Strong Metros efforts net School record in swimming, diving

The Bishop Ireton Swim and Dive team wrapped up a successful 2010-11 season with the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming & Diving Championships (METROS), which was held February 23rd through 26th at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center in Boyds, Maryland.

Fourteen BISD members made this prestigious championship meet under the coaching of John Gullickson (swim) and Anita O’Quinn (dive), where some of the best swims and dives in U.S. high school swimming and diving were achieved this year. The swimming and diving Cardinals who made this meet were: Laura Becht (Senior), Alex Branham (Freshman), Liz Collins (Senior), Saskia Kroesen (Senior), Emi Quinn (Sophomore), Allison Wulff (Senior), Maddie Zeigler (Junior), Kelly Palmer (Sophomore), Michael Ryan Clark (Junior), Andrew Crandall (Junior), Ryan Dougherty (Senior), Kevin Grant (Sophomore), Brian McGinty (Senior), and Cameron Wallace (Senior).

The divers competed first. Senior Cameron Wallace dove well and earned the team 90.85 points. Freshman Alex Branham also had a terrific meet, finishing 24th and adding 154.85 points to the team’s total. Michael Ryan Clark, Liz Collins, Andrew Crandall, Ryan Dougherty, Kevin Grant, Saskia Kroesen, Brian McGinty, Kelly Palmer and Allison Wulff were the BI swimmers who competed in individual events. In addition, Liz Collins, Saskia Kroesen, Kelly Palmer, and Brian McGinty made it to finals in individual events.

Liz Collins finished her very successful high school career with a newBishop Ireton record in the 100 breaststroke. She broke her own record and set the new one with a time of 1:06.11, which earned her a 4th place finish in this incredibly competitive meet. Collins also swam an all-time personal best in the finals of the 200 IM (2:11.86), dropping nearly 4 seconds from her preliminary swim and finishing 12th.

Saskia Kroesen also completed her high school swimming career with a great meet. Kroesen swam a season best time in both the 50 freestyle (25.17, 14 place) and the 100 butterfly (59.24, 12 place). Kelly Palmer broke the 5:20 barrier in the 500 free with her best swim ever in the finals of the 500 free at Metros to place 19th overall. Kelly has dropped 21 seconds in the 500 free this season.

Brian McGinty has dropped a significant amount of time in the 100 breaststroke this season and capped off a great high school career with a 100 breaststroke time of 1:01.46. Brian’s goal was to swim a 1:02, a number which he’d written on his hand this year as a visual reminder of his objective. Brian not only reached his goal, but surpassed it. Brian finished 19th in the 100 breaststroke overall.

All of the Cardinal relay teams made it to the finals, a significant accomplishment. Liz Collins, Saskia Kroesen, and Kelly Palmer, together with Laura Becht and Maddie Zeigler made up the formidable BI women’s relays. The women’s 200 medley relay finished 11th, the women’s 200 free relay 19th and the women’s 400 free relay 14th.

The men’s relays were just as successful. The team of Clark, Dougherty, Grant and McGinty made up all of the men’s relays. The men’s 200 medley relay finished 13th overall, moving up from a 17th seed in the preliminary swim. The men’s 200 freestyle relay, the only BI relay to swim in the “A” finals, finished an impressive 10th place. And finally, the men’s 400 freestyle relay moved up two places from their preliminary swim to finish 16th.

Overall, the Bishop Ireton women finished 13th out of 34 teams and the men 16th out of 35 teams, a commendable accomplishment according to second year skipper, Coach John Gullickson. The aquadic Cardinals wrap up their campaign with their annual awards dinner at the Springfield Country Club Sunday evening.