RICHMOND — When the versatile Eddie Grimes decided to give the 100-yard freestyle a shot at the Virginia High School League Class 4 meet, he had no idea that he would have the best seed time for the state competition.
On Friday, the James Wood High School junior improved on that seed time twice. Unfortunately for Grimes, it still wasn’t enough at SwimRVA.
Grimes recorded a time of 47.56 seconds in the prelims — a tenth of a second better than his seed time — and a 47.28 in the finals. Jefferson Forest junior Graham Woodruff was on another level, however, recording a 47.29 in the prelims before firing through the water in 46.48 in the finals to win by eight-tenths of a second. Grimes placed second in the prelims and finals in the 100 free.
Neither Grimes or Woodruff swam the open 100 free at the Region 4D meet, though Grimes did swim a 47.66 as the opening leg on the 400 free relay. Woodruff actually came in seeded fifth with a time of 49.03, though what he did on Friday was not unprecedented. On Dec. 14 in Cary, North Carolina, Woodruff had a time of 46.90 with his club swim team.
James Wood would have loved to have had a state champion for the third straight year — 2025 graduate and future Missouri swimmer Joe Warnagiris, winner of four state titles, was at the meet to support the team — but Grimes’ 100 free was part of an overall stellar day for the Colonels.
James Wood placed 12th out of 31 scoring schools with 60 points, the only points for area boys’ schools. Millbrook did not score any points and Handley and Sherando did not have any qualifiers. Lafayette scored 245 points to beat Blacksburg (234) by 11 points for the team title.
Grimes was the only local boy or girl to swim in the ‘A’ finals on Friday, and he did it in both events to earn two state medals. Earlier in the evening, Grimes placed fifth in the 200 free in a personal record of 1:42.91, 3.2 seconds faster than his seed time.
Grimes swam the 500 free at the Region 4D meet in addition to the three relays. Last year, he competed in the 500 free (fourth place) and 100 backstroke (ninth) at the state meet.
Grimes said his goal was to earn qualifying times for the NSCA (National Club Swimming Association) meet, and he felt he was closest to doing so in the 200 free and 100 free. He got the time he needed in the 200 free.
“I’m really happy about that,” said Grimes, who has improved his 200 free by almost 10 seconds from last year. “I wasn’t able to get it in the 100, but I have more chances coming up.”
Grimes thought he’d have a better chance of winning the 200 free when he made his state choices, figuring he might be seeded fifth or sixth in the 100. When the psych sheet was released by the VHSL, those thoughts changed. Grimes — whose fastest time as a sophomore was 48.67 — certainly gave everything he had in quest for the title.
“I wanted to win, but it’s all right,” Grimes said. “I got a lot of PRs, so I can’t ask for more.”
James Wood coach Jessica Barr said Grimes’ goal at the beginning of the season was to try and continue his success in the 500 free, but he told her in early January that he thought the 100 free was something he felt good about doing at the state meet. The decision was clearly a good one, and Barr figures Grimes can certainly get better now that it’s more of a priority for him.
“I know he really wanted to win, so I think that’s going to be a really big motivator for him going into next season in his final year,” Barr said. “He got all PRs today. He sets really high expectations for himself and just pushes himself to get to where he wants to be. Even then, when he gets to where he wants to be, he thinks about what he can do even better and try to improve it the next time.”
James Wood senior Michael Thompson was the only other local boy to compete individually in Friday’s finals. He placed 10th in the 100 backstroke in 55.90 after setting a PR of 55.41 in the prelims.
“I’m happy with the performance I gave, personally,” Thompson said. “I tried my hardest and put in all the effort that I could. I just gave myself something to be proud of.”
Thompson achieved his goal of a Virginia Senior Championships qualifying time in the 100 back with his prelims time.
“I’ve been working for that for a long time this past year,” Thompson said.
Thompson didn’t qualify for the finals in the 100 breaststroke on Friday night, but that didn’t put a damper on his day. Barr noted that Thompson filled a need for the team in that event this year, and then got a personal-best time at the region meet to qualify for the state meet.
“Michael, he’s always been a really key teammate and a team player,” Barr said. “He always does what I feel is best for the team. We also see that when he does his relays. He’s trying to get everyone pumped up so they can do their best. He does whatever he needs to do for the relays, even if he just got out of the pool and swam an individual event before the relay. His versatility over the last four years has really been key to the team’s success.”
Thompson and Grimes also teamed with senior Josh Harty and junior Zach Harrington on the 200 free relay (12th in 1:34.07) and 400 free relay (11th in 3:28.31). The 200 free relay team had a season-best time in the prelims (1:33.51).
“They all swam pretty much their best times in both relays,” Barr said. “We weren’t even sure if we going to be able to qualify two relays for states when the season started.”
Grimes said he had a lot of fun with the seniors, and will miss them. Thompson said it meant a lot to perform one last time with people who mean a great deal to him.
“I love this team and I love these guys,” Thompson said. “I’m just really proud of the performance. This season felt like it meant more. It’s my last year, so I wanted to take it all in more. There’s more I can look back on. It was a great season.”
Millbrook’s top performance came from senior Nathan Truong. He placed 17th in the prelims for the 100 breaststroke in 1:03.90.
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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