Class 4 State Swimming

RICHMOND — One of the most decorated female swimmers in Sherando’s history went out in style on Saturday.

Warriors senior Taylor Smith broke her own school records to take second in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100 breaststroke at the Virginia High School League Class 4 state swimming championships at SwimRVA.

Smith was the only Winchester-Frederick County swimmer to capture a silver medal, but James Wood senior Lauren Masters and Handley junior Grace Morgan also had two All-State performances each by placing in the top eight of their respective events.
Smith also swam on two All-State relays to lead Sherando to sixth as a team, one year after the Warriors placed fifth. Monacan scored 336 points, Western Albemarle was second with 280, the Warriors had 140, Handley and James Wood tied for 18th (Masters and Morgan had all of their team’s points) and Millbrook tied for 24th out of 30 scoring teams with 14.

Smith improved on her 100 fly record twice. She recorded a 56.69 in the morning prelims to break her previous mark of 56.73, then obliterated those times with a 55.95 in the evening finals. Smith ended her day by breaking the record she set last year in the 100 breast (1:05.03), finishing in a time of 1:04.89 to better her prelims time of 1:05.29.

“I came [into today] wanting a 55.9 [in the 100 fly] and a 1:04 [in the 100 breast],” Smith said. “This morning I was a little upset. I was close, but not there. So tonight I’m very happy I came and got the goals I wanted.”

Smith was happiest about her performance in the 100 fly, because that was where she showed the most improvement in time. Smith also made a big leap in placement in that event.

In 2022, Smith was 1.63 seconds slower in the final than in prelims and had to settle for eighth place. This year, she came into the state meet as the third seed, took second in the prelims and finished only behind a superlative performance from Monacan freshman Emerson Callis (54.03). No one else finished within a second of Smith.

In the 100 breast, Smith improved on her third-place finish from last year. Smith was seeded third coming into the meet and finished only behind Kettle Run sophomore Caroline Agee, who Smith tied for first with at the Class 4 Northwestern District meet and took second to at the Region 4C meet. Agee recorded a time of 1:03.60.

Smith — who will swim for NCAA Division I North Carolina at Asheville next year — said she appreciated the competition in both of her championship races.

“It’s a pleasure to race these girls,” Smith said. “They’re so amazing, all of them, and they really pushed me to do my best.”

Sherando coach Joe Knight said Smith definitely showed what type of swimmer she is on Saturday.

“Taylor had an outstanding meet,” Knight said. “The girls that she was up against were legitimately tough swimmers, but I think Taylor proved just how tough she is today, too, swimming second to both of those girls.”

Smith anchored the 200 free relay team (seeded second) that included junior Madelynn Twigg, senior Lexee Schellhammer and junior Madison Reed to fourth place in 1:39.90 after a 1:39.29 prelim swim. In the 200 medley relay (seeded third), Smith teamed with Twigg, senior Chelsey Jones and Reed to take fifth in 1:50.34 after recording a 1:49.97 in the prelims. The 200 free relay team beat its season-best time in the prelims.

“We had goals we wanted to get that we didn’t quite reach, but that’s all right,” Smith said. “We came in and we had fun, and that’s the biggest part really. I’m proud of my teammates, because they did as good as they could.”

Both relay teams had their best times of the season a week ago, with the medley relay setting a Region 4C record.

“It’s a tough thing keeping up that top level all the time,” Knight said. “We swam a great region meet and the relays seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. We were really optimistic coming into this meet that would carry over and provide a little bit of impetus for us, but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. Our kids swam well, but credit to all the teams that finished just a little bit ahead of them.”

Sherando also receiving scoring performances from Schellhammer (ninth in the 50 free, 25.32; 13th in the 100 back 1:02.86), Twigg (10th in the 100 free, 54.28, 54.11 in prelims; 11th in the 100 back, 1:00.67); the 400 free relay (sophomore Gracie Defibaugh, freshman Ellie Luong, Jones, Schellhammer) 10th in 3:51.50; Jones (13th in the 500 free, 5:27.76, 5:26.91 in prelims); Reed (15th in 50 free, 25.80, 25.75 in the prelims; 15th in the 100 breast in 1:12.86, 1:11.69 in prelims).

