BY DEWEY FOX
Saturday’s 1A/2A/3A MPSSAA Championship Swim Meet saw four different Harford County athletes race to state titles, while two boys teams earned top-three overall finishes.
The North Harford boys squad had the county’s best showing, taking second place with 259 combined points, just 10 behind the first-place Walkersville team. Fallston finished third in the boys standings with 233 points.
In the girls’ events, North Harford had the best team finish, taking fourth place, while Fallston finished in seventh and Bel Air took eighth.
The rest of Harford County’s teams had the following overall finishes: Havre de Grace girls, ninth; Patterson Mill girls, 11th; Harford Tech girls, 17th; Joppatowne girls, 26th; Edgewood girls, 27th; Havre de Grace boys, 10th; Patterson Mill boys, 11th; Harford Tech boys; 15th; Edgewood boys, 16th; Bel Air boys; 19th; Joppatowne boys, 21st.
North Harford had two of its swimmers bring home Maryland titles in Meredith Foster and Jesse Rowles, each of whom also earned a second-place finish. Foster won the girls 100-yard backstroke, beating the second-place finisher by nearly two seconds, and earlier in the meet finished second in the 100-yard freestyle. Rowles’ first-place performance came in the boys 100-yard butterfly, and he took second in the 200-yard freestyle.
Fallston’s’ Austin Appel earned a state title in the boys 100-yard backstroke, and finished second behind Rowles in the 100-yard butterfly.
The only other Harford County swimmer with a first-place showing at Saturday’s meet was Fallston’s Madison Brown, who finished nearly 11 seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer in the girls 500-yard freestyle. Brown also earned a podium finish in the 200-yard individual medley, taking third place.
North Harford’s Jimmy Driver was third place in both the boys 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events, while teammate Gabe Lackey finished third in the 500-yard freestyle.
Fallston’s Chad Hoke earned the Cougars their only other individual podium finish, taking second in the boys 200-yard individual medley.
Collin Hickey, of the Patterson Mill boys squad, was right at the top of the pack in two events, taking second in the 500-yard freestyle, and third in the 200-yard freestyle. The Huskies’ best finish in a girls event came when Katie Ward earned third place in the 500-yard freestyle.
Bel Air’s top individual performer was Carley Nitchie, who put forth a second-place performance in the girls 50-yard freestyle.
Harford Tech’s Brandon Carestia had his team’s best individual showing, earning third place in the boys 100-yard backstroke.
North Harford’s team of Rowles, Driver, Lackey and Dillon Wilson combined to bring home a state title in the boys 400-yard freestyle relay race. In the boys 200-yard freestyle relay, Wilson, Rowles, Driver and John Burton took third place.
North Harford’s girls team of Foster, Nicole Ricci, Alexandra Jacobs and Zoey Friedel had two podium finishes, taking third in both the 200-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay.
Fallston’s team of Appel, Hoke, Dan Power and Isaac Galeone earned third place in the boys 200-yard freestyle relay.
Ward, McKenzie Miller, Emily Hirschman and Emily Jordan teamed up to take third place in the girls 200-yard freestyle relay for Patterson Mill.
Mustangs girls take third
Facing stiff competition at the 3A/4A MPSSAA State Swimming Finals on Saturday afternoon, the C. Milton Wright girls squad battled to a third-place overall finish, which was the meet’s best showing by a Harford County team.
CMW earned 212 points in the girls event, which put the Mustangs 88 points behind Urbana, and 119 behind the first-place Severna Park team.
The CMW boys squad finished in 12th place, while Aberdeen’s boys team finished at 22nd.
CMW’s Rachel Flint had the best day of any Mustang, earning a state title to go with a third-place individual showing and another podium finish in a relay event. Flint’s title came in the girls 100-yard freestyle, where she beat the second-place finisher by two-tenths of a second. Earlier in the meet, Flint took third in the 200-yard freestyle.
Danielle King took third place in the 100-yard butterfly for the Mustang girls’ only other individual podium finish.
Darren Slotnick was the lone CMW boys swimmer to take a top-three finish, earning third place in the boys 200-yard freestyle.
In the girls 200-yard freestyle relay, Flint, King, Kerry Treusdell and Katie Gallagher raced to a third-place finish. The same four swimmers also teamed up to finish fourth in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
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Sherrilyn Ifill was returning to Baltimore from New York on Amtrak train 80 Friday when she says a junior conductor approached and asked her to give up her seat. To say that the internationally known civil rights attorney and activist bristled would be an understatement.
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