The C. Milton Wright Mustangs stormed to an overall victory Tuesday night at the Harford County Girls Swimming Championship meet, topping all comers with eight victories at the 11-race event.
CMW finished with 397 points. Coming in at second with 318 points was Patterson Mill, and rounding out the podium was North Harford, which posted 235 points.
The rest of the field finished as follows: fourth, Bel Air, 212; fifth, Havre de Grace, 190; sixth, Fallston, 179; seventh, Aberdeen, 161; eighth, Edgewood, 123; ninth, Harford Tech, 119; 10th, Joppatowne, 82.
"I'm elated," CMW coach Debbie King said after the Tuesday victory. "The girls swam so well tonight. We have a group of five seniors who, since they've been freshmen, have won the county meet every year, and this is a perfect way to cap off a season for them. I think of the 20 girls on our team, we didn't have a finish below 10th place tonight in any race. Everyone performed really well."
Sweeping the relay events with victories in the 200-yard medley, 400-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle team races, the Mustangs also had five individual swimmers take first-place finishes. Leading the way for the winners was Rachel Flint, who won the 500-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Danielle King won the 200-yard freestyle for the Mustangs, while teammate Gabby Jordan took first in the 50-yard freestyle. The Mustangs' final individual title of the night came from freshman Julia O'Mara, who took top honors in the 100-yard breaststroke.
The CMW team of Katie Gallagher, Lauren O'Mara, Flint and King won the girls 400-yard freestyle relay, while the 200-yard freestyle relay title went to the Mustang squad comprised of Julia O'Mara, Erika Slotnick, Jordan and Gallagher.
In the meet's opening race, King, Flint, Taylor Nesbit and Lauren O'Mara broke a CMW school record, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:56.49.
Patterson Mill freshman Sydney Thompson had a fine showing at her first county championship meet, taking home a pair of titles with wins in the 200-yard medley and 100-yard backstroke races.
Aberdeen's Cora Summerfield earned the Eagle girls a first-place finish, beating the field in the 100-yard butterfly.
The meet's first individual race, the 200-yard freestyle, saw a clean sweep by CMW, with Emily Jordan and Ida Erdhardt taking second and third, respectively, behind King.
Taking second in the 200-yard medley was Lauren O'Mara, while sister, Julia O'Mara, grabbed third.
Summerfield earned another podium finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a second-place effort, while Gallagher took third in that race for CMW.
Finishing behind Summerfield in the 100-yard butterfly were King, who grabbed second place, and Fallston's Madison Brown.
The 100-yard freestyle saw Bel Air's Taylor Chan take second place, while Katie Gallagher raced to a third-place showing.
The 500-yard freestyle was another sweep for the Mustangs, with Jillian Carter and Maggie Gallagher finishing behind Flint.
CMW's Nesbit grabbed second place in the 100-yard backstroke, and rounding out the podium in that event was Fallston's Brown.
Lauren O'Mara earned second place in the girls 100-yard breaststroke, 0.05 second behind Julia O'Mara, while Harford Tech's Katie Doleschal finished in third place.
"Even though we have regionals and states coming up, this is a really big meet for everyone," King said. "In the county meet, you're swimming against people you see all season, who you're on club teams with, who you grew up swimming against, so you want to do well. On the bus ride to this meet, everyone is pretty excited."
As for Thursday's boys championship meet, which was postponed until Thursday after all Wednesday sports were canceled because of the snow, King said she expected the Mustang boys to have their work cut out for them.
"We haven't won the boys meet for a few years," King said. "And ,there's lots of good teams to swim against. Havre de Grace has a very good team, Fallston and North Harford are both strong, Harford Tech has a good team. Everyone is pretty fast, but hopefully we can come out with a win in that one too, and get the combined championship. That's what we're hoping for."
Please see http://www.exploreharford.com for results of Thursday's Harford County Boys Swimming Championship meet.