A winning formula of having vast talent and depth was displayed by the Langley Saxons as the boys high-school team remained atop the swimming and diving throne of the 6D North Region.
Langley repeated as title holders, its third such crown in four years. Langley was first with 373.5, overtaking the Chantilly Chargers in the final three events of the swimming finals, held the night of Feb. 3 at Oakmont RECenter in Oakton.
For the Langley boys, double-winner Hunter Zipperer led the way by winning the 50 (20.39) and 100 (45.82) freestyle races and swimming on the winning medley (1:32.83) and 400 free (3:07.95) relay teams. Jacob Lee was on the medley and third-place 200 free relay and finished second in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 100 backstroke.
Also for Langley, Charles Hu was third in the 200 and fourth in the 100 free races, Michael Zhou was third in the individual medley and fifth in the back, Garvin Parris was fourth in the 100 breaststroke and fifth in the 200 free, Ethan Shin was fifth in the breast and sixth in the 100 free, Avery Kuhn was fourth in the 200 free and eighth in the back and Evan Poulos was fifth in the 500 free and 11th in the breast. James Lee, Luca Sanchez, Rajin Braynard and Alex Pahlevanpour added top 15 finishes and Alan Fu was sixth in diving.
Zhou, Poulos and Lee also swam on the medley relay and Zhou, Hu and Kuhn on the 400 free.
“Our boys were amazing in the preliminaries last night to put us in a good position for tonight. They gave it their all,” Langley coach Meghan Overend said. “We have a lot of the same swimmers back from last year.”
Also in the boys meet, McLean was third and Oakton fourth.
For McLean, Aaron Jia won the 50 and 100 free races and Hugo Haggard was fifth in the 50 and 100 free races. In diving, McLean’s Nick Wanzer won the title (515.65) and Noah Wanzer was fourth.
Matthew Bowman led the Oakton boys with a second in the IM and third in the fly. The 200 and 400 free relays were second.
In boys diving, Oakton’s Thibault Lede was second and Brendan Doe third.
For the Marshall boys, Michael DeSando was fifth in diving.
The Langley girls also had a strong showing with a second-place finish, led by the winning 400 free relay (3:29.54) and a first in the IM (2:04.79) and a second in the back by Gloria Kuang. Langley’s 200 free and medley relays were third.
Other top individual finishers for the Langley girls were a second in the 100 free by Alyssa Webb, a third by Marina Watson in the 100 free, a third by Ginger Strickland in the 500 free, a fourth by Lara De in the 500 free, a fifth by Kira Thornton in the breast, a seventh by Tessa Jones in the back and a ninth in the 100 free and 12th in the breast by Gretchen Steber.
Kuang, Watson, Strickland and Webb made up the winning relay.
Leading the fourth-place Oakton girls, was a second in diving by Isabelle Whang, a second by the 200 free relay, and strong swims by Aubrey Swanson, Devon Corderman (third in the breast), Annika Rieger and Esther Swanson.
The McLean girls placed fifth, as Catherine Hughes won the breaststroke (1:02.81) and swam on three relays. Jocelyn Brooks won the diving with a 4:04.8 total score. Also, Eleanor Murphy was third in the 50 free and Danielle Hughes had two top-six finishes.
Leading the Madison girls were Charlotte Dixon with a second in the 200 free and fourth in the back and Celia Bredehoeft with a fourth in the IM and seventh in the 500 free.
For the Marshall girls, Emma Watts had two top-eight finishes.
