Conference 21 Swim Meet

Posted: February 1, 2014
By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI

STERLING — Sherando senior Kelsey Dingman had no choice in being seeded third for the 50-yard freestyle in the Conference 21 Swimming Championships.

But in her mind, she knew those seedings didn’t hold water.

“When she heard Tuesday night she was going to be the third seed, she told me she was going to win that event,” Sherando coach Joe Knight said. “She’s the kind of girl who backs up what she says.”

Dingman did so in a big way Friday night at the Claude Moore Recreation Center, winning by a relatively large margin of 0.41 seconds in that event and more than seven-tenths better than a state cut with a time of 25.27 seconds.

That was just one moment in a spectacular night from Dingman, who was one of just two local girls or boys to win events and the only one to win two. James Wood senior Brian Baker won the boys’ 200 free with a state time of 1:51.96.

Dingman also backed up her No. 1 seed in the 100 free by winning that event in a state time of 56.30, and she also helped two Sherando relay teams qualify for the 4A North Region meet on Feb. 15 at George Mason University (the top six individuals and top three relays in each event Friday qualified for regions).

The Warriors undefeated season came to an end though, as Sherando placed fourth in the girls’ meet with 254 points, well behind first-place Dominion (439 points) and second-place Heritage (325) in the eight-team competition. Millbrook was sixth with 188 points and James Wood was seventh with 186.

In the boys’ competition, Heritage won with 390 points, Dominion was second with 337.5, Millbrook was fourth with 232, Sherando was sixth with 221.5 and James Wood was seventh with 166.

Dingman said she knew it was going to be a difficult meet, but challenges like the one she had Friday always bring out the best in her.

“[Coach Knight] definitely made me aware I wasn’t seeded first,” Dingman said. “That gave me a goal and made me push myself.”

Later, Dingman won the 100 free by a whopping 1.23 seconds. You wouldn’t have known it to watch her, but it was a struggle.

“The last 25 [yards], I was wondering where the wall was. It was so long,” said a smiling Dingman, who recently endured a rough week of practice because of a cold. “Once I got to the wall I noticed I was pretty far ahead, but it didn’t feel like that during the race.”

It was another example of Dingman’s determination, and it was another highlight in a successful day that saw her team up with Brenna Sharp, Brianna English and Laura Ferguson to take second in the 200 free relay in 1:48.14 and third in the 200 medley relay in 2:00.40. Ferguson earned a state cut in the 50 free with her leg on the 200 free relay.

Sherando coach Joe Knight said it was disappointing to have the boys 200 medley relay get disqualified, which hurt the team as a whole in the final standings, but he couldn’t have been happier with the times that he saw from his teams.

In particular, Knight said the boys’ 200 free relay (James Williams, Tommy McVey, Ethan Medrano and Mark Restrepo, which took third in 1:35.44) and 400 free relay (second in 3:31.89, it had the same lineup, except Daniel Milburn swam instead of McVey) were both impressive, because they both earned state times. Knight said the 400 free relay team had never swam together as a unit before Friday.

“We changed the lineup and the order, and that really paid dividends for us,” Knight said. “Two seconds under the state time, that’s a credit to them.”

Millbrook coach Will Sigler said his own 400 free relay team of Hunter Doherty, Danny Hollingsworth, Alex Morrow and Chris Patton also caught his eye. They placed third in 3:34.80 and just missed a state cut.

“They were all pumped and ready to swim,” Sigler said. “They were fantastic.

“But just the overall time that our kids dropped was just awesome. We felt coming into an event like this, with a lot of competition and the excitement up, everybody was going to do well and drop time, and that’s what they did.”

Millbrook freshman Abbey Esslinger had one of the stronger individual performances Friday, dropping three seconds off her previous best times to take second in the 200 individual medley (2:22.05) and fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:15.63).

“I didn’t think I was going to drop that amount of time,” she said. “The competition really helped.”

For James Wood, Baker held off Heritage’s Michael Burris with a state time of 1:50.96 to Burris’s 1:51.18 to win the 200 free, though he had to settle for second in the 100 free with a state time of 50.0 to Heritage’s Jake Stroth (49.95).

“I feel like I had some pretty good swims there,” Baker said. “I’m happy with my times, and I’m looking forward to regions and states.”

James Wood first-year coach Kaitlyn Knott said she couldn’t have been more impressed with Baker, and she added her entire team gave a great effort.

“Each one of them has worked so hard,” she said. “They went in there and did their best, and really pushed themselves.”

Other top local performances Friday came from Sherando’s Williams (third in the 200 free, state time of 1:51.93, third in the 100 free 51.18)), Milburn (third in the 200 IM, 2:16.27), and Restrepo (third in the 50 free, 23.33); Millbrook’s Lindsay Fairbanks (third in the 200 free, state time of 2:02.25) and Alex Morrow (third in the 500 free, 5:11.34); and James Wood’s Conor Babington (second in the 50 free, state time of 22.92, third in the 100 breast, state time of 1:05.13), Zoe Schopick (third in the 100 butterfly, 1:04.54) and Erin Jackson (third in the 100 back, 1:07.14).