NEWARK – Charter of Wilmington, Tower Hill and Ursuline entered the final race of the DIAA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships separated by 6½ points, meaning the winner of the race would likely win the state title.
The Hillers won the 400-yard freestyle relay in a state-record time of 3:36.41 to claim their third straight state championship with 281 points, edging Charter by 5½ points Saturday night at the University of Delaware’s Rawstrom Natatorium.
“Coach [James] Erhardt said whoever wins this race wins the state title,” Tower Hill’s Lainey Mullins said. “That’s what we did. We knew we had to bring our ‘A’ game, and I’m glad it worked out in our favor.”
The top three teams had posted the best 400 free relay times in the preliminaries, and swam next to each other in lanes three, four and five in the final.
“It’s so exciting. It’s surreal, actually. We worked so hard for it,” the Hillers’ Sydney DeBaecke said. “Everyone is really close, so it’s fun to get that with your best friends. We just had a good time with it.”
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DeBaecke and Mullins swam the final two legs of the relay for Tower Hill, with Grace Gilbert and Brooke Griffin swimming the first two legs. The foursome toppled the eight-year-old state record of 3:32.49 set by Charter in 2013.
Erhardt believed the Hillers could break the state record, and the high stakes of the race lit a fire under his quartet.
“That relay team was a phenomenal relay team, and they proved it right there by crushing that record,” Erhardt said. “I had it in my mind that they were going to do that today. They had it in their mind they could, and once they heard that everything was coming down to that relay, it definitely sparked something a little extra.”
Gilbert, Griffin, DeBaecke and Mullins also combined for a state title in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:36.82, breaking their own two-year-old record of 1:37.18.
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Mullins also won two individual titles in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles. She set another state record of 1:47.69 in the 200, beating her old mark of 1:48.32 set in 2020.
“I knew it would be a super close event. There was a ton of competition. The state record was something on my mind,” Mullins said. “I was shooting for it and am glad that I could score those points for my team.”
DeBaecke also captured the 100-yard backstroke in 56.04.
Charter’s Georgia Colburn won the 100-yard butterfly in 56.13 for the Force. Third-place Ursuline won the 200-yard medley relay en route to 267 points.
Brandywine’s Rachel Bockrath swept the 50- and 100-yard freestyles, with her 100 time of 49.81 breaking Kaitlyn Jones’s nine-year-old state record of 49.96.
Wilmington Friends’ Kira Agne won the 200-yard individual medley. Appoquinimink’s Jordan Tierney took home a state title in the 100-yard breaststroke, and Newark Charter’s Madelyn Hiller won the 1-meter diving competition.
DIAA Girls Swimming and Diving Championships
At Rawstrom Natatorium
200-yard medley relay: 1, Ursuline (Caitlin Horning, Isabella Caraballo, Mary Kate Keegan, Mackenzie Brandt), 1:47.71. 2, Wilmington Charter 1:48.90. 3, Sussex Academy 1:51.61. 4, Concord 1:52.09. 5, Tower Hill 1:53.70. 6, Padua 1:55.19. 7, St. Mark’s 1:55.65. 8, Middletown 1:58.89.
200-yard freestyle: 1, Lainey Mullins, Tower Hill, 1:47.69. 2, Katelyn Fitzgerald, Conrad, 1:50.47. 3, Mackenzie Brandt, Ursuline, 1:52.06. 4, Madison Testa, Padua, 1:53.75. 5, Kristen Maile, CSW, 1:57.65. 6, Victoria Phillips, CSW, 1:58.58. 7, Natalie Johnson, Ursuline, 1:58.73. 8, Caroline Forde, St. Andrews, 1:59.96.
200-yard individual medley: 1, Kira Agne, Wilmington Friends, 2:03.29. 2, Sydney DeBaecke, Tower Hill, 2:03.44. 3, Rylee Waslyn, Concord, 2:07.32. 4, Mary Kate Keegan, Ursuline, 2:09.76. 5, Gracie Maughan, Sussex Academy, 2:12.29. 6, Alexandra Phillips, CSW, 2:12.46. 7, Delanie McKenzie, CSW, 2:12.96. 8, Ellie Johnson, Ursuline, 2:15.30.
50-yard freestyle: 1, Rachel Bockrath, Brandywine, 23.18. 2, Alyssa Napier, Conrad, 23.72. 3, Jordan Tierney, Appoquinimink, 24.22. 4, Madelynn McTeer, Sussex Central, 24.36. 5, Grace Gilbert, Tower Hill, 24.45. 6, Rowen O’Donoghue, St. Mark’s, 24.79. 7, Brooke Griffin, Tower Hill, 24.96. 8, Elizabeth Rainey, St. Andrews, 26.46.
