Sounds of cheers and splashes could be heard as the WJ girls’ swim team dived into the pool in jubilation after the team won the Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming & Diving (Metros) Championship. The boys’ team, placing third, cheered from the sideline after both teams made the podium for the first time in program history.
“It feels awesome to win Metros,” head coach Jamie Grimes said. “It’s nice to have both teams be successful because it’s usually one or the other.“
Metros — the mecca of high school scholastic swimming in the DC metropolitan area — brings together 43 high schools in a meet that features the area’s best swimmers, forcing teams to be near-flawless for the four-day competition.
In a rare occurrence where both public and private schools share the pool, the winner of Metros receives glory like no other as they earn the title of the best in the entire DC area.
“Metros mean more than states,” Grimes said. “It’s all of the swimmers’ friends that swim both public and private, so they get to race them, and it’s a different environment. ”
The girls’ team was able to claim that title and rise above 32 different schools, defeating perennial powerhouse and third-place finisher Stone Ridge (alma mater of Olympic medalists Katie Ledecky and Erin Gemmell) and the reigning Metros champion Richard Montgomery.
‘I was really proud for us, winning as a team,” senior captain Isla Bartholomew said. “The girls haven’t won since 2017. We all stepped up and swam really well.”
The team proved their dominance throughout the four days, winning by a large margin of 69.5 points. As the final hours of the meet came to an end, the realization that they would soon be Metro champions settled it.
“We knew we were going to win before the final relay, so it made it a lot less stressful,” junior Anne Mulkey said.
Beyond domination on the girls’ side, the boys’ team was able to break multiple school records. Senior Noah Potter set records in both the 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke, while junior Taiyo Murphy, sophomores Luc Dionne and Owen Mclellan and Potter etched their name in the school record books in the 400 freestyle relay.
The final Saturday featured hundreds of fans and swimmers packed into Germantown Indoor Swim Center. Teams hung their banners in spirit, and a square foot of empty space was a rare sight.
“The environment was incredible,” athletic director Larry Hurd Jr. said. “It was electric to have so many people; you’re looking 15-20 deep at every corner of the pool, and everyone is just going nuts. It was incredible. What an experience for all of the kids.”
With the environment being so chaotic, it can be hard for the swimmers to stay focused.
“You tell yourself you’ve been practicing for this, you got this. It’s you against yourself,” Murphy said.
Both teams stayed focused and will continue to do so as they each make a push toward a regional title and state championship.
“I feel like we can win state and regionals pretty easily,” Dionne said. “I’m excited for it.”
The 4A/3A West regional championship is this Saturday at Martin Luther King Swim Center, starting at 8:00 a.m.
