In just its third year, St. Michael’s swim team has grown into a solid contender in the Delaney Athletic Conference.

In 2011, St. Michael’s recorded a fourth-place result in the boys meet and a fifth in the girls, well behind perennial conference champions Seton School.

The Warriors showed how far they have come with a second-place finish by the boys team and fourth by the girls at this year’s DAC Championships, which they hosted on Saturday.

The boys scored 306 points to finish behind Seton School—which totaled 512 points—but ahead of local rivals Fredericksburg Academy (fourth, 221 points) and Fredericksburg Christian (fifth, 165 points).

The girls finished with 214 points, behind first-place Seton (497) and runner-up Fredericksburg Academy (317), but ahead of FCS (fourth, 202).

The improvement since last year can also be seen in the point margins, not just the better results in the team standings. Last year, the Warriors’ boys finished 290 points behind the first-place Conquistadors. That difference dropped to 206 this year, while the girls closed from within 314 last year to 283 this year.

The team finishes weren’t the only improvement.

While the Warriors had just one first-place finish at last year’s DAC meet (Alec Morin in the 100 backstroke), this past Saturday’s meet was highlighted by four.

The boys 400 freestyle relay team of Morin, Eddie O’Brien, Nolan Turley and Jacob Hallahan won by more than six seconds; and the girls 400 free relay team of Maria Camarca, Mary Grace Britton, Maggie Van Deusen and Kathrine Britton did so by just under three.

Morin also added individual wins in the 200 freestyle (2:02.72) and the 50 free (23.49).

The improvement is also evident in the increased number of representatives participating in the Virginia Independent School Athletic Association state meet.

After having just one swimmer compete last year, St. Michael’s will participate in nine events—five individual and four relays—at this year’s championship meet, which take place Thursday at the Freedom Center in Manassas beginning at 9 a.m.

GROUP AAA MEET
The Group AAA state meet will be this Friday and Saturday at the George Mason Aquatics Center on the campus of George Mason University.

Preliminaries will be held on Friday beginning at 4 p.m., with the finals taking place Saturday starting at 4 p.m.

—Tom Leiss