1-meter diving: 1, Madelyn Hiller, Newark Charter, 353.35. 2, Kayleigh Reburn, Newark Charter, 323.00. 3, Marina Chakar, Brandywine, 285.45.
100-yard butterfly: 1, Georgia Colborn, Charter of Wilmington, 56.13. 2, Alyssa Napier, Conrad, 56.33. 3, Rylee Waslyn, Concord, 57.47. 4, Natalie Johnson, Ursuline, 58.84. 5, Caitlin Horning, Ursuline, 59.55. 6, Lenya Ryan, Mount Pleasant, 59.90. 7, Alexandra Phillips, CSW, 1:00.10. 8, Yohanna Hailu, CSW, 1:00.12.
100-yard freestyle: 1, Rachel Bockrath, Brandywine, 49.81. 2, Madison Testa, Padua, 52.99. 3, Grace Gilbert, Tower Hill, 53.23. 4, Rowen O’Donoghue, St. Mark’s, 53.47. 5, Madelynn McTeer, Sussex Central, 53.58. 6, Isabella Caraballo, Ursuline, 54.20. 7, Elizabeth Maher, Archmere, 54.56. 8, Logan Bagley, Padua, 54.64.
500-yard freestyle: 1, Lainey Mullins, Tower Hill, 4:47.36. 2, Katelyn Fitzgerald, Conrad, 4:53.95. 3, Mackenzie Brandt, Ursuline, 4:55.55. 4, Kira Agne, Wilmington Friends, 5:00.08. 5, Kristen Maile, CSW, 5:15.43. 6, Victoria May, Caesar Rodney, 5:20.20. 7, Saryn McCullough, Newark Charter, 5:24.42. 8, Megan Price, Padua, 5:30.66.
200-yard freestyle relay: 1, Tower Hill (Grace Gilbert, Brooke Griffin, Sydney DeBaecke, Lainey Mullins), 1:36.82. 2, Ursuline 1:39.69. 3, Conrad 1:39.80. 4, Padua 1:40.32. 5, Brandywine 1:41.85. 6, Wilmington Charter 1:42.76. 7, St. Mark’s 1:44.32. 8, Archmere 1:46.80.
100-yard backstroke: 1, Sydney DeBaecke, Tower Hill, 56.04. 2, Georgia Colborn, CSW, 56.35. 3, Caitlin Horning, Ursuline, 57.57. 4, Delanie McKenzie, CSW, 59.43. 5, Victoria Phillips, CSW, 59.96. 6, Logan Bagley, Padua, 1:00.31. 7, Delaney McHugh, Newark Charter, 1:00.48. 8, Victoria May, Caesar Rodney, 1:02.09.
100-yard breaststroke: 1, Jordan Tierney, Appoquinimink, 1:03.32. 2, Gracie Maughan, Sussex Academy, 1:05.40. 3, Abigail Rhodunda, Concord, 1:05.78. 4, Rozlyn Wynn, CSW, 1:07.34. 5, Lenya Ryan, Mt. Pleasant, 1:08.31. 6, Lila Fanelli, Tower Hill, 1:08.80. 7, Mary Kate Keegan, Ursuline, 1:09.21. 8, Isabella Caraballo, Ursuline, 1:09.89.
400-yard freestyle relay: 1, Tower Hill (Grace Gilbert, Brooke Griffin, Sydney DeBaecke, Lainey Mullins), 3:31.36. 2, Wilmington Charter 3:36.04. 3, Ursuline 3:36.67. 4, Conrad 3:40.67. 5, Brandywine 3:41.55. 6, Padua 3:45.52. 7, Concord 3:47.48. 8, St. Mark’s 3:50.26.
Team scores: 1, Tower Hill, 281. 2, Charter of Wilmington, 275.5. 3, Ursuline, 267. 4, Padua, 188. 5, Conrad, 140. 6, Brandywine, 130. 7, Concord, 120. 8, St. Mark’s, 113.5. 9, Newark Charter, 113. 10, Sussex Academy, 95. 11, Archmere, 65. 12, Middletown, 49. 13, Appoquinimink, 46. 14, St. Andrews, 45. 14, Wilmington Friends, 45. 16, Mt. Pleasant, 43. 17, Sussex Tech, 42. 18, Sussex Central, 38. 19, Caesar Rodney, 28. 20, Cape Henlopen, 25. 21, Tatnall, 9. 22, Sanford, 8. 23, Caravel, 2. 23, Delmarva Christian, 2.
