On Friday, February 10, The Gunston School sent 18 swimmers to the inaugural Eastern Shore Independent Athletic Conference (ESIAC) Swim Invitational at the YMCA in Cambridge, Md. Competing in 20 events against five other ESIAC schools, including Delmarva Christian (48), Worcester Prep (141), Salisbury School (86) and Saints Peter & Paul (52), Gunston’s Boys team finished in first place with a score of 206. 

Andrew Rich ’23 (Annapolis, Md.), Damian René ’23 (Easton, Md.) and Zach Steinberg ’25 (St. Michaels, Md.) led the way, dominating the meet from start to finish. Rich, who will be swimming in the ACC for Florida State University next year, placed first in the 200 yard individual medley and the 100 yard butterfly and was recently named Scholastic All-American by USA Swimming for the 21-22 school year. René, who also placed first in the 100 yard breaststroke, will be swimming for Swarthmore College. Steinberg placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Head Coach Victoria Windmiller, who has been swimming competitively her entire life and is a USA Swimming certified coach added, “I’m incredibly proud of our Girls Team,  who, without hesitation rose to the occasion swimming in events they would not typically swim in, namely Lea Berling, who swam the 200IM and Emma Morris who competed in the 100yfly. We had JUST enough girls to have Gunston represented in each of the events.” 

“Our girls’ team narrowly missed the top spot but provided arguably the highlight of the meet in their come-from-behind win in the 400 freestyle relay,” said Coach Bobby Stephenson, who is also Gunston’s Cross Country and Triathlon Coach, of Lea Berling ’25 (Germany), Allie Fitzgerald ’24 (Stevensville), Emma Morris ’26 (Stevensville), and Zoe Buzelli ’24 (Grasonville).   

Looking to expand conference offerings, the ESIAC Athletic Directors worked together to secure a venue for the inaugural swim meet with swim coaches working to find a successful format for the meet.
Swimming will likely now be permanently added to Gunston’s athletic offerings that also includes crew, sailing, cross country, triathlon, field hockey, golf, tennis, futsal, soccer, lacrosse, basketball, pickleball and volleyball. 

Said Breto, “Gunston has always had a significant number of students that swim competitively for local club teams and we wanted to be able to serve those student athletes by expanding our athletic offerings to include swimming.”