Are We Witnessing Two (2) of the Greatest Teams in Seton Swim & Dive History?

You are probably tired of hearing me talk about the great Seton teams of the past.

How many times have I gushed over our first 2006 Boys State Championship team, repeating stories about Kevin Koehr and Nevin Cook like I was an old grandfather who can no longer remember that he just told the same story.

Oh, wait.  I think I may be becoming that guy!

And how many times have I told you stories about the great Seton teams we had from 2008 to 2011, teams that won seven (7) VISAA Division II State Championships and practically rewrote the entire Seton record board (in fact, I put up a record board in the gym for the first time in response to their great performances).  I bet some of you are getting sick of hearing me talk about the exploits of Jameson Hill, Alex Doonis, and Lauren Donohoe.

If I am this way now, wait until a decade from now when I continually repeat stories of the great Seton teams of 2024 to 2027!  Yes, I think we can add our current teams, including last year’s team and especially next year’s team, to the list of all-time great teams for Seton Swim & Dive.

Last weekend (February 12-14, 2026), we brought the best girls’ and boys’ teams we’ve had since 2011 to the VISAA State Swimming and Diving Championship at the Collegiate Aquatic Center in Richmond, VA.

Our Seton girls dominated the Division II competition to win their 7^th VISAA Division II State Championship, finishing 5^th overall.  That is the highest overall finish, including Division I schools, since our 2010 girls team finished 3^rd.

And our Seton boys handled all comers in Division II except a very powerful team of senior boys from The Covenant School to take the VISAA Division II State Runner-up.  Our boys tied with their 2009 and 2010 predecessors for their highest overall finish ever, placing 6^th when considering Division I schools also.

With the massive number of graduations we’ll see from The Covenant School this year, I fully expect our boys to win their 5^th VISAA Division II State Championship next February.  I don’t see anyone else who can compete with us in Division II.

Like those great teams of the past, our current teams are leaving their mark all over our record board.  I looked back at the Seton records after States in 2023 and compared it to our record board after States 2026 – there have been some incredible records eclipsed.  There are 28 total records on the board, and 13 of them have been replaced.

Here is a comparison of the records between 2023 and 2026.  It just blows me away that names like Katie Shipko, Alex Doonis, Lauren Donohoe, Anna Kenna, Kevin Koehr, Nevin Cook, Sean Koehr, Jameson Hill, Daniel Koehr, and Joe Duran are being replaced so rapidly by our latest superstars.

When you look at the record board today, you see the names of this new generation of stars.  Names like Ariana Aldeguer (JR), Melissa Paradise (JR), Meghan Condon (SO), Lionel Martinez (JR), Thiago Martinez (SO), Daniel Sokban (JR), Dominic Judge (JR), and Connor Koehr (’25) are replacing those stars from the previous generation.

Do you know what is even more amazing?  Except for Connor Koehr who graduated last year, all those new names are currently underclassmen!

That not only means that all the current records are likely to get even faster, but it also means that the last evidence of that prior generation of Seton greats could be erased from the record board completely.

There are still two (2) remarkably fast relay records yet to be beaten, though.

Our Boys 400 Free Relay record from the 2010 State Championship is one of them.  3:17.05 is screaming fast!  Jameson Hill led off at 45.69 followed by Connor Cook at 50.20, Vincent “Catfish” Dunn at 50.34, and David Basinger at 50.82.

Our current foursome got remarkably close after a 3.47 second drop between Preliminaries and Finals at States last weekend.  I’ll be honest that I wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to equal that 2010 Relay that swam a 45 and three (3) 50s, but they came so close on Saturday night, that I am no longer a doubter.

Thiago Martinez (SO) led off with a flat-start 50.24 followed by Daniel Sokban’s (JR) 51.92, Dominic Judge’s (JR) 50.46, and Lionel Martinez’s (JR) 46.91.  With a year left in their careers, I can see that it will happen eventually.

The other big relay record remaining from 2010 is our Girls 200 Free Relay which won the gold medal at States that year at 1:40.05.  Alex Doonis led off with a flat-start 24.98 followed by Cat Rogers at 24.50, Laura Talbott at 25.78, and Lauren Donohoe at 24.79 (Lauren split 23.99 at States in 2011 anchoring the silver medal Medley Relay).

