As winter break wound down, the George Mason High School varsity swim teams traveled to Manassas Park Community Center last Saturday to compete against Strasburg High School. The results from the two opening races of the meet – the boys and girls 200-yard medley relays – set the tone for the meet. Mason teams took first and second in both, and continued their winning ways throughout evening.

Swimmers were challenged by a meet in which Coach Jon-Michael Lemon had placed them in new events, and they excelled. Six new VHSL times were recorded. Justin Britton, Miller Surette, and Beth Cashin all swam state-qualifying times in the 50-yard freestyle. Nick Roberson took first and swam a VHSL qualifying time in 100-yard freestyle (0:50.96). Miller Surette eked out a first-place finish (0:56.89) in the 100-yard backstroke over Roberson (0:56.99), and now both have VHSL qualifying times. To cap the VHSL qualifiers for this meet, the boys 200-yard freestyle relay team of Austin Gogal, Daniel Reinfurt, Roberson, and Jared Britton swam for first place (1:36.44) and a trip to states.

Mason saw another impressive feat, as a group of four freshman boys took seconds off of their times in the shortest race, the 50-yard freestyle. Justin Britton placed second (0:24.00), Caelin Campbell improved his time by more than two seconds (0:28.95), Jimmy Ferguson dropped his time by 1.46 to 0:29.00, and Ethan Keck lowered his time by nearly a second to 0:29.40. Not to be outdone, all three girls in the 100-yard backstroke improved their times and swept that race: Erin McFall (first at 1:06.31), Cashin (second at 1:07.02), and Ziggy Thetard (third at 1:12.40).

With depth and speed, the Mason boys bested Strasburg 125 – 39, and the Mason girls were on top 128 – 42.

The Mason teams will face Clarke County back at Manassas Park Community Center this Saturday, Jan. 11, at 8:30 p.m.