13th Annual NoVa Catholics 2023

On Saturday, January 21, 2023, we held our 13^th Annual Northern Virginia Catholic High School Swimming and Diving Championship.

Congratulations to the following teams who brought home the “Holy Grail” Traveling Trophies:

Girls – St. Paul VI
Boys – Bishop O’Connell

Our Swimmers of the Meet were:

Matthew Johnson, St. Paul VI
- Four (4) Gold medals in 200 IM, 100 Breaststroke, the 200 Medley Relay and the 400 Free Relay.
- Set new meet records in 100 Breaststroke and as part of both of his relays. He missed the Meet Record in 200 IM by only .01 seconds.
- Matthew also won Swimmer of the Meet honors at last year’s meet.
Zoe Celi, St. Paul VI
- Four (4) Gold medals in 100 Fly, 100 Back, the 200 Medley Relay, and the 400 Free Relay
- Set new meet records in 100 Backstroke and as part of both of her relays.

On the girl’s side, two (2) other girls could have easily won Swimmer of the Meet honors with amazing performances similar to Zoe’s:

Ashley Kirby, St. Paul VI
- Four (4) Gold medals in 50 Free, 100 Breaststroke, the 200 Medley Relay, and the 400 Free Relay
- Set new meet records in 100 Breaststroke and as part of both of her relays.
Elizabeth Bryan, Oakcrest
- Gold medals in 200 IM and 100 Freestyle with a new Meet Record in the 200 IM

Another indication of the level of competition was the eight (8) new Meet Records set on Saturday. Seven (7) of those records were set by swimmers from St. Paul VI:

Boys 200 Medley Relay, 1:38.72, St. Paul VI, Adam Manley, Matthew Johnson, Miggy Vinegas, Owen O’Toole
Girls 200 Medley Relay, 1:48.28, St. Paul VI, Zoe Celi, Ashley Kirby, Caroline Murphy, and Abigail Foley
Girls 200 IM, Elizabeth Bryan, Oakcrest, 2:08.81
Girls 100 Backstroke, Zoe Celi, St. Paul VI, 57.56
Boys 100 Breaststroke, Matthew Johnson, St. Paul VI, 57.77
Girls 100 Breaststroke, Ashley Kirby, St. Paul VI, 1:04.98
Boys 400 Free Relay, 3:19.50, St. Paul VI, Matthew Murphy, Chase Garcia, Adam Manley, Matthew Johnson
Girls 400 Free, 3:39.76, St. Paul VI, Abigail Foley, Caroline Murphy, Zoe Celi, Ashley Kirby