Swimmers of the Week: 13-14 Boys, and 11-12 Girls Relays

It turned into relays week for Swimmers of the Week, and the 13-14 boys relay and 11-12 girls relays earned the honors.

The 13-14 boys essentially clinched the meet against Dunn Loring by winning a tight battle and ensuring that the meet would not come down to the last race (which the Gators won anyhow for some insurance points).  The boys team of Kevin Adams-Mardi (back), Nick Ducceschi (breaststroke), Tristan Colaizzi (fly), and Tom Dupuis (free) won their race by 0.53 second, which is very close in a 100 yard relay.

The 11-12 girls relay teams for medley and free earned the honors by finishing first in both of their races in Relay All-Stars, lowering their NVSL record and setting two new team records.  The medley team of Cassidy Bayer (back), Holly Jansen (breaststroke), Emma Jones (fly), and Elaina Phalen (free) also swam free in that same order. 

Congratulations to all of this season's Swimmers of the Week.

Nine New Team Records In Last Three Meets

I have been remiss in getting around to noting new Gator team records and even a new NVSL record!

While the score of the Hunt Valley meet certainly was not what Gator fans were hoping for, there were four new team records set that day.  It started out as a quiet meet, with just one individual record falling, but once the 13-14 girls hit the water, it triggered a run of three new team records out of four straight events.  Thanks to Karen Stein's organization and record-keeping, here are the four marks set that morning:  

• 15-18 Girls 50M Backstroke.  Sara Bertram broke her own record from 23 Jul 11.  Old time 32.22, new time 32.13.
• 13-14 Girls 100 M Med. Relay.  Torie Bolger, Sarah Jones, Anna Fracasso, Jessie Bricker, 1:03.05.  Old record from 18 Jul 09, Maddy Bolger, Sophia Passacantando, Sara Bertram, Leigh Orleans with time of 1:03.37.
• 15-18 Girls 200M Med. Relay.  Sara Bertram, Jayne Orleans, Cassidy Bayer, Leigh Orleans.  New time 2.:10.87.   Old time from last year, 23 Jul 11 with 2:11.38 with Julia Bolger, Sophia Passacantando, Sara Bertram, Maddy Bolger.  Note:  Cassidy was swimming up and Gators allow records to be broken in relays if someone is swimming up.
• Boys 18 & Under Mixed Age Relay. 200M Free.  Cameron Morey, Nick Dupuis, Kevin Adams-Mardi and Cyrus Adams-Mardi shaved more than half a second off their record from 30 Jun 12.  Old time 2:01.50, new time 1:59.91.

All-Star Relays had four more record setting performances, including the 11-12 girls lowering their own NVSL record set one week prior, and a smackdown of a 22 year old record team record. 

• Girls 8 & Under 100 M Medley Relay.  This is a new event this year and they broke their own record set on 11 Jul 12 at Div. Relays.  New time 1:29.55, old time 1:30.31.  Cage Theriot, Juliette Fore, Emily Makin, Cecilia Morales.
• Girls 11-12 100M Medley Relay.  Broke their own record from 11 Jul 12 (Div. relays).  Old time 1:01.83, new time 1:01.80.  Cassidy Bayer, Holly Jansen, Emma Jones, Elaina Phalen.  They broke the NVSL record at Divisionals and lowered it at All Stars.
• Girls 11-12 100M Free Relay. Broke their own record from 11 Jul 12 (Div. Relays).  Old time 56.55, new time 55.97.  Holly Jansen, Emma Jones, Elaina Phalen, Cassidy Bayer.  They missed tieing the NVSL record by 0.07, and missed breaking it by 0.08.
• Boys 8 & Under 100M Free Relay.  James Piland, George Pacious, Connor Dunn and Charlie Ruppe.  New time 1:16.91.  Old record was from 1990 with time of 1:17.52 with Nick Bailey, Drew Dinsick, James Carlson and Kurt Gron. 

After all the records set in those two meets, the heavy rain on Saturday made record-breaking difficult.  However, Kevin Adams-Mardi shaved 0.06 seconds off his backstroke record from earlier this season, when he officially swam a 31.96 (although it seemed faster!). 

Congrats to those rewriting the record books -- a pretty common occurence these days at MVP.

Dunn Loring Haiku

Rain, rain go away
Gators win despite delay
Second place good day

Directions to Little Hunting Park (IM Invitational)

From MVP:

Take Ft. Hunt Road.  Turn left onto Paul Spring Road (Hollin Hills sign), follow 1 mile, bearing right at every choice. (Paul Spring Road becomes Devonshire Rd.).

Turn right onto Popkins Lane, turn immediately right onto Coventry Rd. Follow to end.

MapQuest Directions:

Click here for directions from MapQuest

All Star Relay Carnival Photos

Check out the photos Tonda Phalen took at the All Star Relay Carnival. Great shots!

Down by the Riverside

Pics from the Riverside meet are ready!

All Star Haiku

Thunder and lightning
Only in the pool.  Gators ninth.
Records fall.  Woodstock.

We Are the Nine Percent! Gators "Occupy All-Star Relays" Movement More Successful than "Occupy Wall Street" Movement.

The MVP Gators finished ninth out of 102 teams Wednesday night in the All-Star Relays.  Seeded 20th going into the season by the NVSL, Gator relays rocked again by scoring 230 points.  In the last five years, MVP has finished 9th, 14th, 11th, 16th, and 14th at All-Star Relays.  This represents the first time MVP has broken into the top 10 in the modern era.

