Montpelier's Buehler Ends Season in Style

Dylan Buehler, a boys swimmer at the 13-14 level this season for Montpelier, had some simple goals on Saturday.

"I was mainly looking to drop some times" from his personal bests, said Buehler, a Laurel resident who has competed for Montpelier for several years.

He did much better than that.

The rising freshman at DeMatha Catholic High in Hyattsville took first in the butterfly in 27.82 and set a league record in the process at the Prince-Mont Swim League All-Star meet on Saturday at Whitehall in Bowie.

"It was a goal to set that," he said Monday.

He also took first in the 100 IM at the 13-14 boys level with a time of 1:05.41.

"He is an incredible swimmer and a great talent. He really started to make his mark at around age 10 and has been driving hard ever since," Brian Abdo, the head coach for Montpelier, said on Monday about Buehler.

"Breaking records is not a new thing for him. He has a lot of the Montpelier records. The only way for him is up right now. I have had an absolute great time coaching him," added Abdo, while on vacation in Seattle.

Buehler was also a member of the Montpelier boys medley relay team that took third, behind New Carrollton and Belair. Other members of the team were Nick Mills, Caleb Heidel and Matt Derrick. Heidel has taken classes at Howard Community College in Columbia.

"They took third in the medley. That was huge. I think they were seeded 12th or so," Abdo said. "Every day before practice I was making sure their starts were good. I thought our guys had a great chance for the top three and I was right."

The All-Star meet was the last event of the season for six teams in the Laurel area.

"It was a pretty good season overall. We had a lot of people improve," Buehler said. "We had good relays all year. We had good people for those events."

Another local winner on Saturday was Taylor Hicks, a Russett standout who took first in the girls 15-18 butterfly with a time of 30.89. She is a student at Elizabeth Seton High in Bladensburg.

The girls medley relay team at the Silver Spring Swim Team, which is based at Patuxent Greens in Laurel, was second with a time of 2:13.56. The team included Madison Oehler, Erin Kane, Nancy Schwartz and Janene Gerlach.

Gerlach was second in the 15-18 girls freestyle, fifth in the IM and 14th in the backstroke for Silver Spring. Her teammate, Schwartz, was fourth in the IM.

Kellianne Venit of West Arundel was fifth in the 15-18 girls backstroke and sixth in the breaststroke and freestyle. She was a member of the team at Archbishop Spalding in Severn last year as a freshman.

Jessica Sweitzer of West Laurel was fifth in the girls 15-18 freestyle.

West Arundel's Billy Rodgers, a graduate of St. Vincent Pallotti High, was 17th in the 15-18 boys IM and 18th in the backstroke.

The Silver Spring boys 9-18 freestyle relay team of Chase Pisone, Jack Verbrugge, Christopher Yeh and Joshua Oruya was fourth.

The Russett girls freestyle relay team of Allison Ritter, Simone DeSouza, and sisters Paris Hicks and Taylor Hicks was fifth.

Buehler, a homeschool student in the past, will be a freshman at DeMatha when school begins later this month, his mother, Jill, said Monday.

He plans to compete in high school meets with the Stags and plans to continue to swim with a club team based in Silver Spring. "He is looking forward to swimming with" DeMatha, according to his mother.