Laurel Area Swim Teams End Season On High Note

Andria Moyer and Kaitlyn Toth, top swimmers for the girls team at St. Vincent Pallotti High in Laurel, can be found nearly every weekday afternoon training in the water at the Fairland Aquatic Center in West Laurel.

But most of the time the two standouts are not practicing with their high school teammates. Instead, Moyer and Toth are working out with their club teams, both of whom train at Fairland in the late afternoon just after Pallotti swimmers have been in the water. Moyer trains with the Fairland Aquatic Swim Team (FAST) while Toth is a member of the Flying Gull Aquatic Club.

The arrangement appears to be working well. Moyer and Toth, who are year-round swimmers at a school where that is a rarity, have both qualified in individual events for the Metro championships to be held Feb. 25 at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center in Montgomery County. Moyer will compete in the 100 fly while Toth qualified in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. 

“I am extremely happy for both of them,” said Matt Jordan, the Pallotti coach. “They are my few year-round swimmers. They went to Metros last year and this year they are going again.”

On top of that they will also be part of Pallotti relay teams in the 200 IM and 400 freestyle in the Metro meet along with Pallotti teammates Ashley Cohee and Ashli Taylor.

 “I have swam in more events this year. Last year, I was doing the 100 fly and 500,” said junior Moyer, a Laurel resident who began swimming for FAST in sixth grade. “We don’t have any seniors on the girls team. We have three captains and we are all juniors. A lot of people came back [to the team] and we are motivated this year. This year people are more positive than they have been in the past.”

Even junior memebers of the team rem

Kaitlyn Toth, a sophomore from Silver Spring, said the team remains upbeat about the season

"This season has gone really well. We have been so supportive of each other," she said, adding that Moyer helped show her the ropes last year as a freshman and the two are good friends.

This has also been a strong season for the swim teams at Laurel High under veteran head coach John Venit, who also coaches West Arundel during the summer season.

The Spartan boys improved to 10-2 overall on Saturday with wins over High Point and Parkdale. The Laurel girls also beat High Point and Parkdale and are also 10-2.

Meredith Passmore, a four-year swimmer for Laurel, said some of her younger teammates have made huge strides this season. "We had people who could barely swim a whole lap," said Passmore, who plans to attend Howard Community College in Columbia and study early childhood development. 

Several of the Spartans excel in the classroom. Sheyla Guevara is near the top of her class academically while Will Hoover, another senior, plans to study the culinary arts after high school. Venit said he plans to nominate Guevara for national academic All-American honors for swimming.

David Carmen, a swimmer on the boys team, has also played three years of baseball at Laurel and is looking into Salisbury University and other schools to play that sport.

The Prince George’s County championships will be held Feb. 12 at Fairland and Venit said Roosevelt and Bowie will again be the teams to beat.

"They are top-notch teams," said Passmore, whose team was third last year in the county meet.

Other top boys on the team are Ryan Pauling, Cameron Ott, Correy Blake, Zach Poston and Ricky Johnson.  Other top Laurel girls are Jessica Robey, Jade Hill, Emily Yeagley, Kelly Slaught, Emily Kittleson and Ashla Faulkner.