Swimming: Churchill boys and girls sweep Division I

By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com

Churchill junior twins Cathy and Karen Chen weren’t nervous heading into their 100-yard breaststroke.

Sure, the Bulldogs had trailed the entire meet, were behind by 11 points at the time and the twins were Churchill’s best and perhaps final chance to overtake perennial power Walter Johnson.

But when the girls lined up on adjacent starting blocks, their thoughts weren’t focused on beating Walter Johnson. They mostly wanted to beat each other.

The sisters ended up taking first and second in the 100-yard breaststroke, the final individual event of Saturday’s Montgomery County Division I championships, to lift Churchill over longtime defending champion Walter Johnson.

“We kind of feel a little sister rivalry, kind of,” Cathy said. “We just pump each other up because we don’t have that much competition.”

Churchill’s girls team scored 432 points compared to the Wildcats’ 419. Churchill’s boys, meanwhile, ran away with the meet, scoring 451 team points with Walter Johnson in second with 352. It’s the first time either of Churchill’s teams have won a Division I title.

“They’ve been the powerhouse for I don’t know how many years,” Churchill junior Chris Verboncoeur said of Walter Johnson. “Now we’re kicking their butt, so it’s good.”

Churchill also beat Walter Johnson during the regular season on Jan. 24 behind a Bulldogs sweep in the 100-yard breaststroke, also led by the Chen sisters.

On Saturday, Cathy beat her sister by 43 tenths of a second despite entering with a seed time that was 1.37 slower. That meant, that by the sisters’ rules for competition, she got to pick where they went to lunch to celebrate afterwards.

Cathy finished third at the Division I meet last year while Karen took first. Since then, they’ve been dominating the breaststroke along with teammate Erin O’Connor.

“It’s been going on forever,” Karen said of the rivalry. “Always at practice we’re trying to beat each other. If we have a bad day we’re going to yell at each other for not going fast.”

“It’s kind of like encouragement, then not,” Cathy added with a laugh.

Churchill got a huge boost from its freshman class yet again. Churchill’s Chen twins were the teams’ only swimming champions -- one of which was boys diving -- but prospered from its incredible depth. In its two first-place events, it also took second in both.

All toll, the Churchill boys had a freshman finish in the top five in eight races and one dive. The standouts were Colin Ashbury, Collin Stanhope, Christopher Wysocki, Samuel Lee, Odin Soevik and diver Timothy Faerber, who finished second to senior Michael Stanton in the boys 1-meter diving.

Churchill’s freshman girls were nearly as impressive behind Natalya Ares and Shannon Ridge. Ares took third in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard butterfly. Ridge placed fifth in the 100-yard butterfly and third in the 100-yard backstroke. The girls were also buoyed by sophomore Yvonne Huo and junior Maria Watkins.

It’s not often to see freshman doing so well because as Churchill Coach Rodney Van Tassell said, it typically takes two or three years for them just to contribute at this, one of the highest levels of swimming in the area.

“Our depth was really incredible,” Van Tassell said. “It’s a happy problem to have when I have so many good kids and not really enough room to put everybody in. … We’re going to be here for a long time.”


ADD A LITTLE PEPPER

Walter Johnson sophomore Elizabeth Pepper felt bad after winning the 100-yard butterfly.

“I don’t think I won 100 fly,” Pepper said. “The timers have me winning, but I’m pretty sure Dani Schulkin [Whitman] beat me and I feel kind of bad because she’s really sweet.”

Either way, Pepper said she wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. She also won the 200-yard IM, anchored Walter Johnson’s first-place 200-yard freestyle relay team and swam the first leg of its title-winning 400-yard freestyle relay squad.

Pepper, who last year placed fourth at Metros in the 100 fly and 200 freestyle, said she hasn’t been swimming as well in meets as she has in practice and was glad to get such good results Saturday.

Walter Johnson junior Andrew Tollefson also won two events – the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke. Like Pepper, he also helped the Wildcat boys to a 400-yard freestyle relay victory.

Tollefson dropped 50 tenths of a second from his 200-yard IM seed time and 1.33 off his 100-yard breaststroke seed time.

“I’m looking to do pretty well, like top three and drop off another few seconds,” Tollefson said, looking forward to Metros.


DOUBLING UP

Sherwood finished fifth out of six teams, but had a pair of dual winners in juniors Eric Conrad and Mike Anderson.

Conrad won the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard butterfly. Anderson took home the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle championships. Both came well under his seed time in both events.

“After every turn I saw him and he was right next to me,” Conrad said of his 100-yard butterfly win over Churchill’s Verboncoeur. “I knew I had to bring it out in the last 25. There’s a little storage space I keep and I just use whatever I have left.”


TEAM SCORES

Boys: Churchill 432, Walter Johnson 419, Whitman 386, Wootton 268, Sherwood 265, Bethesda-Chevy Chase 195
Girls: Churchill 451, Walter Johnson 352, Wootton 323, Sherwood 306, Bethesda-Chevy Chase 272, Whitman 235


INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

Boys 200 Medley Relay: Sherwood (Conrad, Lee, Anderson, Gallagher)
Girls 200 Medley Relay: Whitman (Poole, Tong, Schulkin, Kuhn)
Boys 200 Freestyle: Mike Anderson, Sherwood
Girls 200 Freestyle: Lauren Poore, Whitman
Boys 200 IM: Andrew Tollefson, Walter Johnson
Girls 200 IM: Elizabeth Pepper, Walter Johnson
Boys 50 Freestyle: Erik Klontz, Bethesda-Chevy Chase
Girls 50 Freestyle: Mina Vicic, Walter Johnson
Boys 1 mtr Diving: Michael Stanton, Churchill
Girls 1 mtr Diving: Annie Kastler, Walter Johnson
Boys 100 Butterfly: Eric Conrad, Sherwood
Girls 100 Butterfly: Elizabeth Pepper, Walter Johnson
Boys 100 Freestyle: Michael Center, Bethesda-Chevy Chase
Girls 100 Freestyle: Emily Ryczek, Sherwood
Boys 500 Freestyle: Mike Anderson, Sherwood
Girls 500 Freestyle: Sidney Drill, Walter Johnson
Boys 200 Freestyle Relay: Walter Johnson (Loo, Spak, Karel, Budner)
Girls 200 Freestyle Relay: Walter Johnson (Vucic, Yuan, Drill, Pepper)
Boys 100 Backstroke: Eric Conrad, Sherwood
Girls 100 Backstroke: Victoria Kuhn, Whitman
Boys 100 Breaststroke: Andrew Tollefson, Walter Johnson
Girls 100 Breaststroke: Cathy Chen, Churchill
Boys 400 Freestyle Relay: Walter Johnson (Powell, Karel, Tollefson, Budner)
Girls 400 Freestyle Relay: Walter Johnson (Pepper, Drill, Yuan, Vucic)