Boys Take First, Girls Take Second in VHSL 2A State Meet
Nineteen 2A and 23 3A schools met up at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center last Thursday and Friday to compete in the 2014 Virginia High School League state swim and dive meet. By the time it was over late Friday night, both the boys and girls swim teams from George Mason High School were able to bring home trophies for the first time since the VHSL reclassification that took effect this season. The boys team was named the 2A champion, outscoring its nearest opponent by 112.5 points. The girls team was the 2A runner-up, missing first by 84 points.
After a morning of preliminaries and qualifying races, Mason sent forward every member of its boys and girls teams to compete in the top-eight finals heat of every event. The athletes placed first in 10 of 22 events, becoming part of the new set of records for the first 2A state meet.
Seven new school records were also set by athletes on the Mason teams. Anna Rice broke Rachel Hassan’s dive record from five years ago and Beth Cashin’s new 50-yard freestyle record of 0:24.59 had previously belonged to Kelley Frank for seven years. Other new team records were set by Miller Surette in the 200-yard individual medley (1:57.00) and the 500-yard freestyle (4:38.33); Cashin in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.64); Jared Britton in the 50-yard freestyle (0:21.72); and the boy’s 400-yard freestyle relay team of Surette, Justin and Jared Britton, and Nick Roberson (3:19.53).
Two junior swimmers, Jared Britton and Cashin, each brought home gold medals in all four of their events – Britton for the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley relay, and 400-yard freestyle relay, and Cashin for the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 200-yard medley relay, and 200-yard freestyle relay.
The Mason boys took first with 377.50 points, followed by Maggie Walker Governor’s School with 265, Marion Senior High School with 200, Bruton High School with 194.50, Virginia High School with 144, Radford High School with 130, Martinsville High School with 103, and Clarke County High School with 72.
The Mason girls were second with 332 points behind Maggie Walker Governor’s School with 416. In third was Bruton with 184, followed by Virginia High School with 135, James River High School with 122, Glenvar High School with 107, Radford High School with 96, and Madison High School with 80.
