Cardinals tangled with St Christophers, Woodberry Forest among 4 opponents Saturday.
With a short lineup, Bishop Ireton went 2-2 in boys dual matches and 2-1 in girls’ action with Richmond’s best private school swim teams. “We were a little short handed this weekend, but our swimmers swam well and we continue to qualify athletes for state and Catholic nationals.” commented head coach John Gullickson.
For the day, Ireton’s boys topped The Covenant School 109 – 54 and Seton School of Manassas 123 – 47. The Cardinals did experience a 136 – 40 pasting by St. Christophers of Richmond and a 108 – 68 setback to Woodberry Forest. The girls topped Seton 114 – 69 and The Covenant School 136 – 40, but were handled by the defending state champions, St. Catherine’s 127 -58.
“It was a good meet for us overall. We had some club swimmers away, which made a difference, but it was also an opportunity for other swimmers who stepped up and swam well.” said Gullickson. “We qualified more swimmers for future championship meets, that was a very positive outcome as well.”
The meet was conducted as a combined meet and scores tallied from the results to yield the dual meet scores. On the girls side, Ireton grabbed a second in the 200 medley relay behind St. Catherine’s with Hayley Snell, Anna Shumate, Anna Fracasso, and Catherine Kennedy finishing .83 of second behind for a state meet-qualifying time of 1:57.98. The Cardinals also qualified a second team of freshman Angie Arquette-Overman, senior Alex Branham, Kaileen Rouin, and Mary Margaret Anthony with a time of 2:12.13.
Hayley Snell had a big day for the Cardinals, qualifying for state championships in four events on the day, including the 200 medley relay, 200 free style relay, 50 yard freestyle, 2d place by .04 seconds, in a time of :26.76. Her 4th place in the 100 free style was a qualifying :59.78, concluding a busy day for the junior.
Catherine Kennedy and Clara Boggs also qualified in the 50 free in times of :27.79 and :27.83 respectively. Freshman Anna Shumate joined Snell qualifying for the 100 free in a time of 1:00.91, while Boggs earned her second of three qualifying times with a 6:09.81 in the 500 free style, good for a 5th fastest time in the event. She followed that with Snell, Kennedy, freshman Emma Klein in the 200 free relay qualifying time of 1:48.15, good for a second overall on the day. Klein earned another qualifying time in the 100 backstroke with a second place finish in a time of 1:03.81. Klein, Fracasso, Shumate, and Boggs posted a qualifying time of 4:02.75 in their second place finish in the 400 freestyle relay.
Shumate grabbed a first in the 100 breaststroke in a season-best time of 1:12.33 for Ireton, the Cardinals sole first place individual winner. Bishop Ireton placed three divers in the 1 meter event, with Alex Branham capturing third, Isabella Blanco a 5th, and Lauren Kennedy grabbing a 6th place.
In the boys’ events, the 200 medley relay qualified in a time of 1:49.35 on the shoulders of three juniors and a senior, Jimmy Grant, Ben Gorski, Carter Rostron, and Kevin Abbed. Gorski was edged for a first in the 200 yard free by .29 seconds when St. Chris’s Trey Berry won in a qualifying time of 1:50.04. The versatile workhorse, Gorski qualified for his third event of the day when his 5:08.96 earned him a second place in the 500 yard freestyle.
The 200 free relay was another qualifying time for the guys, as sophomores Sam Price and Michael Morrison teamed with Rostron and Abbed to earn a 5th place in a time of 1:39.88. Ireton finished the day qualifying for the 400 free in a time of 3:41.38, a third place for Gorski, Price, Grant, and Morrison.
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