By Marisha Goldhamer
SOUTH RIDING, VA-There will be two new trophies on display at Alexandria’s Chinquapin Recreation Center after the Wahoos 15-18 girls and 9-10 boys were crowned age group champions of the Colonial Swim League White Division for Summer 2024.
The oldest girls on the team showed consistency throughout the season with Elisabeth Carroll, Maria McLemore, Bella McLemore, Abigail Altenburg and Catherine Cox all contributing points through individual wins and relay triumphs.
In the 9-10 division, the boys dominated the competition with Bennett Sherry, Max Kessler-Gowell and Chase Conjura winning every race of the regular season except for one. The team picked up additional points and relay wins through Axel Odom, Maxim Postow, Derrick Grajkowski, Fernando Campos, Wilson Jones and Mateo Lorenzen-Schmidt.
On July 20, four CSL divisional meets were held simultaneously, with each team allowed three slots per age group in five events to see if their swimmers could put up one of the 18 fastest times in the league.
The Wahoos – the only public team in the league – won five races, broke three team records and saw 16 swimmers earn an invite to the Cory Young All Star meet.
The first Wahoos record to fall was in the 11-12 boys 50-meter backstroke. Karon Moten captured the division title in 32.53 seconds, just beating the record of 32.62 seconds set by Emil LaSida in 2016. Moten rounded out his day with second place in the 50-meter freestyle (29.44 seconds) and second place in the 50-meter butterfly (31.47 seconds).
Also in backstroke, Carroll broke the 15-18 girls team record. She lowered her own mark to 33.59 seconds from the 33.71 second swim she put up at the divisional meet in 2023 and earned sixth place in the division.
She placed third in freestyle (29.19 seconds) with teammate Maria McLemore fifth (30.30 seconds) and placed fourth in breaststroke (38.68 seconds). McLemore also made the podium in butterfly with a 33.08 second sixth place finish.
Foronda broke his own 15-18 boys 50-meter breaststroke record set in 2022. The team record is now 30.94 seconds, a time that won him the division. Wahoo Jonathan Ramsdell came in less than a second behind to take third in the division (31.47 seconds).
Foronda also made the podium with a sixth place in butterfly (28.12 seconds) and finished behind Ramsdell who was third (1 minute 2.86 seconds) for fifth place in the individual medley (IM) in 1 minute 3.87 seconds.
Elsewhere in the 15-18 age group, Ramsdell placed fifth in backstroke (29.95 seconds) and Bodie Lauinger made the freestyle podium with a sixth place finish (26.39 seconds).
The Wahoos won two division races in the 9-10 boys age group. Conjura won the 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 43.78 seconds. It was one of the closer races of the day, with his teammate Sherry touching just .35 seconds later for second place.
Sherry later won the 100-meter IM in 1 minute 28.78 seconds and was also second in 50-meter freestyle (33.74 seconds) with teammate Kessler-Gowell fifth (35.88 seconds).
Kessler-Gowell and Conjura made the podium for the 25-meter butterfly coming second (18.27 seconds) and sixth (19.61 seconds) and Kessler-Gowell finished third in the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 43.82 seconds.
In the 13-14 boys age group, Alex Guevara won the 50-meter breaststroke in 35.94 seconds. Guevara showed fine form in his three races, touching second in the 50-meter backstroke (32.58 seconds) and fifth in the IM (1minute 12.06 seconds).
The 13-14 girls were represented on the podium by Grace Wittmer who placed third in the 50-meter freestyle (31.28 seconds).
Freya Montes de Oca touched fourth in the 50-meter breaststroke (45.93 seconds) while Eloise Sumner snagged a sixth place (34.85 seconds) in 50-meter freestyle for the 11-12 girls.
The youngest Wahoos were represented on the podium by Victoria Randall who placed third in the 25-meter freestyle (20.69 seconds), Katherine League (26.32 seconds) and Mary Ellis Jones (26.75 seconds) who were fourth and fifth in the 25-meter backstroke, and Nora Forde who placed fifth in IM (2 minutes 16.94 seconds).
The Cory Young All Star meet will be held in Ashburn on July 27.
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