We didn’t load up our 200 Free Relay at States this year, but I’ve seen Melissa Paradise (JR) split 24.23, Ariana Aldeguer (JR) split 24.74, Maggie Schroer (SO) split 24.93, and Therese Paradise (8) split 25.27.  The sum of those splits is 1:39.17, so even considering that the lead-off with be timed from a flat start, it appears that remaining girl’s relay record is well within their capability.

I see some individual records in serious jeopardy also.  Naturally, all the records held by someone currently on the team are likely to improve, but what about Anna Kenna’s 2018 record for Girls 100 Free?  Her record is a very fast 52.02, but Melissa Paradise (JR) has already gone 52.43 at the most recent Division II Invitational.

How about Nevin Cook’s 2008 200 IM record of 1:54.70?  At the time Nevin swam that, it was the VISAA State Record.  Lionel Martinez (JR) has been 1:58.37 in a high school meet, but he has also gone 1:54.35 at a December USA meet.  That’s fast!

Looking farther out to Thiago Martinez (SO), I can easily see him breaking some of the new records we are seeing get put up right now.  One of those could be his brother’s new 100 Fly record, but what about the oldest boy’s record remaining on the Board, Kevin Koehr’s 2006 record for 100 Backstroke at 51.48?  Thiago went 56.55 at this year’s National Catholics, and he has been 55.68 at a USA meet in December, so can he do it?  Kevin went 55.40 at States his sophomore year as a high-school-only swimmer, but it certainly seems possible with Thiago now swimming for Coach Bryce Bohman.

And finally, the oldest record on our board is for Girls 11-Dives, set by Katie Giarra at the State Championship in 2002 where she won the State Championship at 371.95.  No, we didn’t have a diving team at that point, but Katie was a friend of my daughter Kelly’s who just mentioned to me one day that her friend at Seton was a nationally competitive diver.  It wouldn’t be allowed today because of the “ringer rule” that I, myself, was instrumental in implementing in the VISAA (thinking of what I, myself, had done in 2002), but Meghan Condon (SO) has two (2) more years to make it all right by raising her PR score of 350.85 by the mere 21.10 points required.

This past weekend in Richmond, did we get a chance to see two (2) of the greatest Swim & Dive teams in Seton history?  I think the evidence, and therefore the answer, is clear.  And they are only going to get better next year!

Final Scores

I knew things were going to go well when my son Patrick texted me from his home base at NAS Jacksonville, FL and asked if I was going to be home around 3:00 p.m.  Patrick often does flybys of our house when it is on the way to or from one of his training missions.

“No, I’ll be down in the Richmond at States.”  I said.

Imagine my joy when he replied, “Richmond?  We are doing touch-and-goes at the Richmond airport today.”

We must be living right at Seton Swim & Dive, because the timing was perfect for him to wrap up their training mission and swing wide over the Collegiate Aquatic Center, which is quite close to Richmond airport, for a couple of passes in honor of his old high school team.

He arrived at 2:50 p.m., the time when our team was scheduled to arrive at the pool.  With our banner displayed in the field next to the Aquatic Center, we all waved and cheered as he fly by.

Here is the flyby with aircraft commander LT Patrick J. Koehr, USN and the crew of his P-8 Poseidon.

It was a wonderful way to start our weekend, a weekend that ended so splendidly.

Here’s an excerpt from the Girls’ scores.  It felt especially good to come back from last year’s loss to St. Anne’s Belfield when we learned, after the fact, that they were a Division II school for the first time ever:

Girls

1. Collegiate School                 357
2. Catherine’s School              230
3. Bishop O’Connell                205
4. Potomac School                 187
5. Seton School                      172 – Division II Champ
6. Madeira School                  172
7. Norfolk Academy              143
8. Anne’s Belfield                  104 – Division II Runner-up  
9. Cape Henry Collegiate    100 – Division II
10. Gertrude                               94
11. Bishop Ireton                       87
12. Stephen’s/St. Agnes           79
13. Trinity Christian                69 – Division II
14. Oakcrest                              61
15. Paul VI                                  48

And here’s an excerpt from the Boys’ scores:

