Led by the talented and experienced Bermudez brothers and numerous younger and, at this point, less tested freshmen, the Flint Hill Huskies won the recent Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference boys swimming and diving team title.
The championship was the high-school team’s first since earning consecutive crowns in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
“It had been a drought for a few years and our boys really wanted this title back this time,” Flint Hill coach Jocelyn Sowa. “This is a close team and they really push each other and work well as a unit.”
Senior swimmer Simon Bermudez, who will swim in college at North Carolina State University, and his sophomore brother, Lucas Bermudez, were Flint Hill’s top point scorers in the meet. Simon Bermudez holds multiple individual team records for Flint Hill. He won the 200 freestyle race in 1:44.19 and the 100 breaststroke in 55.76.
Lucas Bermudez won the 100 free (49.43) and was second in the 100 backstroke.
Flint Hill won the medley (1:44.30) and 400 free (3:19) relays and was second in the 200 free relay. The Bermudez brothers were swam on those relays.
Other top young swimmers for the Huskies this season are Todd Landwehr, Zachary Tan, Kai Lindross, Zachary Tan, Bradley Zhao, Keagan Murdock and Blake Nguyen. Cian Gallagher scored diving points for the Flint Hill boys in the MAC finals.
Lindross was third in the 200 free and fifth in the 50 free. Landwehr was third in the 50 and 100 free races, Tan was second in the individual medley and fifth in the breast, Zhao was third in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 200 free, Nguyen was third in the 500 free and seventh in the breast, Murdock was fifth in the IM and sixth in the back.
Also, Karan Chugh was third in the back, Dylan Riihimaki was fourth in the fly and Hunter Taylor fifth, Thomas Carstater was fourth in the 100 free, Bensten Schone was fifth in the IM, and Daniel Kalan and Nate Jurutka were listed as sixth-place finishers in the 500 free.
“We have so many freshmen, that makes it fun and magnificent as a team,” said Sowa, who after the meet kept with the squad’s fun theme and shaved the hair off the right side of her head and dyed much of her remaining locks in blue and green school colors.
“You need to do things like that to keep it fun,” Sowa said.
Among other participating swimmers for Flint Hill in the MAC meet were Zachary Arnold, Elisha Pickel, Samuel Jacobsen, Christopher Choi, Evan Dempsey, Dylan Riihimaki, Bruce Waldschmidt and Wesley Zhao.
The last two seasons Flint Hill finished second in the MAC.
The 2023-24 season will end for Flint Hill at the private-school state championships.
NOTE: At multi-team metropolitan-area high-school meets this season, Simon Bermudez won multiple races and helped Flint Hill relay teams place. He won two races in one meet – the 200 freestyle in 1:38.91 and the 100 breaststroke in 55.67.
