But Douglass and Central were able to settle their season-long feud for the 3A/2A title and several other swimmers from that league held their own against the bigger squads from up north.

After posting a perfect 10-0 record in the boys' division during the county dual meet season, Douglass attained the most points Saturday to capture the 3A/2A county championship under first-year coach Jim Woods.

The Douglass boys, who finished seventh overall with 97 points, gradually edged away from Central and Surrattsville, who shared the league runner-up spot with 82 points that was good for 10th-best overall. The Douglass girls tallied 113 points and edged Central (106) to claim the 3A/2A title, good for eighth and ninth in the overall standings.

For the second straight year, DuVal junior Amber Luedtke posted the highest finishes among the 3A/2A participants. Luedtke, a Star/Gazette all-county first-team choice last winter, finished third in the 500-yard freestyle (5:48.12) and finished third in the 100-yard butterfly (1:06.80). She was the only female member of her team to score any points (32) and is headed to the Maryland Invitational next weekend at Fairland Aquatic Center.

"I really wanted to get a Metros cut in both events," Luedtke said. "I just made it in the 100 fly, but I missed it by 13 one-hundredths in the 500. In the fly, I tried to stay with Sarah Riley as long as I could and I was hoping to stay with Janna [Green]. Then in the 500 I tried to stay with Christine Danielson as long as I could, but at the 300 mark she pulled away from me."

Central's girls placed ninth overall in the standings and seven points behind Douglass in the 3A/2A chase. The Falcons' boys tied for 10th overall with Surrattsville and thus shared the 3A/2A runner-up spot with the Hornets. Nevertheless, Central coach Jodi Ruback was pleased with the team's effort at the county meet and throughout the season.

"I was very pleased with the effort of my swimmers," said Ruback, who teaches six Japanese classes and two yearbook classes each day at the school. "They were a very dedicated group. Alicia Cohn was with me for all four years. Some of the other kids could barely swim when they joined the team. But they kept practicing and competing and they really dropped time during the season. I was very proud of all of them."

On the girls' side, LaVon Schmoldt was ninth in the 200 free. Alisha Willoughby was 12th in the 200 individual medley and 15th in the 100 fly, Emma Osore was 13th in the 100 free and seventh in the 100 backstroke, Alicia Cohn was 11th in both the 500 free and the 100 breaststroke. The quartet of Osore, Cohn, Willoughby and Schmoldt was 10th in the 200 medley relay, but the tandem of Emily Anderson, Cohn, Willoughby and Schmoldt was sixth in the 400 free relay.

Largo had few swimmers at the meet, but several of them scored points. Junior Stacey Russell took fourth in the girls' 200 IM (2:44.41) and sixth in the 500 free (6:59.12), junior Ryan Brown was 10th in the boys' 50 free and ninth in the 100 back. Russell accounted for all 28 of the girls' points, while Brown compiled all 16 boys' points.

E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.