SPHS Swimmers Prepare for Regional Meet

The Severna Park High School boys and girls swim teams just finished impressive weekends at the County Championships.

The boys team placed first and the girls team came in second behind Annapolis High School. Both teams will look to continue its impressive run at the Regional Championships on Saturday.

“For the boys, Broadneck beat us last year so we knew it could be us or them for the boys championship," said SPHS swim coach Mike McTammany. "We have strong swimmers, support swimmers and good depth so we knew we could be top one or two. For the girls, the competition was a little more wide open."

McTammany, who is currently in his sixth season with the team, said both teams should perform well in regionals. He expects the boys to perform well behind Kevin Huntley in the 200-meterIM, and 100-meter breast; and Bennett Bean in the 200- and 100-meter freestyle.

“Our back stroke should be really good as well and our relay should be outstanding,” McTammany said.

The girls team, led by Katie Harmon, Maggie Byrne and Lauren Belloff, is also expected to perform well. However, McTammany said that while the boys team's success is often led by a few strong swimmers, the girls team excels off of balance and team achievements.

On Saturday, SPHS will compete against many of the same county opponents it faced last weekend and in the regular season, however McTammany said the team will be taking a different approach than it took at counties.

“In formulating the line up for regionals we had to look ahead at state meet—knowing what was coming from strong Montgomery County teams,” he said. “You want to put kids in a position at regions where they can move on to the state meet. The lineup we are using in the regional meet is very different than county, even though we are facing the same competition, because we are trying to put the best team in the pool we can for states.”

Saturday’s regional competition will be held in Annapolis and the top three finishers, along with the next 13 fastest times will move on to states. McTammany said ideally, if a swimmer finishes in the top five at regionals they will get to move on.

Thoughout the season, McTammany said both the girls and boys teams have been a pleasure to coach. He said it is evident the team enjoys working together and he hopes that passion continues this weekend.

“Their team spirit is great,” he said. “They really love being together and swimming together. It has been a really fun team to coach. They enjoy being together and bring out the best in each other. We will show up with the best we have on Saturday and do what we can and move on to states”