Boys

1. Christopher’s School          349
2. Bishop O’Connell                 217
3. Collegiate School                 194
4. The Covenant School         163 – Division II Champ
5. Flint Hill School                    133
6. Seton School                        115 – Division II Runner-up
7. Trinity Episcopal School     110.5
8. The Potomac School           105
9. Trinity Christian                   95– Division II
10. Cape Henry Collegiate        95 – Division II
11. Virginia Episcopal                 75 – Division II
12. Immanuel Christian            69 – Division II
13. Woodberry Forest                 66
14. Benedictine College Prep    61.5
15. Catholic High School            59

Déjà vu all over again

Our dominance in VISAA diving is becoming a huge advantage for Seton.  Not only do we now regularly score more points than Division I schools, most Division II schools haven’t developed a diving program at all.

We scored an incredible 50 points in girls diving alone.  No school scored more than that in any single event in the entire meet except Collegiate School who scored 52 points in Girls 50 Free.

The scoring was, of course, led by our newest VISAA State Champion, Meghan Condon (SO), but her victory did not come with some of the same drama we witnessed with Connor Koehr two (2) years ago.  It was like déjà vu all over again.

Like Connor, Meghan entered the Finals (i.e., the last three (3) of the 11 total dives for the competition) in 3^rd place.  Her score after the semi-finals (i.e., the first eight (8) dives) was 230.90.  Ahead of her were the great young diver from Trinity Christian, Charlotte Hill (8), with a score of 237.15, and a diver from Norfolk Christian with a score of 238.45.

I was sitting on the opposite side of the pool from Meghan’s mother, and I could just feel her pain.

On the first dive of the Finals, Meghan scored 26.45 points with the difficult Forward Somersault with two (2) twists, but Charlotte Hill’s less difficult Reverse Dive Tuck scored 28 points.  Fortunately, for Meghan, the diver from Norfolk Christian fell of the pace, so it became a two-girl competition with two (2) dives left.

Meghan’s 10^th dive was a beautifully done Back Dive Pike which scored 31.20 points.  Again, Charlotte was up to the challenge although her 10^th dive was a Forward Dive Straight with a very low DD, so even though it scored 6’s, 6.5’s, and 7’s, she only earned 27.30 points.

That left the score between Meghan and Charlotte at 288.55 to 292.45.  One dive left to make up just 3.90 points.

This is where I was reminded of Connor’s last dive where he chose to do a very difficult Forward 2 and ½ Somersault Tuck, which he hit to win the championship.  Meghan was using a similar nerve-racking strategy of ending her program with a high degree-of-difficulty dive – in her case, an Inward 1 and ½ Somersault Tuck.

Charlotte also chose a more difficult dive, but Charlotte’s degree-of-difficulty (DD) was only 1.9 compared to Meghan’s 2.2.  Because the middle three (3) judges scores are added together and multiplied by the DD, this gave Meghan an opening – if she could hit the dive.

This is the stuff of champions.  As Meghan moved toward her hurdle, with an apparent calm that far exceeded that of her mother or her coach, and she hit it beautifully!  Her 6.0s multiplied by the high DD earned her a very high score of 39.60 to jump her into the lead by 7.20 points with a final score 328.15!

Meghan Condon (SO) was the State Championship!

And so did Coach Ashley Keapproth!  Coach Keapproth has now taken two (2) Seton kids with no prior diving experience or time diving with a club coach from beginner to the State Championship.  She was justifiably recognized as the VISAA Coach of the Year for the second time.

Maria Miller (SR), Clare Kay (8) and Jane Judge (10) all pulled off similar feats, with great diving in the Finals moving them up to 4^th, 8^th and 12^th, respectively.

Maria Miller (SR) did it with an incredible final dive that scored an amazing 40.70 points!  She did the same final dive as Meghan, a difficult Inward 1 and ½ Somersault Tuck.   That clutch performance jumped her from 9^th all the way to 4^th on the final dive!

Young Clare Kay (8) was in 10^th place after nine (9) dives, and in her case, the dive that made the difference was her 10^th dive.  She scored 32.30 points on a Forward Somersault with one (1) full Twist to jump into 8^th place and earn a medal with a top 8 finish!

