Lafayette swimming and diving coach Harold Baker’s teams have been no stranger to the podium at the state championship over the past few years, and Saturday’s swimming portion of the weekend event proved to be no different.

After a long winter full of practice and conditioning, the Albemarle boys swimming team has been enjoying the fruits of their labors over past few weeks.  Last week, the Patriots qualified for the Group AAA championship. The team put together one last solid performance on Saturday by finishing eighth overall with 105 points at George Mason University.

Ten boys swimmers from Albemarle will make the trip to George Mason, and they’ll have to be focused if they want to slay some of the giants they’re about to face.

In Fork Union, with a dominating performance in relays, Western Albemarle’s girls swim team wrapped up a Region II title Saturday.

The Western Albemarle girls and boys swimming teams swept the competition at the Jefferson District championships on Saturday.

The Patriots’ swim teams pulled off a sweep at the City/County Challenge, with the boys team running away with a victory while the girls squad held off a strong challenge from Western Albemarle to come away with the title.

However, Cronk’s victory wasn’t enough to take down the Patriots in the team standings. Western had a strong start to the night, but Albemarle crept back out in front to win by 27 points at UVa’s Aquatic and Fitness Center.

“You take this set of circumstances, and no matter how you look at it, it’s not supposed to work. You would think that they shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing right now.”