Girls capture 5th, Guys 6th at Relay Carnival

Coach John Gullickson’s swimmers joined the area’s top private school swimmers Saturday for the annual Relay Carnival at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington DC. The Bishop Ireton Men placed 6th overall at 2009 WMPSSDL event while the Women placed 5th.

The girls 400 yard Medley relay team of Allison Wulf, Saskia Kroesen, Laura Becht, and Maddie Zeigler captured a second in 4:23.15 and a third place finish in 400 free style relay in 3:55.49. Zeigler, Wulff, and Kroesen teamed with freshman Eileen Louison to grab a third place in the 200 yard medley relay in a time of 1:59.07.

In the 200 yard breaststroke relay, Emma Irwin and three freshmen, Amanda Caballero, Emily Quinn, and Meghan Meija captured 5th place in a time of 2:36.23, an event for which the 2008 edition of Ireton girls set the meet record in a time of 2:13.57. In the 200 Freestyle, a pair of juniors, Margaret Coyle and Lauren Grant teamed with two freshmen, Quinn and Caballero, to edge Holy Cross by .04 seconds for a 4th place in a time of 1:57.14.

The boys garnered a pair of 4th place finishes, in the 200 yard Freestyle and 400 free behind the strong efforts of Sam Ellis, Ryan Doughtery, Michael Clark, and Brian McGinty. Their 200 time was .14 seconds behind DeMatha at 1:34.05 while they covered 400 yards in 3:33.91, only .02 behind Georgetown Prep.

Three sophomores, Joe Darville, Vince Mule, and Tommy Corrridon swam with senior Cam Ellis to earn a 6th place finish in the 200 yard butterfly event and the all sophomore team added Cliff Louison and Max Becker to Mule and Corridon to earn a 6th place in the 200 backstroke relay. Gonzaga captured the boys event while Georgetown Visitation earned a win on the girls side.

Swimming News and Notes:

– Cardinals last action was a dual meet victory over Flint Hill, the boys winning 106 to 64, the girls topping the Huskies, 103 to 67.

– New State Qualifers from early action include: Saskia Kroesn (100Fly, 100BK), Carey Natoli (200IM, 500FR), Angus MacDonald (100FR), Brian McGinty (200FR) and Maddie Ziegler (200IM, 100FR).

– City championships, orginally scheduled for December has been rescheduled to January 5th at the Chinquapin Pool on King Street.

– The Delaney Conference Invitational, weathered out on Dec 5th is now set for 2pm Saturday, Dec 19th in Manassas.

– 1st CARDINAL TO BREAK THE 21 Second Barrier in the 50 Yard Freestyle and Records Beware. This past weekend Captain Senior Angus MacDonald (representing Occoquan Swimming) broke the 21 second barrier turning in blazing 20.94 in the 50 Yard Free Style at The 2009 Speedo Short Course Junior National Championships in Columbus Ohio. In his other events the 100FR 46.79, 200FR 1:43.14, and 100BK 50.85 he turned in times faster than that of any other Cardinal ever. Keep a close eye out on MacDonald while he Challenges Chris Soniak’s 100Fly Record of 50.15 since he clocked a 50.16 this past weekend. Gullickson thinks Ireton team record for a number of boys events are not safe until he graduates.