Undefeated Woodson Swimmers, Divers Break Records

Undefeated with four meets behind them, the W.T. Woodson varsity swim and dive team is enjoying a record-breaking start to the season.

"We have the most talented girls and boys teams we've had since we've been here," said co-head coach Brian Dufour. "And we have 12 senior boys who will be graduating. It's definitely exciting to see them come in and do so well." 

The Cavs started the season strong by cruising past South County, avenging the girls team's only 2010 loss. Woodson then hammered West Potomac, Lee and Annandale.

This is Dufour and Susie Hamrock's fourth year coaching the Cavaliers. 

"If you have your kids in their strongest events, it puts the kids in best position to win the meets," Dufour said. "We build a culture of working hard, having fun and coming together. We have a good group of kids."

Many of those kids swim for both Woodson High and their respective club teams in the Washington, D.C.-Metro area.

"It definitely helps to have club swimmers because of limited practice time," Dufour said. "It gives them more time in the pools."

That extra pool practice has helped the Cavaliers achieve 171 season's-best times, several team records and dozens of regional- and state-cut times in just two weeks of competition:

Bo Ilgenfritz broke the 100-breast record with a time of 59.46.

Leah Rogers' 58.76 in the 100-fly shattered the previous Cavalier record that stood for 18 years. Rogers has been since the start of the season, making cuts in most of her swims including the 100-free in 55.68 and the always enticing 50-free in 25.50. 

The boys’ 400-free relay team has already eclipsed the state-required time by more than one second — an eternity in competitive swimming — with a 3:18.16.

The boys’ 200-medley made the cut for states while the freshmen girls’ 200-free relays qualified for the Northern Regional slated for February 2012.

More than a handful of divers have also qualified for postseason meets. Senior captain Samantha Eldridge scored a regional qualifying dive against West Potomac earlier this month.

Ben Schiesl took first against the Atoms this past weekend while his teammates grabbed second, fourth and sixth.

The women sprang into action as well, placing second, third, fifth and sixth.

Although Woodson lost a few state swimmers and divers to graduation last June, Dufour said the incoming talent has looked exceptional so far. In the South County meet alone, freshmen swimmers accounted for a third of Woodson's point total.

"We have a very strong freshman group — 13 of 14 girls are freshmen," he said. "We have six boy freshmen divers and nine freshmen boy swimmers."

Dufour and Hamrock were short 20-plus swimmers in the second meet, due to prior commitments to the Tom Dolan Invitational and Sport Fair Winter Classic, held during the same time. A few of the divers stepped up in place of their absent teammates and swam the events.

Dufour said he and his staff are proud of the team's early success, but appreciate even more how well the seniors and freshmen have bonded this season. The coaches hope that chemistry will lead to more record-breaking moments as the season progresses.

"We try to set goals and push the kids to improve and identify what they want to work on," he said. "As far as motivating, we try to keep them focused and get the team as a whole to keep them together."

W.T. Woodson competes next at Audrey Moore Rec Center against T.C. Williams on Jan. 6 at 6 p.m.