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Four championships came home to local schools from Virginia’s private-school state meet in Stafford, led by two-event victories from Potomac School junior Kate Douglas and Oakcrest School junior Elizabeth Bryan.
Douglas and Bryan dominated the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association girls’ competition at the Jeff Rouse Swim and Sport Center on Feb. 15.
Douglas won the 50-yard freestyle in 23.74 seconds and the 100 backstroke in 55.18. She also competed on Potomac’s second-place medley relay and fifth-place 400 freestyle relay, helping the school finish seventh overall.
Bryan captured the 200 individual medley in 1:59.9 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.25. She anchored two Oakcrest relays and helped the team place 11th. Bryan was named the outstanding girls private-school swimmer for both the meet and the season.
Each junior now has four individual victories at state meets. The two swimmers lost only one race between them this season: Douglas placed second in the 50 freestyle at a conference championship, finishing in 23.69 seconds—just one-hundredth of a second behind the winner.
“She can swim every stroke and just keeps getting faster in all of them,” Potomac coach Doug Burns said. “She really started getting fast between her eighth- and ninth-grade years. She is a racer now, and such a humble person.”
Douglas also swims year-round for Arlington Aquatic Club. During the summer, she competes for Army Navy Country Club and helped the team win a top-division league championship in 2024.
Bryan previously set meet records in the individual medley and breaststroke at a conference championship, posting times of 2:04.75 and 1:05.06. She competes year-round for Machine Aquatics and swims for Ilda Pool in Annandale during the Northern Virginia Swimming League season. She went undefeated last summer.
“Elizabeth is very talented and fun to watch, and she is a great kid and a good teammate,” Oakcrest coach Caroline Heeter said. “She is always cheering the loudest.”
Backstroke and butterfly are the only Oakcrest team records Bryan does not hold. Heeter predicted she will claim those marks next season.
Madeira School earned another title when Kayla Smith, Lydia Foster, Sunny Chen and Coleen Desmond won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:35.83. Strong individual finishes from all four swimmers helped the Snails take fourth overall.
Diya Redburn and Kylee Smith also contributed top performances for Madeira, which finished third in the 400 freestyle relay.
Potomac received two top-10 finishes from Cecelia Russell. Maren Schwarz placed sixth in the breaststroke, while Madeleine Steves recorded 14th- and 15th-place finishes. Oakcrest diver Mary Abela took third in the girls’ competition.
In the boys’ meet, Flint Hill diver Cristiano Garcia won the state championship with 586.2 points. Swimmers Todd Landwehr, Beckett Cummings and Lucas Bermudez also placed for the Oakton-based school.
Potomac’s Henry Rossman finished fifth in the 500 freestyle and sixth in the 200 freestyle. Teammate Luka Beslic placed seventh in the breaststroke and 11th in the 100 butterfly.