Knight said one of the big highlights was the 400 free relay, where he believed Defibaugh (57.83) and Luong (58.47) swam their fastest 100 free splits of the season.

“I think it was all in all, an excellent overall team effort,” Knight said. “Our kids really did try today. They came in and swam hard.”

Kettle Run prevented Sherando from repeating as district and region champions this year, and the Cougars took fourth on Saturday. Smith was pleased with Sherando’s season as a whole, though.

“All of us, we raced as fast as we could and put all that we could into it,” Smith said. “This season’s been super fun and super great.”

A year ago, Morgan started to warm up for the Class 4 state meet but didn’t compete because of a growth plate issue with her back that has her limited at times since she was a freshman. Handley coach Tag Grove told Morgan before the meet that anything she did Saturday would be an improvement from last year, and she blew her previous season-bests out of the water.

She placed third in the 500 free in 5:06.97, which was her fastest time in any meet in almost two years. Earlier in the finals, Morgan took fifth in the 200 free in 1:53.51, a season-best time that was more than two seconds faster than her seed time.

“I didn’t have many expectations, so to be able to get fifth and third is really exciting, and I’m really happy with my times,” said Morgan, who has made a verbal commitment to NCAA Division I West Virginia University.

Morgan said she was sick leading up to the meet, but she responded well to the strong competition. Because of her back issues, Smith said it’s been almost a year since she’s been in a meet that had as many fast swimmers as Saturday’s state meet.

Grove said Morgan’s accomplishments on Saturday were truly impressive considering that the Judges and Winchester Swim Team have limited how much she does in practice this year to make sure she was healthy for the postseason.

“She’s not 100 percent, but I think this should have given her a lot of confidence to feel like she’s really close to 100 percent,” Grove said. “I know she was nervous coming in because of last year. The last few days we worked hard. She’s done a great job working on some turns, continued to work on her stroke a little bit. She was able to put those things right in today, and that really helped her out. Her 500, I thought that was her best race in years. She was very consistent throughout all of her turns except maybe two, and those weren’t bad.

“She does have a lot of talent, but she just hasn’t been able to use it because of her injury. But now she’s dealing with it better, and I think she’s back where she needs to be. She’s going to keep getting faster again, which is pretty exciting.”

Masters wasn’t able to match the times she achieved last year when she took second in both the 50 free and 100 free, but she still excelled with fourth-place finishes in each of those events. In the 50 free, she had a season-best time of 24.17 in the prelims and nearly matched it in the finals (24.18). In the 100 free, Masters recorded a 52.93 in the prelims and 53.11 in the finals.

“I was happy for the most part,” said Masters, who will swim for NCAA Division I Old Dominion University next year. “My goal time is to get 23 [seconds in the 50 free] and I’m right off of that. I definitely wanted to go a little bit faster [in the free], but overall my whole high school career has been really good.”

Masters was the only James Wood girl competing on Saturday, but several other Colonel team members were in attendance.

“The team has meant the most to me,” Masters said. “Everyone’s been so supportive since freshman year. We’ve all basically grown together and done a bunch of team activities. They made it really fun and exciting and it’s something I look forward to every year. So I’ll definitely miss it next year.”

James Wood coach Jessica Barr said Masters had an exceptional year.

“She’s worked super hard all season,” Barr said. “I couldn’t be more proud of her.”

Millbrook received scoring performances from sophomore Kiera Webster (13th in the 100 fly in 1:00.03, 14th in the 200 free in 1:58.84, 1:57.83 in prelims), the 200 free relay team of freshman Riley Pillo, freshman Ansley Pendleton, senior Carolina Arias and Webster (14th in 1:46.93, 1:46.54 in prelims) and Pillo (16th in the 100 fly, 1:02.25).

“For having such a young team here, I think they handled the pressure and the excitement really well,” Pioneers coach Will Sigler said. “They did their best, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Webster was the only one with previous state experience. She made the “B” finals (for 9th through 16th place) as an individual for the first time on Saturday.

“Kiera has stepped up and also been a big help to the team,” Sigler said. “Her energy and attitude have really helped out.”

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