And Jane Judge (SO) jumped from 14^th to 12^th with strong scores on her final dive, a Forward one Somersault Pike.

Maria Miller’s (SR) graduation will be a loss for sure, but look at what is coming up behind her for the girl’s team.  Joining Meghan Condon (SO) coming back next year are a slew of young and talented female divers including Clare Kay (8), Jane Judge (SO), Bella Gorman (8), and Lucy Herwick (FR).  And don’t forget our future superstar Emma Magness (7) who will count in the scoring next season.

The boys’ team is even younger.  Our first-time 8^th place medalist Max Ashton (8) and 11^th place finisher John Witter (8) will be joined next year by rising 8^th graders Mark Hartung (7) and Will Judge (7).  Coach Keapproth tells me that she expects all four (4) of these divers to score in the top 16 next year!

During the boy’s competition, I was sitting right behind Coach Keapproth who was trying not to throw up while serving as one of the judges, when Max Ashton (8) and John Witter (8) came up for their final dives.  I was watching DiveLive very closely so I could see that Max was in 10^th place and John was in 11th.

John Witter (8) had already secured his position with a tremendous score of 35.65 on his 9^th dive, a very difficult Forward 2 Somersaults Pike (DD 2.3), but Max’s position felt a bit more tenuous.

Like the top girls, Max Ashton (8) chose to do a difficult dive, a Forward 2 Somersaults Tuck with a DD of 2.2.  He performed the dive beautifully, scored 34.10 points, and jumped onto the medal stand in 8^th!

It was a great day for Seton Diving, not just for the kids, but for the community of volunteer parents who helped run the meet.  Seton was not listed as one of the co-hosts, but it did not go without my noticing that Katie Condon was running the DiveLive scoring system with Carol Anne Miller and Jessica Gorman working as scribes at the scoring table.

Like all the best things at Seton, they become the best things through the vision and hard work of Seton parents, and Diving has certainly become of the best things at Seton.

I am so excited about our Diving team, and I am especially excited about the future of our Diving team!

Coach Ashley Keapproth is off on a well-deserved trip with her husband Nik, so here are a few notes she was able to fire off to the team before she left:

Seton Diving Families,

What an exciting State Championship Meet!  I could not be more proud of our divers for an amazing performance this weekend! 

I look forward to sharing more details at our Team Awards Banquet in March, but I wanted to share just a few of the highlights:

• Special Congratulations to Meghan Condon (10) for winning the State Championship and being named VISAA Girls Diver of the Year!!
• Maria Miller (12) finished 4th, which was an amazing way to end her Senior year!
• Clare Kay (8) finished 8th, earning a medal in her first ever State Championship!
• Max Ashton (8) finished 8th, earning a medal in his first ever State Championship!
• John Witter (8) finished 11th, a fantastic outcome for his first ever State Championship!
• Jane Judge (10) finished 13th, achieving her season goal of making the finals at States!
• Bella Gorman (8) and Lucy Herwick (9), finished 17th and 18th respectively.  Bella was 13th and Lucy was 17th after the semifinals. Unfortunately, all schools are only allowed 4 athletes in the finals, and so another diver who was in 18th place got to advance to the finals over Bella and Lucy.  Nevertheless, I am so proud of both of them!

Even more than the amazing scores and results, I am so proud of how this team, including Coach Mick Fiomonti and Coach Joanne Pretz, stepped up to support one another during this long and tiring meet.  I am so fortunate to work with such a phenomenal group of kids and coaches!

Finally, a special thank you to Katie Condon, who was asked to run the scoring table / DiveLive for the meet.  The meet was the smoothest we have ever had and was executed flawlessly!

I look forward to sharing more at the banquet!

Thanks,

Coach Ashley

Seton Swimmers Well-Represented at Night

You don’t score 288 points (we scored 183 total points last year) in a meet as competitive as VISAA States without several of our athletes reaching the great heights of the top 16.  Unlike our other championship meets where our depth in the individual events is such an asset, the State Championship is so fast that it is extremely difficult for any but the very fastest swimmers to score.

