Over the last two weeks, the Madison High School swim team competed at the U & ME ‘A’ and ‘B’ championships. These championship meets differed from the dual meets that the team usually competes in, as instead of competing against only one other team, the Dodgers were up against swimmers from multiple different schools all in the same pool. 

‘A’ championships were held on January 6 and ‘B’ championships were held on January 14, with both meets taking place at Morristown High School. In order to compete at the ‘A’ champs, a swimmer must hit certain qualifying times. However, anyone is allowed to compete at ‘B’ champs unless they qualify for ‘A’ champs, as the meet is primarily a way for swimmers to get more racing experience.

This season marks the first time since the 2019-20 season that ‘A’ and ‘B’ champs were held, as both the 2021 and 2022 renditions of the meets were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

‘A’ Champs

At ‘A’ champs, the Dodgers saw two winners: senior captain Owen Weller and sophomore Jac Chemaly.

Weller raced the 200-meter individual medley, finishing first out of eight swimmers. His splits in butterfly (30.15), breaststroke (42.65), and freestyle (33.66) were very similar to second-place finisher Tyler Chen of Roxbury, but his strong backstroke split (35.62) was 0.69 seconds faster than Chen’s, earning him first place.

Ultimately, Weller ended up beating Chen by 0.7 seconds, posting the fastest backstroke and butterfly splits of the field in addition to the second-fastest breaststroke and freestyle splits.

“I was pretty happy with the race,” Weller said. “It felt really controlled and I did a good job pushing the middle 100. I didn’t love the time but was pleased to come away with a win.”

In addition, Weller also finished fourth out of 16 swimmers in the 100 breaststroke, clocking a time of 1:14.58.

Chemaly won the 200 freestyle by nearly six seconds, posting a time of 2:04.92, beating out his 14 other competitors in his race. His lead progressively increased throughout the race, as he was 1.08 seconds ahead of the second place finisher after the first 50, 2.12 seconds ahead at the 100, 4.05 seconds ahead at the 150, and 5.6 seconds ahead at the 200.  

Following the 200, Chemaly also competed in the 400 freestyle, where he was third out of eight swimmers. He swam a time of 4:33.38.

Sophomore Layla Knoll also earned a top six finish, placing fourth out of 15 swimmers in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:25.61.  

The boys’ and girls’ 200 medley relays also placed top six, as the girls’ medley relay of freshman Alexis Lee (37.02), senior Stacy Deng (41.24), Knoll (35.32), and sophomore Evelyn Juliano (31.14) placed fourth out of six teams in a time of 2:24.72, while the boys’ medley relay of Weller (29.78), freshman Spencer Rosenbaum (36.72), freshman Ethan Simms (34.78), and Chemaly (26.23) also placed fourth out of six teams and combined for a time of 2:07.51.

Notably, Chemaly’s 26.23 freestyle split was the second-fastest within the boys’ 200 medley relay.

Also competing at ‘A’ champs were sophomore Anna Kulesa, freshman Kaden Chou, and junior Justin Dickson. Junior Erin Barisonek, senior captain Fiona Beacom, junior Eva Deng, junior Emma Dooley, senior captain Karen Wu, sophomore Anuthra Abeysinghe, and senior Evan Katz all qualified for the meet but were not able to attend, while senior Nina Kornchankul and freshman Peter Falcone qualified but competed at ‘B’ champs instead because of the three-swimmer-per-event limit at ‘A’ champs.

‘B’ Champs

The majority of Madison swimmers that didn’t compete at ‘A’ champs swam at ‘B’ champs, and there were a plethora of top six finishers. Senior Louise Nielsen was the sole event winner, placing first out of 17 swimmers in the 100 breaststroke.

Nielsen led from start to finish in her race, clocking a time of 1:40.33 to win by over four seconds. In addition, she also improved over three seconds from her seed time of 1:43.64.

“I had a great time at ‘B’ champs and I was very happy to have a great race,” Nielsen said.

In addition, Nielsen was also sixth out of 16 swimmers in the 100 individual medley, clocking a time of 1:33.52. She was the only swimmer at ‘B’ champs with multiple top six finishes.

Senior Nina Kornchankul also saw success, placing fourth overall in the 50 freestyle, which was the most competitive event of the meet. She put up a time of 34.47, and was racing in a field of 42 swimmers.

Another top six finisher on the girls’ side was junior Sophia Modi, who was fifth out of 16 competitors in the 50 butterfly with a time of 41.01.

On the boys’ side, senior Jake Terry and freshman Peter Falcone scored top four finishes. Falcone was fourth out of 15 swimmers in the 100 breaststroke and swam a time of 1:28.02, while Terry was sixth out of 15 swimmers in the 100 backstroke and swam a time of 1:24.63. In fact, Terry was also sixth in the 100 backstroke at the 2020 edition of ‘B’ champs, held during his freshman season.

In addition to individual finishes, the Dodgers also had four relays place in the top six. The girls’ 200 medley relay of freshman Mackenzie Dickson, Nielsen, Modi, and Kornchankul were fourth out of 14 teams and combined for a time of 2:46.33, while the boys’ 200 medley relay of Terry, Falcone, sophomore Martin Bria and sophomore Adam Haydoutov were third out of 12 teams and combined for a time of 2:25.86.

The girls’ 200 freestyle relay of Nielsen, sophomore Matilda Han, Dickson, and senior Anna Tuttle placed third out of 12 teams with a time of 2:30.78, while the boys’ 200 freestyle relay of Terry, Haydoutov, Falcone, and Bria were sixth out of ten teams in a time of 2:17.59.