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By Sophia Chiang, Swimming World College Intern
The Delaware DIAA Swimming & Diving Championships went off February 23-27, 2016 as hosted by the Suburban Swim League. We saw a fast weekend of fast swims from some seriously great competitors.
Women’s
Top seeded Ursuline Academy’s women brought home the state title in the first event of the DIAA championships, the women’s 200 yard medley relay. Marie Dickson, Elizebeth DeBruin, Sophia McAneny-Droz, and Erin Turulski helped make up the team that took home the title in 1:48.91, knocking out close second finisher Henlopen High School (1:48.97) and bronze medalists the Charter School of Wilmington (1:54.18), setting an exciting tone for the night.
Archmere’s Ellie Jogani cruised to her first state title of the night in 1:51.98 in the first individual event of the evening, the 200 yard freestyle. Ursuline’s Heidi Dickson took silver in 1:54.89. Ursuline’s Dickson took her second title of the night in the women’s 200 yard individual medley in 2:06.71, followed by the Wilmington Charter’s Emily Longenecker (2:09.18).
Del Mil Academy’s Kelly Blake was the top finisher in the women’s 50 yard freestyle in 24.22, coming in six hundredths of a second ahead of second place finisher Atim Kilama of Wilmington Friends (24.28). The top five girls were all under the 25 second mark. In the 100 yard butterfly, Appoquinimink’s Josephine Marsh saw victory in 55.95, followed closely by Ursuline’s Dickson, who narrowly missed her third state title of the night in 56.73.
In the women’s 100 yard freestyle, Jogani grabbed her second title of the night in 51.89, three seconds ahead of second place finisher Summer Sheats of Wilmington Charter (54.32). St Mark’s Meghan Jones took home the title in the 500 yard freestyle, finishing in 5:04.39 ahead of Ursuline’s Heidi Dickson who fell short (5:05.30), but not for a lack of valiant effort.
Going into the second relay of the night, the women’s 200 yard freestyle relay, Cape Henlopen‘s team of Sarah Hyde, Amelia Nigh-Johnson, Sarah Rambo, and Molly Weeks took out the competition in 1:39.23, ahead of second place finisher Ursuline, who missed out on a possible second title of the night (1:40.39) and Archmere in third (1:41.53).
In the women’s 100 yard backstroke, A.I. DuPont’s Alicia Diaz won in 55.98, shaving three seconds off her prelims time and taking out Marsh, who was certainly out for her second title of the night (56.21). In the 100 yard breaststroke, Ursuline’s Mc-Aneny Droz took home her second title in 1:06.11, ahead of Cape Henlopen’s Hyde (1:06.28).
Ursuline, however, was able to pull off a second relay title, winning two out of three women’s relays of the night. M Dickson, Turulski, Allison Thomas, and H Dickson won in 3:37.35, beating Appoquinimink (3:40.19) and Archmere (3:41.50).
Men’s
Salesianum School’s men took home the top finish of the night in 1:36.67. The team, consisting of Jake McFate, Matt Otto, Jack Portmann, and Andrew Halberg took out the second place finishers the Charter School of Wilmington (1:38.18) and Conrad Schools of Science (1:40.92).
Newark Charter’s Alex Menzer led off the men’s 200 yard freestyle in a blistering 1:41.10, taking out Concord’s Jerry Veneris (1:42.29) and Wilmington Charter’s Connor Sweeney (1:43.52). In the 200 yard individual medley, Mt Sophia’s Jacob Johnson took victory in 1:51.37, two hundredths of a second ahead of second place Brett Saunders of Conrad in what may be the most exciting race of the night.
Portmann would take the title in the men’s 50 yard freestyle in 21.40, knocking out Archmere’s Alec Giakas (21.57). In the men’s 100 yard butterfly, Tatnall’s David Crossland (48.65) raced to gold, followed closely by Mt Sophia’s Johnson (48.89) who just barely missed out on a second state title of the evening. In the 100 yard freestyle, Salesinum’s Portmann took the title in 46.97, followed by Concord’s Veneris in 47.33.
In the men’s 500 yard freestyle, Salesinum’s Otto would be victorious in 4:32.79, his first individual title of the night, followed by Mt Pleasant’s Bryce Ciecko (4:38.10). Salesinum’s men would see a second relay victory in the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay, where Halberg, Andrew Boyle, Otto, and Portmann raced to the top in 1:28.27, in a tight finish with second place Concord High School (1:29.77) and St Mark’s High School third in 1:31.05.
Crossland took home his second state title in the 100 yard backstroke in 48.24 and breaking the state record (previously set by himself in 2015, in 49.32). He was followed by Mt Pleasant’s Ciecko who came in 52.81. In the 100 yard breaststroke, Salesinum’s Otto took home his second individual title of the night, coming in 55.20 ahead of Conrad’s Saunders (57.93).
In the final event of the night, the men’s 400 yard freestyle relay, the Charter School of Wilmington took gold in 3:16.56, ahead of Concord’s 3:18.23 and Delaware Military Academy’s 3:18.40.
That’s a wrap for the 2016 Delaware DIAA State Championships, however we will continue to cover the nation’s high school and college division championships, so remember to keep checking back for results. For now, you can view the Delaware state championship results here.
While Sallies did post some impressive victories, the State Title actually went to The Charter School of Wilmington. Charter won the meet, dethroning Sallies’ 10 year streak of winning.