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By Sophia Chiang, Swimming World College Intern
The 2016 Delaware DIAA High School State Championships are set to take place this weekend, February 23-27 as hosted by the Suburban Swim League.
Women’s
The first event, the women’s 200 yard medley relay, will be a tight finish between the top four ranked teams Archmere Academy (1:55.02), Cape Henlopen (1:55.18), Ursuline Academy (1:55.22), and the Charter School of Wilmington (1:55.47). At this point, this event is anyone’s game.
The first individual of the night will likely come down to a tight finish between top seed Ellie Jogani (1:57.47) of Archmere and Caroline Fry (1:58.93) of St Andrews in the 200 yard freestyle. Ursuline’s Marie Dickson (2:12.66) is the top seed in the women’s 200 yard individual medley, and Padua’s Emily Pfeifer (2:13.05) is the second fastest seed.
Sussex Tech’s Hannah Venables (24.66) is the top seed in the 50 yard freestyle, although she will face strong competition from Wilmington Friends Atim Kilama (24.85).
There are four strong ways the 100 yard butterfly could clearly go, and it’s a match-up between Wilmington Friends Ashley Chompre (59.13), Ursuline’s Dickson (59.83), Appoquinimink’s Alexis DeIonno (59.94), and Padua’s Lauren Mottel (59.94). In the 100 yard freestyle, Jogani will be out for a possible second state title of the evening, seeded in 54.35, slightly ahead of second seed Venables of Sussex Tech (55.63), who could also be out for a second individual state title. This could be the race of the night to watch.
St Andrews’s Fry could also be out for a second state title in the 500 yard freestyle (5:12.84), although she’ll have to stay ahead of St Mark’s Meghan Jones (5:15.84).
In the second relay of the evening, the women’s 200 yard freestyle relay, the Charter School of Wilmington has the top seed in 1:40.12, followed by Cape Henlopen (1:43.22) and Wilmington Friends (1:44.02).
Appoquinimink’s Josephine Marsh will have her first shot of the night at an individual state title in the women’s 100 yard backstroke (1:00.64), followed by St Mark’s Jones, who will have her second shot at a state title as well (1:01.01). Wilmington Friends’s Chompre will have a second shot at a state title as well in the next event, the women’s 100 yard breaststroke, as she’ll be the top seed in 1:08.49. Seeded second is Ursuline’s Sophia McAneny-Droz (1:08.54).
Wilmington Friends could wrap up a relay state title in the final event of the evening, the women’s 400 yard freestyle relay (3:46.96), although they’ll have to fend off stiff competition from the Charter School of Wilmington (3:47.62) and Archmere Academy (3:49.25) in order to do it.
Men’s
The men of the Charter School of Wilmington will be looking to set the tone for the night in the first boys event of the evening, the 200 yard medley relay, seeded in 1:39.14, two seconds ahead of second seed Selasianum School (1:41.39) and the St Andrews School (1:42.90).
The first individual event of the night, the 200 yard freestyle, is looking to possibly be a three way tight finish, where top seeds Alec Menzer (1:47.07) of Newark Charter, Jake Menzer (1:47.10) of Del Mil Academy, and Gerasimos Veneris (1:47.26) of Concord will likely be in dead heat.
In the next event, the 200 yard individual medley, Mt Sophia’s Jacob Johnson has the clear lead, seeded in 1:57.03, followed by Conrad’s Brett Saunders (2:00.21). In the men’s 50 yard freestyle, Selasinum’s Jack Portmann (21.87) is the top seed, followed my Indian River’s Mason Sanders (22.35).
Tatnall’s David Crossland should be looking for an easy state title win in the 100 yard butterfly, seeded in 49.40, nearly two seconds ahead of second place seed Connor Sweeney of Wilmington Charter (52.02). Meanwhile, the men’s 100 yard freestyle looks to be a tight one: Wilmington Friend’s Samuel Huo is the top seed in 48.89, followed by Concord’s Veneris (48.91) and Salesinum’s Portmann (49.72).
In the 500 yard freestyle, Salesinum’s Matt Otto is the top seed in 4:44.55, followed by Mt Pleasant’s Bryce Ciecko (4:47.63). Salesinum is also the top seed in the second relay of the night, the men’s 200 yard freestyle relay, in 1:30.40. In order to grab the title, they’ll have to fend off Concord High School’s men (1:31.36) and the Charter School of Wilmington’s men (1:31.36).
Tatnall’s Crossland will fight for a possible second title of the night in the men’s 100 yard backstroke, seeded in 50.53, three seconds ahead of second seed Jack Weeks of Cape Henlopen (53.78). Tatnall, an Auburn University commit, will continue to light up the pool at this meet, and he’s going to be a huge name to watch for in the future.
In the men’s 100 yard breaststroke, Salesinum’s Otto will make a possible second run at a title in 57.56, in which he is almost four seconds ahead of second place seed Saunders of Conrad (1:01.41). Otto, only a current junior, is considered to be Delaware’s top male swimmer in power points, so he’ll be a force to watch out for once recruiting season begins.
In the final event of the evening, the men’s 400 yard freestyle relay, Concord will be a top seed in 3:22.33, but they’ll have to put up a tough fight in the face of Wilmington Charter’s 3:22.38, and St Andrews certainly won’t be far behind (3:23.41).
To view the psych sheets for the DIAA Swimming Championships this weekend, click here. We will be covering the meet’s final results on Swimming World, so remember to check back.
