Swimmers Top O'Connell on Senior Night, 203-133

Cardinal seniors celebrate a Senior Night win over rival Bishop O'Connell at Marymount University.

Senior night was a sweet one for Ireton’s class of 2014 as they sprinted past diocesan rival, Bishop O’Connell, Friday night 203-133 at Marymount University. The girls recorded a 98-72 advantage while the boys raced to a 105-61 decision.

Coach John Gullickson’s guys won 2 of 3 relays, and grabbed the second and third place finishes to mitigate the damage in the third, while displaying the depth of their lineup to score all-important points for third through fifth place since each team won 4 of 8 individual races. For Ireton, Michael Morrison won the 200 free while Sam Price and Carlos Chiriboga delivered five more team points with third and fourth place finishes. Ben Gorski claimed the top stop in the 200 IM, while Jimmy Grant was edged by O’Connell’s Christian Tiernan in the 50 free. He was, however, part of 9 points the Cardinals garnered with Ryan Scott and Kevin Abbed right behind Grant.

The Knights Tiernan again captured the 100 butterfly, but the Cardinals erased those six points by snaring 9 of their own behind the finishes of AJ Salvatori, Carl Smearman, and Dylan Louison. Once again, O’Connell got a win in the 100 free behind Chris Outlaw, but the Cardinals bounced back to capture the remaining 9 team points with Ryan, Carter Rostron, and Abbed.

Morrison won his second race of the evening with a 25 second win in the grueling 50o free style event and Chiriboga and Jermaine Thompson added five more team points with third and fourth place finishes. AJ Salvatori out dueled Outlaw in the 100 backstroke and Price and Smearman chipped in more team points at third, fourth. Ben Gorski cruised to a win in the 100 breaststroke for Ireton and again Louison’s third and Peter Shumate’s 5th place finished distanced the Knights in the team standings.

The girls had a much closer matchup with the perennially strong Knights, but depth again carried the day for the Cardinals. O’Connell’s girls won two of the three relay events, but Bishop Ireton piled up the team points in both events with second and third place finishes in the 200 Medley and 400 free style events. The cardinal and gold did get a win in the 200 free relay, behind Catherine Kennedy, Virginia Beineke, Clara Boggs, and Emma Klein. Annie Sullivan, Mary Margaret Anthony, Maddie Sanasack, and Alex Branham piled on more team points with a third to go with the win.

Clara Boggs got Ireton off to a fast start in individual events, winning the 200 free with Beineke and Julianna Sampaio snaring a third and fourth. Boggs would win her second individual event of the evening in the 500 free as well. The 500 was good to Ireton as Beineke was second and Sampiano was edged by the Knights’ Maureen Duesterhaus to prevent a sweep for Ireton in the event. Emma Klein captured a pair of firsts as well, taking the 200 IM and the 100 butterfly.

Hayley Snell won the 50 free in a thrilling finish over Katie Kinsella of DJO by a mere :00.2 seconds. Kennedy was close on their heels for third. Anna Shumate, Kennedy, and Kaitlyn Nguyen finished second through fourth to offset a win for Sarah Cahill in the 100 breaststroke.

Little time for rest for Bishop Ireton as the Cardinals head to the PG Sports and Learning Center Sunday for the East Coast Catholic Regional Champions.