The Western Albemarle girls swim team continued its dominance over the State 3A swim and dive competition by winning their sixth state championship in a row in Richmond on Feb. 19.
The Western boys won for the first time to make it a clean sweep for the team from Western Albemarle. SMAC (Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club), the Waynesboro Y year round competitive swim team, was well represented on the Western Albemarle and Waynesboro High School teams.
On the woman’s side Brazil Rule, Morgan James, Claudia James and Charlotte Rumsey lead Western Albemarle to an incredible sixth straight state title. Emma Hill, Maggie Riggan, Libby Young and Jordan Miller swam for Waynesboro and placed 24th. On the boys side Aaron James and Jack Vaughn led Western to its first state title while Bobby Carey and Tate Snyder helped Waynesboro place 14th.
Brazil Rule and Colleen Higgins led Western girls with 32 points each. Rule by placing second in the 100 fly and fourth in the 200 free and Higgins by placing second in the 100 breast and fourth in the 200 IM. Morgan James and Charlotte Rumsey scored 30 and 24 points respectively with James placing third in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free and Rumsey placing sixth in the 100 fly and eighth in the 200 IM.
Other double digit scorers for Western girls included Charlotte Norris (fourth diving), Mia Donalson (seventh diving) and Caroline Riordan (11th 50 free and 13th 100 free). M. James, Elissa Simpson, Rumsey and Riordan finished third in the 200 Medley relay and the team of the James sisters, Riordan and Rule finished second in the 200 free relay. This culminates an incredible run for the seniors by having won the state title every year of their high school career.
Not to be outdone by the Western girls the boys won their first state swim and dive title. Aaron James led Western with 40 points by winning the 50 free and 100 free. His time of 20.88 in the 50 free was a new 3A state record.
The following Western boys scored in double digits to help their team achieve the victory: AJ Donovan -31 points (second 50 free, fifth 100 fly), August Lamb – 31 points (fourth 200 free, third 100 free), Matt Mandell – 22 points (fourth 100 breast, 10th 200 IM), Trevor Phelps – 20 points (ninth 200 free, eighth 500 free), Jack Vaughn – 18 points (11th 200 IM, seventh 100 breast), Wilson Brown – 17 points (diving), Jason Heilman – 16 points (12th 50 free, seventh 100 fly), Ian O’Donnell – 15 points (13th 200 IM, seventh 100 fly), Jake Paulson – 12 points (16th 100 free, eight 100 back) and Evan Sposato – 12 points (12th 200 IM, 10th 500 free). Paulson, Mandell, O’Donnell and Donovan finished second in the 200 Medley relay while Lamb, Heilman, Paulson and James finished second in the 400 free relay. The relay team of Donovan, Lamb, Heilman and James won the 200 free relay in a new 3A state record time of 1:27.32.
Bobby Carey led Waynesboro with 26 points (seventh 200 free and fifth 500 free) and Tate Snyder scored 9 points by finishing ninth in the 500 free.
Team Scores
Girls
- Western Albemarle – 278
- Blacksburg – 231
- Cave Spring – 184
- Hidden Valley – 181
- York – 170
- James Monroe – 134
- Warhill – 132
- New Kent – 130
- Tabb – 126
- Brookville – 104
- Turner Ashby – 101
- Fluvanna – 87
- Riverside – 85
- Colonial Heights – 56
- Spotswood – 56
- Christiansburg – 48
- Abingdon – 39
- Lord Botetourt – 25
- Monticello – 21
- Poquoson – 18
- William Monroe – 18
- Brentsville – 17
- Staunton River – 15
- Waynesboro – 14
- Magna Vista – 10
- Broadway – 3
Boys
- Western Albemarle – 351
- Hidden Valley – 276
- Tabb – 216
- Brentsville – 196
- Monticello – 164
- York – 164
- Blacksburg – 120
- Spotswood – 102
- Cave Spring – 96
- Rockbridge – 88
- James Monroe – 67
- Turner Ashby – 58
- Culpeper – 50
- Waynesboro – 45
- Broadway – 45
- Warhill – 42
- Riverside – 34
- Northside – 28
- Fluvana – 27
- New Kent – 24
- Colonial Heights- 16
- Abingdon – 8
- Poquoson – 2
- Brookville – 1
SMAC is a year round swim team that practices at the Waynesboro Y and the Ridgeview Park pool. If you have interest in swimming contact Coach Scott Thacker , Director of Competitive Swimming at the Waynesboro Y at 942-5107 or email him at [email protected]
For more information about SMAC, please visit their website: www.smacswimming.org