After Years Of Losses, Marshall Swimming Tastes Victory

While Marshall High School's swimming program has sent plenty of swimmers to regionals, states and beyond, its success in team competitions has been almost nonexistent.

Until now.

At 3-3 on the season, the boys’ team this year has matched its number of wins over the previous three years combined. And with a win over Stone Bridge High School last week, the girls’ team saw its first win in at least 10 years.

The problem hasn't been the skill of individual swimmers: The boys squad is led by a threatening trio of Cyrus Hashemi, a nationally-ranked, 2011 Washington Post All-Met team member who's state-qualified in seven races; Andrew Nyce, whose state qualified in two individual and two relay events; and Zach Stah, a regionally-qualifying diver.

It's been getting them, and the rest of the squad, to take a team approach to each meet, says first-year coach Matthew Bell, once a swimmer at nearby Robinson High School. The mentality he and co-coach Ann Jopke, a former NCAA swimmer, have been preaching is every meet is that meets are decided by the sum of individual efforts, and, it takes teamwork to come out with a win.

Sounds simple — but in an individual sport like swimming, it can be a hard sell.

"This year, the [swimmers] have been doing a lot of hard work in coming together as a team — and it's nice to see what we've been preaching has paid off. [The seniors] have really stepped up to lead the team in that kind of team spirit and teamwork," Bell said.

In what Bell calls a tough Liberty District conference, the swimmers have seen the fruits of their labor — pulling out wins over South Lakes, McLean and Stone Bridge High Schools — but also learned some tough lessons. On paper, Bell said, the boys team should have won a Jan. 6 meet against Fairfax, but after the schools' winter break, some swimmers couldn't focus, resulting in a tough six-point loss.

"It showed if you're supposed to win you actually have to show up and swim," Bell said. "I was really impressed with how the captains took that and used it."

A Friday night meet against Madison High School, whose boys team is currently undefeated, will give the team another mental challenge: In addition to the winning record at stake, it's also a cross-town rivalry between Vienna's two high schools.

Whatever the outcome, the season makes Bell optimistic about the future. Younger swimmers — including sophomores Adib Milani, Alex Kardis, Tabatha Horner and Lauren Kaup, all of whom are regionally or state qualified — have taken the team mentality to heart and seen what it can accomplish in action, a good foundation for seasons to come.

In a school full of good athletes, Bell said, the teams are finally attracting students who want to be there to swim and swim well, instead of treating the season like a placeholder for other sports.

"There are programs like Madison, Langley, Mclean that have had a nationally-ranked program in place for 10 years, 15 years and they've produced swimmers that come back to continue with the same programs. Marshall has not," Bell said. "It's really neat to see a school that is in the center of Fairfax County take up swimming, see people wanting to swim and build the program. We're in the beginning of building stages ... but someday, you aspire to be a Langley or a Madison in the division."

Marshall and Madison's swim teams face off at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Spring Hill Rec Center in McLean.