The format of the meet involved a Preliminary session each morning to sort out the top 16 who would swim “at night” in the Finals.  The 9^th through 16^th place finishers in Prelims come back to swim in the Consolation Final or the “B Final”, and the 1^st through 8^th place finishers come back to swim in the Championship Final or “A Final”.   Medals are awarded to the top 8 Championship Finalists.

Seton was well represented each night, particularly in the A Finals:

Lionel Martinez (SO)

• Lionel had a tremendous weekend, with two (2) superior individual swims.
• At the end of the first day, he swam 100 Fly where his 51.30 in Prelims, a .57 second PR, earned the 5^th seed that night.
  • More importantly to Lionel, it was the culmination of his quest to finally take the team record in 100 Fly. The record that has eluded him all season was previously set by all-time Seton great Jameson Hill in 2010 at 51.76.  When I saw Lionel after the race, all he could say was, “I finally got it!”
  • That night, he dropped another .06 seconds, to 51.24, but in a very fast heat, earned the 6^th place
  • Trinity Christian’s Tyler Phillips (SR) won the event in dominating fashion with a meet record 47.15, and six (6) of the eight (8) finalists were from Division II schools.
• That great first day left Lionel in high spirits for the 2^nd day, which featured the 100 Freestyle.
  • In Prelims, Lionel swam a life-time best by .54 seconds 47.45 to enter the Finals as the 3^rd
  • In the Finals, he had the swim of his life, dropping another .14 seconds to go 47.31 and jump up to the silver medal with a tremendous last 10 yards.
  • Interestingly, the top three (3) finishers were all from Division II schools, including the winner who was once again Tyler Phillips from Trinity Christian. The bronze medalist was the primary sprinter at The Covenant School, so that part of his silver medal was especially gratifying.

Melissa Paradise (JR)

• I had thought of using Melissa in three (3) relays, but she is so competitive in 100 Free and 100 Back, that I decided to give her a shot on the biggest stage. Both events were on the 2^nd day, but I decided the gamble was worth it.
• In the first event on Saturday, 100 Free, she went out at in a very fast 25.67, but at the end of the 2^nd 50, her legs locked up.
  • She ended up in 9^th place, and the Consolation Final, by only .03 seconds at 53.33.
  • In the Consolation final, she ended up scoring in 11^th in what turned out to be one of the fastest events in the meet.
• But like the champion she is, Melissa regrouped for her signature 100 Back, and swam her best time ever, 55.56 to enter the Finals seeded 2^nd.
  • That was a milestone for her, because like Lionel, she finally broke Anna Kenna’s team record of 55.62, a quest she had been on all season.
  • Then in another very fast Championship Final, she was able to win the bronze medal.

Ariana Aldeguer (JR)

There were several events where Ariana could have scored in the A Final, but after a lot of analysis and some discussion, we settled on 200 IM and 500 Free.  Those proved to be good choices.

• In the 200 IM, Ariana swam an excellent time of 2:06.74 to go into Finals seeded 5^th.
  • Then, in the Finals, her much improved Breaststroke helped propel her to a 4^th place finish with a .16 second PR 2:05.65, and since she is the current team record holder, that was also a new team record.
• In her best event, the 500 Free, I was so proud of the way she swam.
  • In the morning, she finished at a season-best 5:02.18 while holding splits in the middle 300 yards of between 30.35 and 30.70. That put her into the Final seeded 3^rd.
  • Things picked up a quite a bit in the Final with three (3) girls all going 4:55, but Ariana gave it her all. Holding splits in the middle-300 of between 30.12 and 30.50, she finished in a blazing fast 5:58.48 to finish in 4^th place.
  • After the race, I could see Ariana was spent. I went up to her behind the blocks and all she said was, “That really hurt”.  What a wonderful thing to say after a hard-fought race “in the arena, [her] faced marred by dust and sweat and blood” (Theodore Roosevelt).  She put herself out there, gave it her all, and “[spent] herself in a worthy cause.”  I was very proud of her in that moment.

Thiago Martinez (SO)

Watch out for this young man!

As you will see in a moment, we used Thiago in three (3) relays where he was stellar, but he also overachieved in his one individual event, the boys 100 Fly which is generally dominated by older and bigger swimmers who often look like full-grown men.

