Loyola Blakefield Sweeps All But Two Events At Maryland ‘A’ Champs

Loyola Blakefield won 9 of 11 events in a dominating effort at the Maryland Class A Championships Saturday.

Though much of the state’s top talent was away at the DC Metro Championships, the Maryland meet still offered some outstanding showdowns, including some huge fireworks in the opening event.

In the 200 medley relay to start the meet, Loyola Blakefield went back and forth with Calvert Hall College in a race that came down to a single hundredth of a second. Blakefield led early on a 24.3 backstroke split from freshman Will Pelton, but Calvert Hall’s Zach Potter blasted a 26.2 breaststroke split to put his team into the lead.

Blakefield charged back through butterfly, and the two anchor legs went into the water in a dead tie with 50 yards to go. Blakefield’s Matt Clark split 21.85 to give his team the win and best Calvert Hall 1:36.43 to 1:36.44.

From there, Blakefield would rattle off six straight varsity wins. Senior Ben Brown bookended that run with wins in the 200 free (1:42.87) and 500 free (4:37.38). In between, the eventual state champs got sprint wins from senior Sammy Logue (20.82 in the 50 free, 46.24 in the 100 free) and a 100 fly title out of sophomore Ben Shropshire (51.95).

The freshman Pelton also went 1:53.80 to win the 200 IM, his first of two individual titles on the day. Late in the meet, Pelton was 51.54 to touch out The McDonogh School’s Matthew McGoey (51.65) for the 100 back title.

McGoey led his team to a win in the only relay event to escape Blakefield. His 20.73 anchor leg of the 200 free relay helped McDonogh Hall win in 1:27.62 just one event before that 100 back.

The other event to go to a different team was the 100 breast, where Calvert Hall’s Potter went 58.17 to beat Tze-Z Tan of the Gilman School.

Loyola Blakefield closed their team title with a crushing win in the 400 free relay. The team went 3:10.62 and won by almost two seconds.

Results available on Meet Mobile under “2016 MIAA Swimming Championships.”

Team Scores

1. Loyola Blakefield – 505
2. McDonogh School – 375
3. Calvert Hall – 346
4. Mt. St. Joe – 214.5
5. Gilman School – 203.5
6. Archbishop Spalding – 165