Warnagiris brothers lead James Wood to second in district swimming

WARRENTON — For the most part, the No. 1 seeds lived up to the billing at Friday’s Class 4 Northwestern District swimming meet, with those who had the fastest seed time going on to win 18 of 22 events between the boys and girls.

James Wood junior Paul Warnagiris wasn’t the top seed in either of his individual events. But he had also proven he could swim faster times than what was listed in the meet program, and he went out and delivered on his potential.

Warnagiris knocked off top-seeded Kettle Run junior Andrew Hendrickson in winning both the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 breaststroke as part of an overall stellar day for the Warnagiris brothers. Paul’s freshman brother Joseph captured the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke, and the two brothers opened the meet by teaming with junior Andrew Thompson and freshman Alex Hua to win the 200 medley relay by 0.19 in 1 minute, 41.21 seconds. The Warnagiris brothers and Thompson closed the meet by teaming with junior Trent Rakowski to place second in the 400 free relay in 3:24.87.

Those performances weren’t quite enough to give James Wood the district title it craved.

Kettle Run scored 151 points to the runner-up Colonels’ 125.5 to win its fifth straight championship, this after James Wood won the 10-team Holiday Hundreds Invitational in December that featured the top six teams in the seven-team Class 4 Northwestern District.

Still, James Wood coach Jessica Barr felt her 11-person team — two of whom are new to competitive swimming this year — gave a strong effort.

“I’m really happy with what they did,” Barr said. “They’re a little bit down, but they’re also starting to realize how much potential they have. We’ve swam against Kettle Run a couple of times this season, and it’s been a really good rivalry, I think. It’s really gotten them to go fast. They dropped 11 seconds in that last [400 freestyle] relay.”

Barr felt the boys’ 200 medley relay set the tone for the boys’ and girls’ teams on Friday.

“I think our team was the loudest in terms of cheering, and I think that just goes to show they do rely on each other and they work hard no matter what event they’re swimming,” Barr said. “They’re always there rooting for each other and wanting each other to do the very best they can. I’m proud.”

Sherando placed third with 65 points. Led by 200 free champion and senior Henry Fowler, Handley was fourth with 44. Millbrook was fifth with 41. The top eight individuals and top four relays in each event from Friday, as well as anyone with qualifying times, advance to the Region 4C meet that will take place on Saturday at the Claude Moore Recreation Center in Sterling.

Barr was pleased with the Warnagiris brothers for the work they’re doing for the team’s relays, and from an individual standpoint.

Paul Warnagiris faced stiff competition in Hendrickson, who had a seed time of 2:03.11 to Paul’s 2:03.39 in the 200 IM and a 1:01.73 to Paul’s 1:01.97 in the 100 breast.

Those seed times were based on this year’s high school swimming season, however, and don’t account for USA club swimming performances. For example, in March of last year, Paul achieved times of 1:57.73 in the 200 IM and 1:00.78 in the 100 breast.

Paul not only knew he could swim faster than his seed times, but he also had no shortage of motivation to do so in his two favorite events. Paul said Hendrickson beat him in both events in a meet earlier this season, and they’ve also competed against each other in USA Swimming as members of Winchester Swim Team and Nation’s Capital Swim Club (NCAP), respectively.

“I really enjoy racing people that I know,” Paul said. “I was just focusing on my stroke and what I could to win the races.”

In the 200 IM, Paul dominated, recording a time of 1:57.65 to beat Hendrickson by 4.17 seconds. Barr told Paul that Hendrickson was probably going to be pretty fired up to atone for that race in the breaststroke. That race was much closer, but Paul came out on top again with a 1:01.14 to Hendrickson’s 1:01.78.

“[Paul’s] a racer, and he knew coming in that he could win those events,” Barr said.

Joseph was the top seed in both his individual events. He won the 500 free in 5:00.96 to win by 11.55 seconds over the runner-up Fowler (5:12.51). He then won the 100 backstroke by 1.56 seconds in a time of 55.56.

