River Hill swimming edges Atholton to win 45th annual Howard County Invitational

Jacob Steinberg, Howard County Times, Columbia, Md.
·4 min read

Jun. 6—High school swimmers from throughout Howard County joined together Saturday for the 45th annual Howard County Invitational.

River Hill won a tightly-contested meet, beating Atholton by just two points, 620 to 618, for the overall title. Marriotts Ridge (577), Long Reach (520) and Centennial (422) rounded out the overall top five teams.

Seven total swimmers earned a maximum total of 40 points. For the girls, Jerica Yuan (Centennial), Ainsley Stephan (River Hill), Nina Heron (Long Reach) and Melissa Nwakalor (Atholton) reached the maximum point total. On the boys side, Aidan Loehr (Reservoir), Andrew Chen (River Hill) and Roger Zhu (Marriotts Ridge) did the same.

Atholton won the girls team title with 310 points, paced by Nwakalor, while Marriotts Ridge captured the boys title with 361 points led by Zhu.

Nwakalor paced the Raiders girls with her maximum point total for the second consecutive season. She won the 50- and 100-yard freestyles, finishing in 24.73 and 58.39 seconds, respectively. Fellow junior Gabby Freund also helped lead the charge, winning the 100 butterfly (1:03.98), also placing second behind Nwakalor in the 50 freestyle.

The Raiders' success carried over to the relays. Sofie Hogue, Ella Nelson, Freund and Emily Schmeckepper won the 200 medley relay (2,01.86). Nwakalor, Freund, Julia Yanga and Nelson took third in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Nelson finished third in the 100 breaststroke, while Hogue took third in the 200 freestyle, rounding out a strong team effort from the Raiders girls.

Marriotts Ridge boys win team title

After the Mustangs boys took second last year, they unseated two-time champion River Hill.

Zhu played an integral part in that, winning the 50 butterfly and backstroke. He finished in 24.46 and 27.20 seconds, respectively, winning the backstroke by nearly a second-and-a-half. Zhu's success carried over to the relays where he was part of the winning 200 medley relay team (1:47.42) alongside Matthew Liu, Arthur Yang and Ethan Keiner.

In his first Howard County Invitational Liu also shined, winning the 100 butterfly (54.52), and placing third in the 50 breaststroke. That was a key event for the Mustangs with three top-seven finishes with Yang placing fifth and Eugene Kim placing seventh.

Keiner earned third in the 100 freestyle and fifth in the 100 breaststroke, while Yang placed third in the 100 breaststroke.

Kai Liang also added key points for the Mustangs, winning the 200 individual medley (2:03.52), also taking home third in the 200 freestyle.

Other maximum efforts

Other than Nwakalor, the other three females to earn a maximum point total were all freshmen. Yuan won the 50 butterfly (28.31) and the 100 individual medley (1:05.78). She was also part of three top-three finishing relay teams in the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and mixed 200 medley relay.

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Stephan's performance played a key role in the Hawks' overall title and the girls second place finish. She won the 100 backstroke (1:02.70) and 200-yard freestyle (2:04.32).

Heron was the Lightning's top swimmer on Saturday, also winning two individual events: the 100 breaststroke (1:09.15) and 200 individual medley (2:13.92). Her medley win was by roughly 18 seconds. Like the other swimmers, she also did well in relays winning the mixed 200 medley relay and taking third in the mixed 250 freestyle relay.

Loehr was Reservoir's top swimmer on Saturday. The sophomore won the 50 freestyle (22.85) for a second straight year, also winning the 50 backstroke (29.06). He also was part of the Gators boys 200 freestyle relay and mixed 200 freestyle relay that each finished in the top five.

Chen, a fellow sophomore, won the 100 freestyle (50.40) for the second straight year and also came out on top in the 200 freestyle. He also was part of the winning mixed 250 freestyle relay team and took home fourth in the boys 200 freestyle relay.

Girls scores

1. Atholton, 310; 2. River Hill, 292; 3. Long Reach, 282; 4. Centennial, 200; 5. Marriotts Ridge, 160; 6. Hammond, 137; T7. Oakland Mills, 88; T7. Reservoir, 88; 9. Mt. Hebron, 69; 10. Glenelg, 60; 11. Wilde Lake, 51; 12. Howard, 19.

Boys scores

1. Marriotts Ridge, 361; 2. Wilde Lake, 290; 3. River Hill, 288; 4. Atholton, 228; 5. Centennial, 164; 6. Long Reach, 142; 7. Reservoir, 138; 8. Hammond, 118; 9. Howard, 98; 10. Oakland Mills, 45; 11. Glenelg, 24; 12. Mt. Hebron, 10.

Overall scores

1. River Hill, 620; 2. Atholton, 618; 3. Marriotts Ridge, 577; 4. Long Reach, 520; 5. Centennial, 422; 6. Wilde Lake, 387; 7. Reservoir, 256; 8. Hammond, 255; 9. Oakland Mills, 181; 10. Howard, 145; 11. Mt. Hebron, 117; 12. Glenelg, 112.