• In the Prelims, went 54.85, a lifetime best by .20 seconds and the first time he’d been under :55. That got him into the B Final in 15^th
• In the Final, Thiago dropped another .80 seconds to go a blazing 54.05. That bumped him up to 13^th place.

In Division II, Relays Win State Championships!

You don’t have to be a Pre-Calculus teacher at Seton to see the clear calculus of how to win a Division II State Championship where it is so hard to score individually.

Relays and Diving are always the key – the relays because they are double points and our depth becomes an advantage once again, and Diving because very few Division II schools have it.

Let’s look at the math.  With one of our best sets of individual performances in years, both our boys and girls still scored 70% of their points from Relays and Diving:

Of course, it also helps when your relays set three (3) new team records and nearly set a fourth.  It is hard to win without also swimming well.  I knew it was going to be a great weekend, when two (2) of those record-setting relays swam in the very first event of the meet!

In the end, four (4) of our relays scored in the top 8 and two (2) others scored in the top 16.  Those two (2) top 16 relays, both our 200 Free Relays, were key because they were able to score 24 combined points without Lionel Martinez (JR), Melissa Paradise (JR), and Ariana Aldeguer (JR).

Here is how our relays scored so many points:

• Girls 200 Medley Relay of Melissa Paradise (JR), Therese Paradise (8), Ariana Aldeguer (JR), and Maggie Schroer (SO):
  • They qualified in 4^th and scored in the Finals in 5^th with a new team record 1:48.34
  • Melissa Paradise (JR) set a new team record in 50 Back by .16 seconds with an incredibly fast lead-off split of 25.90!
  • Therese Paradise (8) swam a PR breaststroke splity by .03 and Maggie Schroer (SO) rocked the anchor leg at 24.93, a PR split by .38 seconds.
  • On our Girls “B” Medley Relay, Betsy Arnold (SO) had one of her best swims of the season after cutting .69 seconds from her best 50 Fly split.
• Boys 200 Medley Relay of Dominic Judge (JR), Lionel Martinez (JR), Thiago Martinez (SO), and Daniel Sokban (JR):
  • They swam well enough in the Prelims to earn the 7^th seed for the Finals, and that opening was all they needed.
  • In the Finals, they finished in 6^th place, and they swam so well that they broke the Team Record that was set just last year. That relay featured Connor Koehr on the front end and Liam Halisky on the back end with the same Martinez brothers in the middle.  Sorry Connor and Liam – at least you held on for a year 😉
  • Their Finals time of 1:39.06 was on the strength of PR splits in Breaststroke and Butterfly by Lionel Martinez (JR) and Thiago Martinez (SO). Lionel’s 26.51 Breaststroke split was .13 faster than his previous best, and Thiago’s split was an almost unbelievable 23.52, a whole half second faster than his previous best!
  • Our Boys “B” Medley Relay saw PR splits by Patrick Kay (SO) at 27.12 and by Luke Partridge (JR) at 30.27.
• Girls 200 Free Relay of Anastasia Garvey (SR), Therese Paradise (8), Avila Mantooth (SO), and Maggie Schroer (SO):
  • These girls overachieved to score in 10^th place on the strength of PR splits from all four (4) girls.
  • Anastasia Garvey’s (SR) lead-off was a 1.04 second flat-start PR for her. Then the other girls followed with PR splits by Therese Paradise (8) by .01 seconds, Avila Mantooth (SO) by .43 seconds, and Maggie Schroer (SO) by .36 seconds.