On Friday, Joseph enjoyed competing against his WST teammate Fowler in the 500 free, and he continued to enjoy the success his relay teams are having.

“[Relays are] so much fun,” Joseph said. “They’re my favorite part, because everyone’s just together, and you can win as a team.”

For the state meet, Joseph is deciding between competing in those two events and the 200 IM.

“I didn’t really know what to expect coming into season, but I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would,” said Joseph, who considers the 100 back his strongest event.

“Joe’s a freshman, and size-wise, he’s not quite as tall as Paul, and in swimming, that matters,” Barr said. “But his technique is there, and in the backstroke I think he’s going to continue to get faster and faster.”

James Wood was also led by Thompson in the 200 free (second in 1:52.72) and 100 fly (second in 55.41); Rakowski in the 100 free (tied for third in 52.93) and 200 IM (fifth in 2:18.61); Hua in the 100 breast (fourth in 1:10.07) and 100 fly (fifth in 1:01.35); junior Reagan Kite in the 50 free (fourth in 24.70) and 100 free (eighth in 58.97); and sophomore Ethan Britton in the 50 free (fifth in 25.07) and 100 back (eighth in 1:09.08). The 200 free relay team of Rakowski, Kite, Britton and Hua placed second in 1:37.74.

Individually, Sherando was led by freshman Toby Winston (second in the 100 free, 52.01; third in the 200 IM, 2:12.88), senior Benjamin Jensen (fourth in the 100 back, 1:04.03; seventh in the 100 fly, 1:04.94), junior Evan Mercer (fifth in the 100 breast, 1:10.38), sophomore Austin Forrer (sixth in the 200 IM, 2:23.79; seventh in the 100 breast, 1:12.91), and sophomore Jack Ubert (sixth in the 50 free, 25.26; eighth in the 100 breast, 1:15.31).

Jensen, Mercer, Winston and Forrer each teamed up to take third in both the 200 medley relay (1:49.72) and 400 free relay (3:49.74).

Sherando coach Joe Knight said the Warriors had to give everything they had Friday.

“We only had 10 people at the beginning of the season,” Knight said. “We lost one boy to a foot injury, and yesterday we had someone who came down sick and wasn’t able to swim in the meet. And Jack Ubert was nursing an injured shoulder. With all that, we still finished third, so I really couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Handley’s Fowler improved his seed time by nearly three seconds and beat Thompson by 1.32 to claim the 200 free in 1:51.40.

“I wasn’t expecting to drop that much time,” Fowler said. “I kind of surprised myself. Me and me coach have been working on turns recently, and I think that helped.”

Judges coach Tag Grove said he thought Fowler had a time like that in him on Friday based on his consistency and progression throughout the year, and added that continuing the work Fowler has been doing on his turns should help him do better.

“He’s been doing one dolphin kick, and it’s slowing him down,” Grove said. “I told him to just forget that and do like I did a hundred years ago. Do your flip turn and add the flutter kick. I told him if he had the flutter kick, he’s going to be better off than doing a lazy dolphin kick.

“Overall I was real pleased with the effort he put in and the leadership he’s provided all season.”

Fowler also helped the 200 free relay team of senior Will Stevens, junior Lucas Mammano and senior Ryan Stickley place third in 1:40.08. Stickley placed third in the 50 free (24.33) and fifth in the 100 free (54.77).

“I think we had a lot of impressive swims,” Grove said. “Ryan Stickley is developing legitimate swimmer speed. He’s not just a high school dual-sport athlete. He’s getting pretty quick.”

Millbrook was led by sophomore Wyatt Post (third in the 100 fly, 58.19; sixth in the 100 back, 1:06.21), senior Aidan Post (fourth in the 200 free, 2:02.41; fifth in the 500 free, 5:35.78), sophomore Nathan Regula (seventh in the 200 free, 2:19.68), and junior Nicholas Barreda (seventh in the 100 free, 56.92; eighth in the 50 free, 25.61). The Post brothers and Regula and Barreda teamed to take fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:57.52).

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