The William Byrd boys’ swim team is on a roll. Just five days after winning the Blue Ridge District championship the Terriers swam to the Region 3D championship at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center on Tuesday.
Byrd scored 104 points to outswim second place Carroll County, who had 92. Cave Spring was third with 74, followed by Hidden Valley at 71 and Christiansburg with 62 points. The Byrd girls were sixth in the region with Cave Spring and Hidden Valley finishing first and second. The girls finished sixth with only seven swimmers competing.
“We had such an exciting meet at the Christiansburg Aquatic Center,” said Byrd coach Krista Martin. “We had almost 20 swims where swimmers set personal records and we have nine swimmers advancing to the state level.”
Byrd senior Colin Murtaugh won Region 3D championships in both the 50 Free and 100 Free events. He dominated the 500, winning by over five seconds.
“It is such a joy to watch Colin do what he loves,” said Martin. “His strokes were smooth and fast.”
The top five swimmers in each event and top four individuals advance to the state meet, along with the top four relays. The state meet is at the Swim RVA facility in Richmond on February 17. Byrd swimmers who qualified Tuesday include Lindsay Murtaugh, Evan Copening, Cole Kovacevic, Bruno DeMelo, Colin Murtaugh, Blake Richardson, Gabby Roemo, Michael Hoyos and Jay Rozenboom.
For the boys, Hoyos finished second in the region in the 200 Free and third in the 500 Free. Richardson was second in the 200 IM and third in the 100 Breast. Kovacevic took third in the 100 Back and Rozenboom was fifth in the 500 Free.
Byrd qualified all three boys’ relays for the state. The 200 Free team of Kovacevic, Copening, Hoyos and Murtaugh was second. The 400 Free team of DeMelo, Rozenboom, Owen Humphreys and Richardson was third and the 200 Medley foursome of Kovacevic, Copening, Murtaugh and Hoyos was fourth.
For the girls, Lindsay Murtaugh was second in the 100 Free and fifth in the 200 Free. Gabby Romeo took a fifth place in the 100 Fly.
Last Thursday at the Botetourt YMCA the Byrd boys won the Blue Ridge District meet with 92 points. Franklin County, a Class 6 school, was second with 79 and Northside was far behind in third with nine points. The Byrd girls were second with 54 points, with Lord Botetourt winning with 85. Franklin County was third among five schools with 41. Colin Murtaugh was named Blue Ridge District Male Swimmer of the Year and Martin was named the BRD boys’ Coach of the Year.
District champions from Byrd in the boys’ meet included Murtaugh in the 50 Free with a time of 23.17 and in the 100 Fly with a time of 55.40, DeMelo in the 100 Free with a time of 1:06.87 and Copening in the 100 Back at 1:03.30. The boys also won two relays, the 200 Free and the 400 Free.
For the girls, Lindsay Murtaugh won the 500 Free in 5:29.05.
“Terrier swimmers really showed up ready to kick off the post season with some great swims,” said Martin.