were going to put kids, we thought that it would benefit us if she swam
the 500,” said Brauzer. “She was real worried about it — going from the 50 to the 500.
Not a lot of kids can do that.”

Murphy dropped 7 seconds off of her 500 time, winning the event by 4.78 seconds. She also took the top spot in the 50 freestyle.

“Anything you tell her to swim, she’ll do it for you,” said Brauzer.

Murphy helped the Bruins outlast Woodbridge, 121-17, to take home the Cardinal District title after finishing fourth last year.

Other double-winners on the night included Forest Park’s Robert McKenna (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle) Hylton’s Marck Jaeger (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), Gar-Field’s Mandy Vincent (200 freestyle, 100 butterfly), Potomac’s Connor Schwalm (200 IM, 100 butterfly) and Hylton’s Alicia Cheripka (100 backstroke, 100 freestyle).

McKenna’s Knee Just Fine, Thank You

Forest Park’s Robert McKenna suffered a knee injury playing beach football during the summer of 2007. The injury plagued his 2007-2008 season, causing him to miss out on meets and not be as involved with the Bruins as he would have liked.

“He came back this year and was real excited about swimming,” said Brauzer. “He was named a captain because of his strength with the team.”

His dedication this season became evident as soon as he jumped in the pool.

“We saw him in the pool during are first meet and were like, “Whoa, okay, he’s serious this year.” We were just pushing and pushing him. That is what motivated him to do his best,”

McKenna was dominant during the Cardinal District Championship, winning the boys 50 and 100 freestyle. He also helped the Forest Park boys win first place in the 4×50 freestyle relay. Like any captain should, McKenna swam the anchor leg.

Record-Setting Day For Freedom

The Freedom boys swim team rewrote their record books on Saturday night, breaking five school records at the Cardinal District championship. The Eagles’ boys 4×50 yard medley relay team comprised of Matt Cecilio, Dikembe Pride, Suresh Lama Tamang and Chris Lourenzo bested their previous record of 2 minutes 14.72 seconds — set last week — with a time of 2:09.41. Both Matt Lourenzo and Pride broke the boys 50 yard freestyle record, with freshman Lourenzo setting the new mark at 28.50. Matt Lourenzo and Pride were joined by Derrek Cunningham and Curtis Evans to break the Eagles’ 4×50 yard freestyle relay with a time of 2:00.53, besting the previous mark of 2:02.48 — set earlier in the month. Cecilio also broke an individual record on the day, setting the new 100 yard breaststroke mark with a time of 1:13.27 — .64 second faster than his previous record. Finally, the boys 4×100 freestyle relay, comprised of John Nicholson, Matt and Chris Lorenzo and Cecilio broke the school record with a time of 4:28.40.

While no district records were set on the night, it wasn’t just the Eagle boys that were setting school records. Potomac’s Connor Schwalm set the Panther school record in the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 yard butterfly. Schwalm won both events. Forest Park’s Julia Moore broke the Bruins’ 100 yard breastroke record with a time of 1:14.41 and the Forest Park boys team of Keith Boigegrain, Bryan Smith, Alejandro Rios and Robert McKenna broke the boys 4×100 yard freestyle record with a time of 3:32.60

Interactive Results
Click on the event to watch highlights from the race.

Event 1 — Boys 4×50 Medley Relay
1. Woodbridge (Jay Prescott, Daniel Francis, Keith Langhauser, Peter Lord), 1:47.05
2. Gar-Field (Evan Duso, Brandon Anderson, Thokeina Kem, John Green), 1:56.65
3. C.D. Hylton (Jacob Bushmire, Kyle Pallansch, Marck Jaeger, Jarrod Zong), 1:57.83

Event 2 — Girls 4×50 Medley Relay
1. C.D. Hylton (Gabrielle Pederson, April Livingston, Alicea Cheripka, Kelsi Gaskill), 1:56.30
2. Woodbridge (Megan Lisbon, Kelsey Lisbon, Anna Kelly, Maddie West), 1:56.93
3. Forest Park (Katie Cotton, Julia Moore, Taylor Hood, Alison Dunleavy), 2:02.72

Event 3 — Boys 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Marck Jaeger, C.D. Hylton, 1:52.57
2. Keith Langhauser, Woodbridge, 1:53.62
3. Alejandro Rios, Forest Park, 1:57.41

Event 4 — Girls 200 Yard Freestyle
1. Mandy Vincent, Gar-Field, 1:58.97
2. Anna Kellly, Woodbridge, 2:02.54
3. Molly Mulvehill, Forest Park, 2:05.64

Event 5 — Boys 200 Yard IM
1. Connor Schwalm, Potomac, 2:02.61
2. Peter Lord, Woodbridge, 2:09.67
3. Bryan Smith, Forest Park, 2:11.35

