Schools

West Potomac Swimmers Shine at Northern Region Meet

Five swimmers will advance to the state swim meet at George Mason University.

West Potomac’s swim team swam fast, set a new Northern Region record, and achieved multiple best times at the Northern Region Swim & Dive Championship Meet at Oak Marr Rec Center on Feb. 2. Five Wolverine swimmers will advance to the state swim meet on February 15 and 16 at George Mason University.

Sophomore Michael Valceanu, who placed 6th in the 100-yard butterfly in a state meet qualifying time of 52.97 and 12th in the 200-yard freestyle in a personal best 1:48.66 led the boys team.  Valceanu also swam the butterfly leg of the 200-yard medley relay with teammates junior Cyrus Adams-Mardi (backstroke), sophomore Will Rausch (breaststroke) and freshman D.J. Pinter (freestyle).  Rausch swam in the 100-yard breaststroke in the preliminaries and placed 26th.  At finals, the West Potomac boys’ relay team dropped a second from their seed time and finished in 12th place. 

In the girls’ individual events, senior Hellen Moffitt led the lady Wolverines by finishing first in the 100-yard butterfly in an Automatic All-American time of 54.53 seconds and breaking the 27-year old Northern Region record by half a second.  The butterfly record was the oldest Northern Region swimming record and had been held since 1986 by Michele Griglione of T.C. Williams High School.  Moffitt, who is the 2013 Patriot District Champion in the butterfly and backstroke events, also placed second in the 100-yard backstroke in an All-American Consideration time of 56.02. 

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Junior Sara Bertram placed tenth in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke while sophomore Maxine Clifford took 6th in the 50-yard freestyle and 7th in the 100-yard freestyle in new personal best times.  Junior Kristine Pinter came in 20th in the 200-yard freestyle and sophomore Melanie Bomberg placed 24th in the 50-yard freestyle.  The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Pinter, junior Carolyn Murphy, and seniors Leigh Orleans and Maddy Bolger finished in 18th place. 

State meet qualifiers Moffitt, Bertram, Clifford, and Bomberg improved their seed times in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relays and finished second and fourth, respectively, with All-American Consideration times in both events.  A week earlier the four girls were crowned the Patriot District Champions in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay, setting a new district record in the latter.  The West Potomac girls team currently holds two Patriot District relay records, one Northern Region relay record, and were the 2012 State Champions in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

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Valceanu, Moffitt, Bertram, Clifford and Bomberg will compete for West Potomac at the upcoming Virginia High School AAA State Championship Swim & Dive Meet on Feb. 15 and 16. The West Potomac Wolverines are coached by Head Coach Bob Lombardi and Assistant Coach Sam Burgi. 

(Editor's Note: This article was submitted by Janet Moffitt.)


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