Watkins Mill Will Send Four to Swim at Metro Meet

Four Watkins Mill swimmers are on their way to the Metro championships after posting top-notch times on Saturday and the county championships in Silver Spring.

The team’s overall performance at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Swim Center ranked them 22nd overall on Saturday, but four times were fast enough to qualify for the upcoming Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships.

The boys’ 200-meter freestyle team—consisting of Michael Parra, Patrick King, Eric Valdez and Nick Lechner—swam their heat in 1:42.12 to qualify for the Metro meet.

Individually, Lechner will represent the Wolverines in the 100-meter freestyle and the 200-meter individual medley after posting times of 51.75 seconds and 2:03.46, respectively.

Saturday’s came on the heels of the county’s 500-meter championships on Thursday, where several Watkins Mill swimmers put up personal bests.

The team fielded three of the four swimmers needed for Thursday’s meet, and their time did not place high enough for a combined team score.

Personal accomplishments included freshman Michael Parra swimming the 500-meter freestyle in 6:40.03; Kelly Lewis swimming the event in 7:00.67 despite her goggles coming off mid-swim; and Abby Young winning her heat in 7:14.11 minutes—lopping a full 16 seconds off of her personal best. Coach Bryan Clark noted the sophomore’s improvement of late.

"[Abby] won the heat last week at the divisionals, too. So, it's the second time in a row she's won her heat," he said. "Every week she's improved her time. Last week, she improved her time by about four seconds, but by 16 seconds is just unheard of. … She's doing a great job."

Taking Thursday and Saturday together, Clark was pleased with his team's effort against the county's larger teams.

"A lot of people got their personal bests, again. A lot of them are in multiple events, so I know they're tired. And this is a very long day, but they've stuck around and rooted each other on," Clark said. "It's going to be real exciting to see the best swimmers in the area next week."

As the season wound down at the MLK center, Clark reflected on his team's character. 

"They truly are a team. Just about every Friday night, they have team dinners, and parents host them. I've been to a few of them, and just seeing them interact away from practice—they all hang out, outside of school, and not just at practice. So, I'm just real fortunate to be a part of it," Clark said. "We all root each other on when we do the individual events. And, I think it brings out the best. A team that's real close together, I think, they can perform well, at their best."