The MVP Gators won the final A meet of the season 217.5-202.5 over the Dunn Loring Dolphins. The win pushes the MVP record to 4-1 on the season, meaning that the team has gone 14-6 over the last four years. The victory knocked Dunn Loring to 3-2, giving MVP sole possession of 2nd place in Division 4.
It was a dark and stormy morning. The meet was even delayed for approximately 10-15 minutes because of heavy rain. The temperatures were in the low 70s, causing swimmers to finish and shiver. The Gators toughed out the weather to take a close meet that was tied after event 41, by winning seven of the final eleven relays.
The Gators led 49.5-40.5 after freestyle (yes, there was a tie for 3rd place). Partway through backstroke, the Dolphins took the lead, but the Gators fought back to win back 46-44 and take a 95.5-84.5 lead. Breaststroke was a tie at 45-45, so the Gator lead remained eleven points at 140.5 to 129.5. The Dolphins carved into the Gator in butterfly. The lead fell to five points at 182.5 to 177.5 because MVP lost fly 42-48.
So it all came down to the relays. MVP won seven of the twelve relays to clinch the meet. Five of the relays were decided by less than one second (MVP won three of those).
The only Gator sweep of the day came in the last individual event, as Sara Bertram, Jessica Metter, and Mollie Passacantando finshed first, second, and third to take all nine points.
The race of the week was swum by Sheridan Phalen, who won the 9-10 girls 50 meter freestyle by just 0.19 seconds -- the closest race won by a Gator in this meet.
Gator heroes -- kids who swam up above their age group -- were Mollie Passacantando (a second place in 15-18 free and a third place in 15-18 fly as a 13 year old), Jack Brunton and Tyler Dunn (both 11 and swam backstroke as 13-14s), Kaila Stein (13 years old, swam 15-18 backstroke), and Cassidy Bayer (12 years old, won 13-14 fly).
Double Gator winners were Emily Makin (free and fly), Cassidy Bayer (free and fly), Holly Jansen (back and breaststroke), and Sara Bertram (back and fly).
Individual Gator winners were Nick Dupuis (free), Sheridan Phalen (free), Kevin Adams-Mardi (free), Leigh Orleans (free), Cameron Morey (back), Torie Bolger (back), Juliette Fore (breaststroke), Parker Blondin (breaststroke), Sean Jansen (breaststroke), Tristan Colaizzi (breaststroke), and Charlie Ruppe (fly). The Gators took 19 out of 40 first place finishes. Clearly it was our depth that won the meet, because it is unusual for a team to come up short in the individual first places and yet still take home the victory.
Key second place points were earned by: James Piland (free), Andrei Zaitsev (free and back), Cameron Morey (free), Jessie Bricker (free), Mollie Passacantando (free), Kenny Krogh (back), Cage Theriot (back), Mac Brotherton (back), Kevin Adams-Mardi (back), Anna Fracasso (back), Cyrus Adams-Mardi (back), Sophia Passacantando (back), Charlie Ruppe (breaststroke), Brian McNamara (breaststroke), Sheridan Phalen (breaststroke), Sarah Jones (breaststroke), Jayne Orleans (breaststroke), Mollie Rutherford (fly), Nick Dupuis (fly), Olivia Blondin (fly), Emma Jones (fly), Tristan Colaizzi (fly), and Jessica Metter (fly). The 24 second place finishes helped make the difference between winning and losing.
Earning third place points were Julianna Skopp-Cardillo (she got a half point in free), Emma Jones (free), Nick Ducceschi (free and breaststroke), Torie Bolger (free), Cyrus Adams-Mardi (free), Juliette Fore (back), Parker Fulghum (back), Lily Penn (breaststroke), Sam McBroom (breaststroke), Elaina Phalen (breaststroke and fly), Jack Benson (breaststroke), Parker Blondin (fly), Anna Fracasso (fly), and Mollie Passacantando (fly). The 16 third places equaled 15.5 points out of a possible 40.
The Gators now get ready for Divisional Champs and await their fate in the seeding meeting for next year. Given the closeness of this meet and the dominance of Hunt Valley over the division overall, it is clear (to this unbiased writer) that the Gators should stay in Division 4. (Although, it's not up to us!).
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