  • It was Maggie’s second time during the meet breaking the :25 second barrier for a 50 Free split. I told Coach Schroer that once a girl breaks :25, it’s official – they are fast!
  • For our “B” 200 Free Relay, it was once again Betsy Arnold (SO) who came to play with a PR split by a huge .65 seconds. Sophia Halisky (SO) swam her best time in 50 Free during her lead-off leg, by .42 seconds.
• Boys 200 Free Relay of Thiago Martinez (SO), Greg Bauer (SR), Jack Herwick (SO), and Daniel Sokban (JR):
  • Theirs was a well-earned 12^th place finish that featured heavy smoke on the front and back ends.
  • On the front, Thiago Martinez (SO) led off with a PR flat-start 22.84, and on the back end, it finally happened for Daniel Sokban (JR). His anchor split was an amazing 22.06!
  • For the “”B” Boys 200 Free Relay, Michael Zahorchak (JR) anchored in a lifetime best 23.73, a PR split by .53 seconds, and Joe Witter (SO) matched his lifetime best split of 25.77.
• Girls 400 Free Relay of Melissa Paradise (JR), Maggie Schroer (SO), Therese Paradise (8), and Ariana Aldeguer (JR):
  • Another swim, another Team Record for these four (4) amazing swimmers. In fact, they broke the record twice, and in the process, they scored in 5^th place
  • In Prelims, they went 3:37.36, beating their 2-week old Team Record by .54 seconds, but they weren’t done.
  • In the Finals, Melissa led off in a very fast 53.19, and then the other girls just took over from there with three PR splits.
  • Maggie Schroer (SO) swam a lifetime best split of 55.48, Therese Paradise (8) split 54.93, and Ariana Aldeguer (JR) split 52.51.
  • Their resulting time of 3:36.11 so grossly exceeded my expectation for what was possible, that I just started screaming.
  • Our “B” Girls 400 Free Relay featured a lead-off PR by Anastasia Garvey (SR) of 59.98! Then we saw PR splits by Avila Mantooth (SO) who broke the 1:00 barrier with a huge 2.45 second PR split, and Kyleigh Fifield (JR) beat her previous PR split by 1.68 seconds to go 1:01.17.
  • I had almost lost my voice by the end of this girl’s relay, but that was fine, because what happened next left me speechless.
• Boy 400 Free Relay of Thiago Martinez (SO), Daniel Sokban (JR), Dominic Judge(JR), and Lionel Martinez (JR):
  • This was the final heat of the Meet, and it was one heck of a way to end it. I talked about this relay at the opening of this blog post because it had to be the single best performance of the entire meet for us.  (OK, I know that is a bit hyperbolic but cut me a little slack.  These boys were really amazing!)
  • Thiago Martinez (SO) led off with a flat-start 50.24 which was a PR for him by almost a full second.
  • Then, after Daniel Sokban’s (JR) 51.92 split, Dominic Judge (JR) swam a crazy-fast 50.46, also nearly a full second faster than his previous best, and Lionel Martinez (JR) split 46.91 which was 1.77 seconds than his best split prior to last weekend.
  • The resulting time was an incredible 3:19.53. As I said at the top, I think our team record of 3:17.05 is possible before these boys graduate.
  • Our “B” 400 Free Relay also saw an amazing career-ending swim from Captain of Captains Greg Bauer (SR) who anchored the relay in 52.88, a split that was 3.16 seconds faster than he’s swum all season. Jonas Wilson (SO) also had the swim he’d been waiting for with a 2.04 second PR lead-off split of 57.43.

