Diving accounts for just one of 12 events at a championship swim meet, and it is typically contested before the swimmers arrive for their races or on an entirely different day.

But that one event can make all the difference.

The diving portion of Saturday's Montgomery County Division I Swimming and Diving Championships at the Germantown Indoor Swim Center, contested prior to the four-hour swimming competition, set the tone for riveting division title races, won by the Winston Churchill High School girls and the Walter Johnson boys.

The Bulldog girls finished with a 443-416 advantage over second-place Thomas S. Wootton. Two-time defending champion Walt Whitman (392 points), Walter Johnson (330), Montgomery Blair (196) and Bethesda-Chevy Chase (187) rounded out the six-team field.

Walter Johnson's boys avenged a season-opening loss to Churchill by beating the Bulldogs on Saturday, 428-418. Wootton (290), Blair (289), Whitman (288) and B-CC (252) finished third through sixth.

Saturday's results helped determine the final Division I winner. Heading into the meet, there were a number of possible outcomes.

Each regular-season dual meet win is worth one point. Churchill and Wootton's girls both had 4-1 dual meet records. On the boys' side, Churchill was 5-0 and Walter Johnson was 4-1.

The first-place teams on Saturday were awarded seven points; second place got five points and each place after that earned points in decreasing order. The total number of points determined the division title.

“Saturday was nice, we've been wanting a rematch [since the loss] and the boys swam really well,” said Walter Johnson coach Jamie Grimes. “It's nice to have it all come down to divisionals. It was interesting to see how the girls played out because the top three girls teams were all extremely close.”

The Winston Churchill girls entered the swimming portion of Saturday's competition already ahead 51-13 on the strength of its divers. Led by diving champion Kali Becker, the Bulldogs' three divers all finished in the top five.

That initial deficit proved insurmountable for Wootton on Saturday. But the Patriots announced themselves as a huge threat for the season-ending state championship, where diving will not count toward team point totals. The Maryland state championship meet is scheduled for Feb. 24-25 at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Whitman will also be a huge threat at the state meet, where each team is only allowed two entries per event. The Vikings have speed but lack the depth they've had in recent years.

Walter Johnson's boys trailed, 40-9, after the diving competition but won six events, including two relays (worth double the points of individual wins). The Wildcats also had three swimmers in the top 10 of three events.

“The Churchill girls were ahead by 40 points before the first race was even swum,” Whitman coach Geoff Schaefer said. That's hard to make up.”

jbeekman@gazette.net

Montgomery County Division I Swimming and Diving Championships

Team scores

Boys

1. Walter Johnson, 428

2. Churchill, 418

3. Wootton, 290

4. Blair, 289

5. Whitman, 288

6. B-CC, 252

Girls

1. Churchill, 443

2. Wootton, 416

3. Whitman, 392

4. Walter Johnson, 330

5. Blair, 196

6. B-CC, 187

Event winners

Boys

200-yard medley relay

Daniel Yook, Austin Dickey, Kenneth Ke, Michael Fu, Wootton

200-yard freestyle

Barry Mangold, Walter Johnson

200-yard individual medley

Harrison Gu, Churchill

50-yard freestyle

Austin Cole, Churchill

1-meter diving

Timothy Faerber, Churchill

100-yard butterfly

Patrick Scordato, Whitman

100-yard freestyle

Barry Mangold, Walter Johnson

500-yard freestyle

Garrett Powell, Walter Johnson

200-yard freestyle relay

Barry Mangold, Chris Root, Brian Daza, Jean-Marc Nugent, Walter Johnson

100-yard backstroke

Garrett Powell, Walter Johnson

100-yard breaststroke

Harrison Gu, Churchill

400-yard freestyle relay

Garrett Powell, Ryan Whitescarver, Jean-Marc Nugent, Barry Mangold, Walter Johnson

Girls

200-yard medley relay

Kristina Li, Jessica Chen, Scarlett Sun, Emily Zhang, Wootton

200-yard freestyle

Natalya Ares, Churchill

200-yard individual medley

Charlotte Meyer, Whitman

50-yard freestyle

Reia Tong, Whitman

1-meter diving

Kali Becker, Churchill

100-yard butterfly

Natalya Ares, Churchill

100-yard freestyle

Reia Tong, Whitman

500-yard freestyle

Charlotte Meyer, Whitman

200-yard freestyle relay

Bridget Dromerick, Michelle Illig, Elaina Gu, Natalya Ares, Churchill

100-yard backstroke

Kristina Li, Wootton

100-yard breaststroke

Audrey Gould, Whitman

400-yard freestyle relay

Reia Tong, Victoria Kuhn, Audrey Gould, Charlotte Meyer, Whitman