Your Gator Nation Blog: All-Star Relays Create Impending Budget Shortfall

You read that headline correctly. We're having problems. We're getting complaints. The hardest working employee at MVP is having to work extra hard, which is causing some necessary, but unbudgeted, overtime payments. Not to mention the significant supply and resource costs we are now finding ourselves burdened under.

Your 2018 Relay All-Stars

What's the big issue, you ask? Well, to tell you the truth, it's all the records. Our swimmers keep breaking them. Too fast. Too often. It's becoming a real problem. By the time we get one record updated on the big board, somebody or some team breaks another one. Keeping the record board current has basically become a full time job. The existing pool staff is over-burdened. So, it appears we need to solicit for a new pool employee just to get all that work done. And don't even get me started on the brass plates. Those are totally cost prohibitive. We've shifted over to using only adhesive labels, which does help with cost somewhat. But, even with that plan, we're still struggling to keep up. A committee has been formed to evaluate whether it would be easier to shift to an even more dynamic system such as a white board with a live staff always present at the board to keep up with the frequent updates. We'll see what the committee decides. Either way, expect an increase to your pool dues and/or swim team payment next season because of this. These kids are just too fast. No record is safe.

(Disclaimer: The above blog introduction was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. There is no actual plan to raise pool dues nor swim registration fees because of the high volume of records being broken. Please do not complain to management.)

13-14 Boys. Afterglow.

But I am serious about the fact that there are a lot of records being broken. Four more went down on Wednesday at All-Star Relays. If you read the blog last week following Divisional Relays, you'd know that four records were broken by relay teams on that night also. Well, all four of those teams lowered those records even further this week. I told you All-Star Relays were an excitement-filled, energy-fest. And our teams rose to the occasion. (You can see the entire updated list of Gator records here.)

Record setting swims were delivered by:

*Boys 11-12 Free: Matthew Makin, Jack Dupuis, Alexander North, and Donovan Kovalsky(1st)
Boys 11-12 Medley: Alexander North, Jack Dupuis, Matthew Makin, and Donovan Kovalsky (3rd)
Boys 13-14 Medley: John French, Charlie Ruppe, James Piland, and Jack Klopson (13th)
Girls 15-18 Free: Parker Fulghum, Gabrielle Greszler, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, and Sheridan Phalen (6th)

Double medalists, the 11-12 boys.

That first one on the list with the asterisk is extra special. Not only was it an All-Star swim. Not only was it an MVP record time. But, it was also #1 in the entire NVSL. Yes, you read that right. They beat them all. NVSL Champions. That's kind of a big deal. Take that Chuckalee! (Disclaimer: Chuckalee is not an actual swim club. It may, or may not, be an amalgamation of several Division 1 teams who are all envious of our first place finish in the Boys 11-12 Medley.) Great job Gators!

So, I made a big deal about the 11-12 Boys video last week. This week's videos are pretty cool, too. My favorite part of this one, is the announcer's quote at the finish. It definitely caught him off guard when MVP's team stormed to a big finish in the event... "a MONSTER anchor leg in lane 4. MONSTER. Lane 4 Mount Vernon Park." Be sure to have your sound on. It's classic.

And that was just foreshadowing for their next, and championship winning, swim in the Free Relay.

Our other impressive All-Star Relay swims, performed against the best of the best in the NVSL, were:

Girls 8&U Medley: Karly Whitehead, Alexandra Myers, Natalie Crowther, and Evie Craig (15th)
Girls 8&U Free: Alexandra Myers, Karly Whitehead, Evie Craig, and Natalie Crowther (15th)
Boys 9-10 Free: Samuel Bruce, Sean Kovalsky, Gavin Moore, and Joe Mills (14th)

Boys 13-14 Free: James Piland, John French, Jack Klopson, and Charlie Ruppe (16th)
Girls 15-18 Medley: Parker Fulghum, Taylor Makin, Elaina Phalen, and Sheridan Phalen (7th)

The 8 & under girls. Adorbz.

Pretty good work Gators. The All-Star Relay Carnival is a scored event, similar to the Divisional Relays. All teams that finish (i.e. start and don't DQ) earn points, with the top finishers more heavily weighted. In short, the first place team gets 44 points, and then all other teams get a decreasing point amount all the way down to 18th place, who get 2 points. Division 1 teams tend to have the most teams present, and tend to come away with the most points. For MVP, those nine relay teams were able to amass enough points (182) to put the Gators in 16th overall place for the meet. (Chuckalee won.)

How about the other local teams in the Fort Hunt area? Hollin Meadows finished with 50 points, Mansion House had 46, Waynewood 32, Riverside Gardens had 28, and Little Hunting Park was able to muster up 14. The two remaining local pools didn't have any teams in the event this year... just showing how hard it is and what an honor just to make it!

Because I know some of you are competitive, I'll throw in a little math here so you can have bragging rights at the country club or around the campuses.... add up all those other team scores (50+46+32+28+14+0+0) and you get 170. So, the local score was MVP 182 - Everybody else 170. That's definitely Triple Gator Grunt worthy. Wup! Wup! Wup!

The 9-10 Boys. Also, adorbz, with a slice of swagger.

After the conclusion of the All-Star Relay Carnival, all the swimmers and families gathered for a special dinner to replenish all those calories and celebrate their achievements with each other. After the swimmers were all satiated and rehydrated, the coaches handed out the hardware (medals and ribbons) to the teams. Cheers were heard, and photos captured. It was glorious. Okay, I admit, glorious may be overstating it... but it was really fun and memorable, for sure.

The complete results of the meet are here on the NVSL website. And while we have fewer pictures than normal (photographers don't get special passes to be on deck at All-Stars) we've still got quite a few posted here.

I only posted a couple here, but ALL of the swims are available on the SwimNinja website again. Watch them. Watch them often. Send them to friends and family. Share the Gator love.
https://swimninja.com/2018/01/01/2018-nvsl-all-star-relays-medley/

Next up is our final "A" Meet of the season at Donaldson Run. It's sure to be another close one and may come down to the final relays. But, as detailed above, I like our chances if it does come down to the relays! Then the IM Invitational is on Monday, the Romp in the Swamp is on Wednesday, and next weekend is the Individual Divisional Championships. This is such an exciting time of the swim year. It's going to be fun.

Go Gators!