During the regular swim season, Archbishop Spalding High School, Severn, dominated the IAAM B Conference and carried that forward on Feb. 3 into the IAAM Swimming Championships held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus.
The Lady Cavaliers scored 463 points, quite a feat for a B Conference school whose only competition, Severn School, scored 295 to place second.
Powered by a number of first-, second- and third-place finishes, the Cavs were just 12 points shy of the meet’s first-place finisher, McDonogh School, an A Conference competitor.
The Lady Cavs will be moving into the A Conference in 2008-2009 after going 8-1 in B Conference dual meet competition. Their only league loss came at the hands of St. Mary’s High School, Annapolis, in their first dual meet of the season.
Head Coach Kristen Koehler, finishing her fourth season with the team, has watched the growth of her senior swimmers since their freshman year.
The Cavs swept the 50-yard freestyle with gold, bronze and silver finishes from Colleen Miller (26.90), Hannah Huber (27.15) and Lisa Miller (27.51). Lindsey Magaw took first place in the 500-yard freestyle race with a time of 5:25.62 with teammates Patti Schult (5:40.79) placing third and Melanie Rebecchi (5:53.89) placing fourth. The Cavs’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of Colleen Miller, Hannah Huber, Kathryn Martin and Meghan Peterson also placed first with a time of 1:47.71.
Mount de Sales Academy, Catonsville, placed third overall with a score of 432. The team was led by Emily Dean, Mattie Riley and Erin Shea. Earlier in the week, the Sailors upended McDonogh School in a dual meet contest to place first in the IAAM A Conference; they placed second in the National Catholic Preps.
Notre Dame Preparatory School, Towson, placed third in the A Conference title competition with 331.