James Murphy swims during a preliminary heat at the 2015 NCSA Junior Nationals in Orlando, Florida. (Bryan Flaherty/For The Washington Post)
A fast week of swimming at the NCSA Junior Nationals earlier this month yielded a new set of Olympic Trials qualifying cuts and a trove of medals for Potomac Valley swimmers and clubs, with Nation’s Capital topping the team standings in the girls’, boys’ and combined scoring. Following the meet in Florida, a roster has been selected from the medalists that will make up an all-star team to compete at the Irish Open Swimming Championships in Dublin, April 30-May 3.
Among the 51 swimmers that will make up the NCSA All-Star Team will be eight D.C. metro area swimmers representing three Potomac Valley clubs. Annie Boone (Nation’s Capital), Morgan Hill (Machine Aquatics) and Caroline McTaggart (All Star Aquatics) will be three of the 26 women headed to Ireland, and Matt Hirschberger (Nation’s Capital), James Jones (Nation’s Capital), James Murphy (Machine Aquatics), John Shebat (Nation’s Capital) and Gavin Springer (Nation’s Capital) will join 20 others on the boys’ squad.
Accompanying the athletes in Ireland will be Nation’s Capital Coach Jeremy Linn and Machine Aquatics Coach Dan Jacobs. Linn, who coaches Boone at NCAP-West, will be an assistant on the women’s squad. Jacobs, who coaches Murphy, will assist on the men’s team.
The Info
What: Irish Open Swimming Championships
When: April 30-May 3, 2015
Where: National Aquatic Centre, Dublin
Meet announcement
Complete roster
Entry report by swimmer | event
Jones is the only local athlete with any substantial international experience, having competed at the 2014 Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Honolulu last August. Shebat competed in December at the Ontario Junior International in Canada as well.
According to a initial entry list, Boone and Murphy are slated to swim the busiest schedules in Dublin with six events each. Boone is slotted for the 50, 100 and 200 backstroke events, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 IM and Murphy in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 freestyle events and the 100 and 200 butterfly events. Jones, McTaggart and Shebat are scheduled to swim five events apiece.
Other locals were eligible, namely Andrew Seliskar, Carsten Vissering, Megan Byrnes and Cassidy Bayer, who were all individual champions in Orlando, but declined the invitation. Seliskar and Bayer are currently at the Olympic Training Center along with nearly two dozen other Nation’s Capital swimmers.