By Brian Hoffman
Two William Byrd High School swimming records fell when the Terriers competed in the state Class 3 meet at the RVA/Collegiate Aquatics Center in Richmond Friday.
Senior Abbey Murtaugh broke a record set by Kacy Edsall in 2012 in the 100 butterfly. Kacy’s record was 57.03 and Abbey broke it during prelims with a time of 56.6, and then broke her own record in the finals that evening with a time of 56.54.
Abbey made it back in the A final in both of her individual events. She placed fifth in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 fly. Murtaugh was also named the Blue Ridge District Female Swimmer of the Year last week.
“This is a well deserved honor,” said Byrd coach Krista Martin. “Abbey has continued to improve throughout her career at William Byrd and throughout this entire swim season. She has proven herself to be quite the competitor.
Also, the men’s 200 freestyle relay record of 1.34.90 was broken, previously held by Khalil Fonder, Chase Plaster, Billy Ferguson and Michael Craddock and set back in February of 2015. The foursome of Austin Nielsen, Aiden Brinkley, Nathan Miller and Colin Murtaugh set a new Byrd mark with a time of 1:34.89, breaking the record by one-100th of a second.
All nine Terrier athletes made it back to finals, meaning they were in the top 16 in the morning in their events.
Results were as follows:
Boys 200 Medley Relay- (Colin Murtaugh, Austin Nielsen, Matthew Hoyos, Aiden Brinkley) finished 11th
Girls 200 Medley Relay- (Chelie Plaster, Emma Copening, Liah Davis, Abbey Murtaugh) finished 14th
Boys 200 IM- Nielsen finished 13th
Boys 100 fly- Murtaugh finished 13th
Boys 200 freestyle relay- (Nielsen, Brinkley, Nathan Miller, Murtaugh) finished 14th
Girls 200 freestyle relay- (Plaster, Copening, Davis, Murtaugh) finished 12th
Boys 100 back- Murtaugh won the B Finals, finishing 9th in the event
Girls 100 back- Plaster finished 11th
Boys 100 breast- Nielsen tied for 12th place
