Update: WPS Swimmers Earn Medals at the Junior Olympics

Berlin, MD – WPS students competed in the Mid Atlantic Junior Olympics last week resulting in the achievement of several medals.
 
Representing Mako Swim Club, from March 17-20, Jude and Gabriella Damouni and Anna Mumford competed in the Mid Atlantic Junior Olympics. Jude Damouni competed in the Boys 13-14 division, Gabriella competed in the Girls 11-12 division and Anna Mumford compete in the Girls 13-14 division.
 
Gabriella Damouni earned a Silver Medal in the 200 Free, Bronze in the 400 Free, Bronze in the 1000 Free, and Bronze in the 1650 Free, as well as qualified for the Senior Championship in the 1650 Free.
 
Anna Mumford earned a Silver Medal in 1000 Free and a Bronze in the 1650 Free. She is also going to compete in the Senior Championships, which will take place this Thursday, March 24 - Sunday, March 27. 
 
While Jude Damouni did not place, we are proud to announce he cut time in all competitions, including 33.33 seconds in the 1650 Free and 20.65 seconds in the 1000 Free.
 
Tracing back to December, Gabriella and Anna attended Keystone Aquatics Arena Holiday Cup Championship in Carlisle, PA., where both girls competed against the top swimmers in the country in their age group. As a result, they qualified for the Eastern Sectional Z​ones Divisional Team, which is made of the top swimmers from the Mid-Atlantic area spanning PA, NJ, DE, MD, DC, and VA. They also both qualified for many different events in the Junior Olympics, including all different lengths from 50 free to 1650 free, and 100 back. 
  
“These girls excel in school at Worcester Preparatory, and all the rigor it gives them, as well as outside of school in their swimming,” Gabriella’s mom, Helen Damouni said. “If they were not on deck ready to swim, they were studying and catching up on schoolwork in the car or at the hotel.”
 
A month later at the Friends Central Aquatics Distance Challenge, Gabriella and Anna along with Jude reached another milestone while they swam 1650-yards. All three students completed the mile swim, a total of 66 laps, in less than 20 minutes with Anna finishing in 18:25, Jude finishing in 18:33 and Gabriella finishing in 19:25. Again, qualifying them for the Junior Olympics, this time with Jude by their side. Anna is ranked 11th and Gabriella is ranked 58th nationally in their age group, and Jude is ranked 225th nationally for his age group. In the Mid-Atlantic region, Anna is ranked 2nd and Gabriella is ranked 11th among the girls, and Jude is ranked 30th among the boys.
 
In February, the three competed at the Double Last Chance ​Meet and qualified for additional events for the Junior Olympics. The races were for highly qualified swimmers in their respective age groups. While there, Anna also qualified for more Senior Championship events. It takes an extremely talented swimmer to qualify for the Senior Champs before the age of 15. Jude and Gabriella are on the brink of doing so while competing at the Junior Olympics. Currently, Anna's tally for Senior Champs is the 200 free, 500 free, 1000 free and the 1650 free. She will go on and race girls who range in age from 14-30 years old.
 
"I love being with my friends, practice and pushing my limits and meeting other awesome swimmers,” Anna said.
 
Also, during this meet Jude qualified for the 200 free and the 100 fly, Gabriella qualified for the 50 fly and the 400 IM, and Anna qualified for the 200 back and the 400 IM for Junior Olympics.
 
 “My coach always tells me that there is no such thing as adding time, but setting a new goal to beat that time,” Gabriella said. “I feel so honored that I got into Zones, and I am so excited for future competitions and hanging out with all my friends. I feel like I had such high goals and when I hit them, I was so happy.”
 
 Jude looks forward to future competitions, and one day competing in the Olympics.
 
“I think what helped me reach my accomplishments was my drive and practice. My drive is wanting to be better than my current self because if I don’t worry about my competitors then I can focus on myself and train at my best every day,” Jude said. “Comparing my times to last year or even a few months ago, I have seen major improvements because of my hard work and the push that my teammates and I give each other whether it is in practice or at an actual meet.”
 
Both Jude and Gabriella agree that their mom is their biggest fan.
 
“She is always the first one to congratulate me on dropping time, and she always pushes me to do better,” Gabriella said. “She is an amazing mom and I don’t know what I would do without her.”

Cebrating 50 years, WPS is an independent, college prep day school for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 students. Located in Berlin, Maryland, the private school attracts an average of 500 students from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. For more information, please visit www.worcesterprep.org or call 410.641.3575.
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Worcester Preparatory School

508 South Main Street, Berlin, MD 21811
Phone: 410-641-3575 | Fax: 410-641-3586
Celebrating 50 years, WPS is an independent, college prep day school for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 students. Located in Berlin, Maryland, the private school attracts an average of 500 students from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia.