BE swim teams dive into the season with top shelf talent

When Bishop England swimming coach Rose Van Metre says high school swimming is truly a team sport, she talks from experience.

 

Sure, it’s good to have top shelf talent like the girls’ and boys’ teams had last year. But Van Metre has been around the pool long enough to know depth is just as important. A team has to have swimmers who place in the top 10 or top 20 to score points that lift a team to the top spot.

 

That was the difference last fall as the Bishop girls won their second state championship in five years with only two gold medals. 

 

The boys, who won gold in seven of the 11 events, managed only to secure fifth place as St. Joseph walked away with the top trophy.

 

“Our boys swam well. They did an excellent job,” said Van Metre, who has been coach at BE for 18 years. “They just didn’t have the numbers. They just didn’t have the depth.”

 

The girls had both ingredients: top shelf talent and depth and that’s why they were able to claim the state crown with a 418-347 victory over Region 7-AA rival Oceanside Collegiate. BE won the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard relay to pave the way for a second state title in the program’s history.

 

“I knew the girls would do well,” Van Metre said. “But we had so many young swimmers, I didn’t know how they would do; how they would respond. Turns out the young girls were hungry to win a state championship.”

 

This fall, the teams have 15 upper classmen and 28 swimmers who are either middle-schoolers, freshmen or sophomores. The teams also have esprit de corps.

 

“You swim better when your teammates are cheering for you, and just not the coaches or parents,” Van Metre said.

 

While last year’s captain, Lindsay Burbage, now swims for UMass, the talent cupboard is not bare.

 

The Bishops 200-yard freestyle gold medal group of Mia Devito, Mackenzie LeVeen, Zoe DeWitt and Elle Chalupsky remains intact.

 

Chalupsky, Dewitt and Carley Foust are the returners on the gold medal winning 400-yard relay team.

 

Chalupsky earned a silver medal in the 50-yard freestyle and in the 100-yard backstroke.

 

The boys’ team, meanwhile, returns two stars of last year’s show: Justin Hafner and Owen Fritts. Both swimmers garnered four gold medals in 2022 and are captains this fall.

 

Hafner is the busiest student-athlete in the state when it comes to fall sports. The senior competes in cross country as well as swimming, and shines in both sports. He won the Class AA state individual title in XC and made quite a splash in the pool.

 

He won first place in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. He also was on the gold-medal winning 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

 

Fritts, a junior, was a double winner for the Bishops in individual events with victories in the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke. He also won a pair of gold medals in the relays.

 

The Bishops were scheduled to open the season Sept. 5 against Lucy Beckham and will compete in this weekend “Rock the Block Invitational” at the North Charleston Aquatics Center.