Ziegler Sets National Record in Freestyle

With each passing lap of last night's girls' 500-yard freestyle final at the Metros Championships, the standing-room crowd at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center grew louder. The new building sensed history, and O'Connell's Kate Ziegler, with each powerful stroke through the water, did not disappoint.

When the O'Connell senior touched the wall, the time on the scoreboard flashed 4 minutes 33.35 seconds, establishing not only the fastest high school time ever recorded at the distance (by nearly four seconds), but a third American record for Ziegler. Her time shattered the previous short course record of 4:37.30 set by five-time Olympic medalist Janet Evans in 1988.

As the crowd noise grew following the announcement of the records, Ziegler sheepishly climbed back atop the starting block of Lane 5 to acknowledge the crowd.

"It was the most embarrassing, awkward moment of my life, but after the first 10 seconds it was kind of nice," said Ziegler, who also matched the fastest high school time ever recorded in the 200-yard freestyle in her first race of the night by swimming a 1:45.49.

"You can't get used to the feeling, especially when it's a Janet Evans record. I came in hoping to break the high school record and to get the American record was just the icing on the cake," said Ziegler, who also owns records in the 800-meter short course and 1,000-yard short course.

Ziegler's feats headlined one of the fastest Metros meets in history, one in which 10 records were broken.

Good Counsel, led by senior Liz Kemp, captured its 10th consecutive girls' title in resounding fashion, scoring 425 points, well ahead of second-place O'Connell (327) and third-place Richard Montgomery (310).

The Falcons got things started early in the first event, the 200-yard medley relay. Kemp, along with teammates Colleen Haase, Meg Waters and Kelli Kyle, set a national independent school record, winning the race in 1:43.51, lowering the previous mark by more than a second.

It was just the start of a banner day for Kemp, who would go on to set a new record in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.28 as well as win the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 55.47. In addition to Kemp, Good Counsel got a win from Waters in the 100-yard freestyle (51.75) and meet records from Haase in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.56), Kyle in the 100-yard backstroke (56.56) and its 200-yard freestyle relay team (1:36.63).

"I wanted to go out with a bang but I've had such a good time swimming for Good Counsel," said Kemp, who will swim for Virginia next season. "This team is just awesome."

Georgetown Prep continued its recent domination by winning its third straight Metros boys' title, thanks primarily to the combination of junior Josh Hafkin and freshman Brady Fox.

The Little Hoyas wrapped up the meet with 390 points, followed by Gonzaga (322) and DeMatha (292).

With Georgetown Prep locked in a tight battle for first place with the Purple Eagles and eventual fourth-place finisher Whitman entering the 100-yard backstroke, Coach Kirby Weldon knew that he would need something special from his top two backstrokers, Hafkin and Fox. Swimming next to each other in Lanes 5 and 6, the pair swam away from the field to take the top two spots, Hafkin in a meet record of 49.51 and Fox in 51.70, giving the Little Hoyas the points they needed to coast through the rest of the meet.

"We wait all year for this meet. We don't care about dual meets; we don't care about anything else -- this is our meet," said Hafkin, who also set a meet record in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 20.90.

Fox also grabbed individual honors in the 500-yard freestyle with a winning time of 4:34.38, and Georgetown Prep junior Robert Grimmett-Norris took first place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:42.25 to help lead the Little Hoyas' charge.

Metro Swimming Championships In Whitman's Defense: Junior Matt Cooper and senior Adam Meyer defended titles in the 1-meter diving (528.1) and the 200-yard individual medley (1:53.03) for Whitman.