Event 6 — Girls 200 Yard IM
1. Megan Lisbon, Woodbridge, 2:14.70
2. April Livingston, C.D. Hylton, 2:17.59
3. Caitlin Henry, Gar-Field, 2:22.98

Event 7 — Boys 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Robert McKenna, Forest Park, 23.28
2. Connor Campbell, Woodbridge, 23.87
3. Alex Frank, Forest Park, 24.64

Event 8 — Girls 50 Yard Freestyle
1. Briana Murphy, Forest Park, 25.77
2. Taylor Schomp, Gar-Field, 25.93
3. Kelsi Gaskill, C.D. Hylton, 26.85

Event 11 — Boys 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Connor Schwalm, Potomac, 54.67
2. Keith Langhauser, Woodbridge, 66.94
3. Philip Blevins, Forest Park, 59.52

Event 12 — Girls 100 Yard Butterfly
1. Mandy Vincent, Gar-Field, 59.23
2. Caitlin Henry, Gar-Field, 1:05.51
3. Courtney Varela, Woodbridge, 1:05.78

Event 13 — Boys 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Robert McKenna, Forest Park, 51.03
2. Peter Lord, Woodbridge, 51.25
3. Jay Prescott, Woodbridge, 52.36

Event 14 — Girls 100 Yard Freestyle
1. Alicia Cheripka, C.D. Hylton, 55.33
2. Taylor Schomp, Gar-Field, 56.35
3. Jade Woll, Woodbridge, 58.06

Event 15 — Boys 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Marck Jaeger, C.D. Hylton, 5:02.91
2. Daniel Francis, Woodbridge, 5:09.40
3. Connor Nye, Woodbridge, 5:11.81

Event 16 — Girls 500 Yard Freestyle
1. Briana Murphy, Forest Park, 5:20.57
2. Anna Kelly, Woodbridge, 5:25.35
3. Molly Mulvehill, Forest Park, 5:34.15

Event 17 — Boys 4×50 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Forest Park (Alex Frank, Alejandro Rios, Nick Imperato, Robert McKenna), 1:35.98
2. Woodbridge (Will Freeman, Connor Nye, Jordan Quantock, Daniel Francis), 1:38.45
3. C.D. Hylton (Jonathan Parker, Kyle Pallansch, Jarrod Zong, Marck Jaeger), 1:39.66

Event 18 — Girls 4×50 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Gar-Field (Taylor Schomp, Caitlin Henry, Mandy Vincent, Kathleen Fleming), 1:45.13
2. C.D. Hylton (April Livingston, Garielle Pederson, Kelsi Gaskill, Alicia Cheripka), 1:45.36
3. Forest Park (Taylor Hood, Molly Mulvehill, Megan Anderson, Briana Murphy), 1:47.13

Event 19 — Boys 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Jay Prescott, Woodbridge, 58.45
2. Thokeina Kem, Gar-Field, 59.31
3. Connor Campbell, Woodbridge, 1:02.57

Event 20 — Girls 100 Yard Backstroke
1. Alicia Cheripka, C.D. Hylton, 1:00.78
2. Megan Lisbon, Woodbridge, 1:00.93
3. Katie Cotton, Forest Park, 1:07.49

Event 21 — Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. Daniel Francis, Woodbridge, 1:05.30
2. Jordan Murrin, Forest Park, 1:08.68
3. Will Camarca, Forest Park, 1:08.94

Event 22 — Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke
1. April Livingston, C.D. Hylton, 1:07.41
2. Julia Moore, Forest Park, 1:14.4
3. Kelsey Lisbon, Woodbridge, 1:15.21

Event 23 — Boys 4×100 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Woodbridge (Jay Prescott, Connor Campbell, Keith Langhauser, Peter Lord), 3:31.21
2. Forest Park (Keith Boigegrain, Bryan Smith, Alejandro Rios, Robert McKenna), 3:32.60
3. Gar-Field (Evan Duso, John Green, Brandon Anderson, Thokeina Kem), 4:28.40

Event 24 — Girls 4×100 Yard Freestyle Relay
1. Woodbridge (Anna Kelly, Courtney Varela, Jade Woll, Megan Lisbon), 3:48.06
2. Gar-Field (Caitlin Henry, Heather Emert, Taylor Schomp, Mandy Vincent), 3:50.95
3. Forest Park High School (Katie Cotton, Megan Anderson, Molly Mulvehill, Briana Murphy), 3:54.00

Boys — Team
1. Woodbridge High School, 159
2. Forest Park High School, 155
3. C.D. Hylton High School, 48
4. Gar-Field High School, 46
5. Potomac High School, 38
6. Freedom High School, 12

Girls — Team
1. Forest Park High School, 121
2. Woodbridge High School, 117
3. Gar-Field High School, 100
4. C.D. Hylton High School, 83
5. Freedom High School, 27
6. Potomac High School, 10