Swimming - Class 4 State Meet

RICHMOND — James Wood freshman Kimberly Warnagiris and Sherando senior Ayman Ibrahim each advanced to a pair of individual finals to lead area swimmers in the VHSL Class 4 meet on Saturday at SwimRVA.

Warnagiris posted a pair of top-five finishes as she led the James Wood girls to tie for 19th place among the 29 scoring squads in the team competition with 29 points. Sherando (20) placed 21st and Handley (9) was 25th. Jamestown (226) edged King George (221) and Blacksburg (220.5) for the team crown.

Ibrahim had a pair of top-seven finishes for the Warriors who tied for 22nd among the 32 scoring squads in the boys’ meet with 39 points. James Wood (5) was 27th and Handley (1) tied for 31st. Jefferson Forest (233) topped Monacan (224) to repeat as the state champion.

Warnagiris had both of the area’s top finishes.

Her best finish was a fourth in the 100-yard butterfly. She qualified third with a time of 56.65 seconds and was just off that pace with a 56.78 in the finals. Dominion’s Rachel Schlemmer (55.17) won the event.

Later, Warnagiris recorded a fifth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. She qualified fifth for the event in 1:08.22 and was just shy of that pace with a finals time of 1:08.47. Lafayette’s Grace Olsen (1:04.64) took first.

Those two finishes accounted for all of the Colonels’ points.

Ibrahim paced the area boys by reaching the finals in the fastest two events, the 50 and 100 freestyle.

In the 50, Ibrahim placed sixth. He qualified fifth at 22.20 and nearly matched that time with a 22.28 in the finals. Courtland’s Nick Ashton (21.17) won the event.

Ibrahim took seventh in the 100 freestyle. He earned the final qualifying time at 48.16 and bettered that with a 48.15 in the final. Loudoun Valley’s Sean Conway (44.81) dominated the field.

Ibrahim also anchored the Warriors’ 200 freestyle relay team which placed 13-th. He joined freshman Peter Pham, senior Angelo Gannon and junior Mathew Pham to swim 1:32.98, which bettered their qualifying time of 1:33.16.

The same foursome also placed 14-th in the 200 medley relay. They swam 1:45.63 in the final, which was about a second off their pace of 1:44.65 in qualifying.

Handley junior Kenzi Fergus just missed the girls’ A final in the 100 backstroke, but captured the B final to place ninth. Fergus swam a 1:00.45 in the B final, which was faster than her 1:00.74 in qualifying. Fergus was also 17-th in the 500 freestyle.

Freshman Emma De Jong turned in the best individual finish for the Sherando girls by placing 11th in the 100 breaststroke. De Jong swam 1:09.35 in the B final, bettering her qualifying time of 1:09.98. She also was 22nd in the 100 freestyle (56.05).

De Jong also joined sophomore Jordyn Jones, sophomore Kyra Schultz and sophomore Gracie Twigg to take 13th in the 200 medley relay. The quartet swam 1:56.25 in the B final, bettering their qualifying time of 1:56.65.

De Jong, Schultz and Jones joined freshman Lindley Armel to place 14th in the 400 freestyle relay. They swam 3:52.26 in the B final, just off of their 3:51.84 qualifying time. Jones was 18th in the 100 backstroke (1:03.96).

Junior Brian Hua captured 12-th in the boys’ 100 butterfly to account for all of James Wood’s points. Hua swam 54.45 in the B final, bettering his qualifying time of 54.71.

Sophomore Jackson Sitton earned Handley’s point with a 16-th place finish in the 200 freestyle. Sitton swam 1:54.71 in the final.

Millbrook’s Partick Northrup placed 18th in the 200 freestyle (1:49.60).