Other Great Performances and Personal Records

I’ve spent a five (5) thousand words describing the most impactful swims for Seton at the 2026 VISAA State Championship Meet, but we had a number of other great Personal Record performances too.

With our 37 new PRs a at VISAA States, it brings our final season total to 1,134 Personal Records!

That is simply remarkable – the third highest total in Seton Swimming history.  Here are the Personal Record performances that I have not previously mentioned:

• Betsy Arnold (SO) dropped .56 seconds in 50 Free.
• Greg Bauer (JR) cut .04 seconds in his final flat-start 50 Free to end his career with a PR of 23.94.
• Joel Bookwalter (FR) beat his previous best in 50 Free by .31 seconds.
• Kyleigh Fifield (JR) will go into her senior season with a new 50 Free PR of 27.90, the first time she’s been under :28.
• Anastasia Garvey (SR) ended her Seton swimming career with a PR every time she hit the water. In 100 Fly she dropped .60 seconds to go 1:03.09, placing 27^th overall.  And in 100 Back, she just missed coming back at night with an 18^th place finish after her .50 second PR.
• Sophia Halisky (SO) beat her previous best 50 Free time by .28 seconds in the bonus event.
• Jack Herwick (SO) broke the 1:00 minute barrier in 100 Fly after his .09 second PR resulted in a time of 59.94.
• Dominic Judge (JR) crashed through the :51 second barrier in 100 Free by .46 seconds with a flat-start PR of 50.92
• Patrick Kay (SO) had a tremendous meet, again, with a .74 second PR in 200 Free and a 4.42 second PR in 500 Free. His times of 1:55.94 and 5:17.24, respectively, are superior times for a sophomore who only swims in high school.
• Avila Mantooth (SO) dropped .36 seconds in 50 Free.
• Therese Paradise (8) swam incredibly well in 100 Fly where she cut .49 seconds to go 1:01.58 and finish in 18^th place, just barely missing the Finals.
• Lily Waldron (SO) made the most of her opportunity at States by cutting another .20 seconds from her 50 Free PR.
• Joe Witter (SO) ended an unbelievable progression from Group 6 last year to the State team this year with another .23 second drop in 50 Free. After coaching him on Wednesday and Friday’s last year, it is really hard to believe that he just swam 50 Free in 25.54!
• Michael Zahorchak (JR) got the payoff for his hard work this season by breaking the :53 second barrier in 100 Free after a .09 second PR. He also swam a 2.26 second PR in 200 Free to come within .27 seconds of breaking the 2:00 minute barrier.

Thank you to the Parents Who Made the Trip So Easy

Thank you to Coach Matt Schroer and Coach Scott Kay for taking personal charge of our Girls and Boys teams.  They handled all of the non-food logistics for the trip, as well as providing superior coaching throughout the entire weekend.

It was great that Coach Bryce Bohman was able to join us for the Thursday night warm-ups and Friday morning Prelims.   That really got the kids, and their other coaches, off to a great start.

Thank you to Mrs. Anne Judge for organizing our Team Dinners on the Tuesday night before and the Saturday night after the event.  Imagine the herculean effort required to meet my challenge of finding a restaurant for 50 people on Valentine’s Day that was walking distance from the houses.  After something like 27 phone calls, she found PBR Richmond which could not have been more perfect for our purposes.

Thank you to Mrs. Theresa Zahorchak, Mrs. Anne Judge, and Mrs. Katie Condon for their leadership in organizing the wonderful meals we had down in Richmond.  It is great to have some high-quality food that didn’t require long waits for restaurants to serve drinks and take orders.  I also noticed that several of the dads were dutifully fulfilling their assigned tasks also.  These women know how to get things done!  I’m quite sure no other team was eating like we were at States this year!

I woke up Sunday morning in the boy’s house to the sounds of Mrs. Molly Herwick cracking the whip and inspecting rooms prior to check-out.  It was great to just roll over knowing things were under such great control.  Thank you, Mrs. Herwick!  You’ve clearly done that before.

And finally, I have posted a slew of great photos and videos from Mr. Paul Fifield and Nora Blanchette.  What a gift to have a professional record of all that happened in Richmond this past weekend.

We have a great community here at Seton Swim & Dive, and I am so pleased to be a part of it.

Awards are All That Remain

Our Swimming Awards are set for Sunday, March 1^st at Renaissance Montessori School starting at 2:00 p.m.  Thank you to Mrs. Julie Mantooth for taking charge of the food and beverages, and to Mrs. Anne Judge for helping me get the awards and gifts together.  

I also know that Kyleigh Fifield (JR) and Jane Judge (SO) are working with Mr. Fifield to put on the slide show and livestream all the festivities.

I hope to see all of you there!

Final Thoughts

It certainly has been another great season for Seton, and I’m quite encouraged by our future here.  I’ve written in past blogs of the great joy that comes from achieving things that you never thought possible by working hard, believing in yourself and taking a risk.  I saw countless examples of that this season, and I’ll tell you truth – you swimmers are not the only one who get great joy out of it.

At the end of recent seasons, I also spent a lot of time writing about our GEMS: Gratitude, Excellence, Meekness and Sacrifice.  Those are the values that have powered our team toward a commonality of purpose and a mutual support for one another to do always do our best with the gifts that God has provided.  I feel particularly good about the fact that we were able to tap into that power this year – and the results speak for themselves.

So even though the season is over, we are still a team.  I look forward to seeing you all support each other for the rest of the year outside the water the way our State Team supported each other this past weekend in the water.

Coach Jim Koehr