The Bishop O'Connell girls placed second overall at the recent Metro Swim/Dive Championships. The annual season-ending meet features not only all of the private schools from Virginia, D.C. and Maryland, but also many Maryland public high schools, primarily the powerful Montgomery County high schools.

The Lady Knights were paced by Kate Ziegler - first in the 500 freestyle (4:37.67) - an all-time USA "Independent" High Schools record and merely .30 off the all-time U.S. high school record set by Janet Evans more than a decade ago. Ziegler also placed first in the 200 freestyle with a Metro record time of 1:47.15.

"The amazing thing is that Kate's best race is probably the 1,500 freestyle. Unfortunately for Kate, that particular race is not even held on the high school level nor is it held on the Olympic level (for the women)," said O'Connell head coach Evan Stiles.

Also leading the Lady Knights at Metros was Katie Giarra (third in diving), Caitlin Marsilii (third in 500 freestyle) and Kaeley Boyle (fourth in 200 freestyle).

In addition, the Lady Knight 4 x 50 free relay placed second overall (K. Boyle, Maggie Macedonia, Kristin Fimian, K. Ziegler) and the 4 x 100 free relay placed second overall (K. Boyle, M. Macedonia, Anna Macedonia, K. Ziegler).

"Both relay races earned automatic All-American status based on their times," said Stiles.

The O’Connell girls concluded their dual meet season with an impressive overall record of 7-1, losing only to Good Counsel.

The O'Connell boys placed ninth overall at Metros. Leading the Knights was John Dragelin (third in 200 freestyle). The O'Connell boys concluded the season with an overall record of 4-3.

"All of our swimmers/divers represented O'Connell well this season. On the girls side, there are a lot of high caliber swimmers on this team. They had a highly respected and a very successful year," said Stiles.

The Paul VI girls placed 15th overall at (out of nearly 50 teams). The Paul VI boys placed 13th overall.

Due to space limitations, only "top four" finishers at Metros are noted for PVI, O'Connell or Ireton.

The Panther’s lone "top four" finisher was Thomas Hale-Kupiec, who placed fourth overall in the 100 freestyle.

The Lady Panthers concluded the season with a dual meet mark of 5-3; the boys concluded the season with a dual meet mark of 4-4.

On the girls side, seniors Emily Campbell, Stasia Rapp and Rachel Shumaker are weighing their college options.

"The highlight of the season was our finish at the recent V.I.S. (Virginia Independent State) Schools Championships. The girls placed third overall and the guys placed sixth overall" said a pleased second-year head coach Kevin Ahearn

The Ireton girls placed 17th overall and the boys placed 26^th. The lone Cardinal to crack the "top four" was "Briggy" Imbriglia, who finished an impressive second in diving with 426.85 total points.

"Briggy really liked the board up there (in Rockville at the Montgomery County Aquatic Center) and qualified for All-American consideration. He really has a chance over the upcoming three seasons to be the best boy diver in the entire metro area," said head coach Peggy Verducci.

The Lady Cardinals concluded the season with a dual meet mark of 5-2; the boys concluded the season with a dual meet mark of 3-4.

Senior Morgan Hall is weighing her college options at this point in time, but is undecided as of mid-March.

"The highlight of our season was definitely the V.I.S. a few weeks ago. It is a meet where a number of good and very good swimmers can really make an impact," said Verducci. "The Metros meet is a meet where the Kate Zieglers make a difference. Our girls at V.I.S. really rose to the occasion. We really stepped up and finished second on the girls side that day and 13th on the boys side that day. Our girls in particular swam their best meet of the season at V.I.S. Our boys really want to crack the top 10 next season at the V.I.S."