Gaithersburg Holds Steady at County Championships

The Gaithersburg Swim Team brought their best in Thursday's Montgomery County 500 Championships at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Swim Center.  The venture to Silver Spring proved to be a day of topping personal bests for the Trojans.

The team placed 13th out of the 22 schools, overall. Though Amelia Robinson received a declared false start in the record books, Junior Ellen Anderson won the girls' event by a long shot, finishing in 4:55.69 minutes. Sophomore Jacob Ado finished his heat 6:05.65 minutes. And, Senior Austin Duff shaved a few seconds off his time, swimming the 500 Free in  5:50.97 minutes.

And, though his last 500 Free as a Trojan was his fastest to date, Duff said he still wanted to push harder.

"I was just looking to drop time," Duff said.  "It doesn't really matter what place I get.  It's a personal thing really. I want to drop at least another five seconds, if possible."

Coach Shannon King said she was proud to see the exiting Duff excel at the pool Thursday.

"It was good for Austin; it's his last race, his last 500. He's a Senior and graduating, so I'm glad he was able to get a best time - and by four seconds, that's good for him," King said.

Encouraging  her swimmers to "go out with a bang," King shared her insight on the unique format of the meet, and her words of advice to her team.

"A lot of the times the seed times are so close, do you have that good competition.  And, the kids will swim better when people are right there pushing them, you know.  If  they look in the next lane and see 'Oh, there's a kid right next to me, I want to beat that kid,'" King said. "You know, I try to tell them before every meet 'make sure you're paying attention to people in the lanes next to you.' So, hopefully, that gives them incentive."