Hornet's Barden nearly wins two state titles

At one of the fastest meets in Virginia State Championship history, a handful of Orange County High School swimmers battled the state’s best at George Mason University last weekend.

Orange senior Justin Barden just missed out on a pair of state titles, but confirmed the talented Hornets, despite being one of the smallest AAA teams, can compete with the largest state schools.

Barden finished second in the 100 butterfly (50.23) and third in the 100 back stroke (51.29). Along the way, he set personal bests and school records in each event twice—in the preliminaries and again in the finals. State AAA records were set in each of the event finals and Thomas Jefferson’s Stephen Seliskar set an all-division state record with a time of 50.08 in the backstroke finals.

Barden also teamed with John Marquis, Ryan Hofmann and Alex Montes De Oca for a 15^th-place finish in the 200 individual medley relay (1:40.70), which also set a new school record.

Montes De Oca finished seventh in the 100 butterfly (52.40) and eighth in the 200 IM (1:56.71), both personal bests. Hofmann posted his personal best in a 19^th-place finish in the 100 butterfly (52.89).

Collectively, the Hornet boys finished in 15^th place among nearly four dozen schools scoring points. Orange accumulated 60 points and bested the other Commonwealth District schools represented, including district champion Albemarle and district runner-up Mountain View.

Meanwhile, Larissa Neilan was the lone Hornet girl competing and she alone helped Orange finish 43^rd at the state meet.

Neilan placed 12^th in the 100 breast stroke (1:06.31), setting a new school record and a personal best.

OCHS Coach Ryan Campbell noted Barden posted two High School All-American consideration times in his two events, which should place him within the top 100 in the United States for those events and mark him as one of very few that have earned this honor in school history. Also Montes De Oca, a junior, just missed the All-America consideration time in the 100 butterfly, while Neilan, a sophomore, just missed it in the 100 breaststroke.

All in all, the Hornet swimmers have had the most success among the school’s sports since the move to AAA and are primed to remain a force next season.