(Note to NVSL seeding poo-bahs: no need to move MVP up a division next season, Four is where we belong.  The Gators just happen to be really, really good at relays.)

Not that we pay attention to these things, but I always check to see how the 18th place, 28th, and 29th place teams did.  Wow -- what a coincidence -- it turns out those are Mansion House (178 points), Waynewood (98 points), and Riverside Gardens (96)!  Who knew?  (For those of you not good at math, combined, Waynewood and Riverside Gardens scored fewer points than MVP.

The meet went off without a hitch, despite the threat of thunderstorms.  At one point the team started to run for safety like Occupiers before a National Park Service Bulldozer, but they were rallied by Coach Paul and Team Rep Glen, who stood there like a stonewall to stop the retreating parents!

 The Gators set four team records (see related post), including snapping a 1990 mark and lowering their own NVSL record.  The 11-12 fearsome foursome missed out on another NVSL record by just 0.07.  (While 007 reminds one of James Bond, in this case it reminds us of that other great spy -- Maxwell Smart.)

As the smart money in Vegas expected, the 11-12 girls took first place in both the medley relay and the freestyle relay.  The same four swam both events -- in the medley Cassidy Bayer swam back, Holly Jansen swam breaststroke, Emma Jones did fly, and Elaina Phalen swam free.  (Editor's Note: In the freestyle relays, all four swimmers do, uh, freestyle.) 

Coach Paul Makin switched things up in the free -- typically your second-fastest swimmer goes first, and your fastest swimmer goes last (anchor leg).  To get clean water and mess the heads of the other relay teams, he had Cassidy lead off.  She took a huge lead, and the Gators led from start to finish.

The medley broke their own NVSL record, and the free relay just missed an NVSL record by that much.  (Readers: try it.  Try doing something in 0.07 seconds.  Not much time, huh?  That's how close they came.)

The next highest finishing Gator relay were the 13-14 free relay of Mollie Passacantando, Torie Bolger, Anna Fracasso, and Jessie Bricker, who grabbed an eighth place.  Three of the four, plus Sarah Jones, finished ninth in the medley relay, taking 0.27 seconds off their seed time.  Torie swam back, Sarah did breaststroke, Anna swam fly, and Jessie did free.

Also finishing ninth were the boys 8 & under free relay of James Piland, George Pacious, Connor Dunn, and Charlie Ruppe.  Seeded 16th, the boys blew away their seed time of 1:21.34 with an amazing time of 1:16.91, breaking a pool record set back in 1990 (see related post).

The girls Mixed Age 200 freestyle relay put up another ninth place, as Cassidy Bayer, Sherican Phalen, Jessie Bricker, and Sara Bertram brought home key points for the team.

The final ninth place for the Gators was earned by the 9-10 girls medley relay team of Michela "Mac" Brotherton (back), Lily Penn (breaststroke), Olivia Blondin (fly), and Sheridan Phalen (free).  They improved from their 11th seed start, carving a little bit of time off (0.26) in the process.

The 9-10 girls free relay featured Mac, Taylor Makin, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, and Sheridan Phalen.  They finished 15th, taking 0.05 seconds off their seed time.

The 8 & under girls medley relay finished in 11th place as Cage Theriot swam back, Juliette Fore was the breaststroker, Emily Makin swam fly, and Cecilia Morales finished it with free.  It was another team record.

The 8 & under girls also swam free, albeit not in a legal fashion.  Que sera.  The 9-10 boys medley relay were second alternates, so congrats to Parker Blondin, Andrei Zaitsev, Brian McNamara, and Clark Bayer.

Breaking News: Cassidy Bayer sets 3rd NAG record

After taking out two NAG records for the 100 fly and the 200 fly, MVP's own Cassidy Bayer tied Olympian Dana Vollmer's 50 meter fly record last night.  She swam a 28.23 -- which is faster than her MVP team record/NVSL record, even though it was long course!  Short course (25 meters) is generally faster because of the turn than long course (think the upper pool, or Olympic-length) -- so an amazing swim is even more incredible.

Read all about it:

http://swimswam.com/2012/07/cassidy-bayer-gets-another-nag-record-this-time-its-a-tie/

And, for an article on Cassidy's recent record-lowering 100 meter fly swim, here's the Washington Post's swim web site on her:

http://reachforthewall.com/2012/07/14/pvs-senior-champs-cassidy-bayer-breaks-national-age-group-record-in-100-butterfly/

Congratulations to Cassidy!

More Awesome Pics from the Hunt Valley Meet

Rita McGill took some great shots at the Hunt Valley meet. Check them out. I love the way she shoots sequences like starts and relay transfers.

All-Star Relay Happy Ad

Kelli Makin designed this great Happy Ad for the All-Star Relay program.  Someone suggested I do it, but as a political consultant, I only know how to do Unhappy Ads.  Doesn't quite fit the theme!

She did a great job:

Pictures from Hunt Valley Meet Now Online

Here is a link to my photos from the Hunt Valley meet on Saturday: https://picasaweb.google.com/114682110635489328722/HuntValleyAtMVP2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCML--9LFybCUygE&feat=directlink

I've also posted Rita McGill's photos of each of the relay teams: https://picasaweb.google.com/114682110635489328722/HuntValleyVsMVPRelayTeams?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIfP-vadhrbZmAE&feat=directlink

I still have a metric ton of photos that Rita shot of the meet. I'll get them posted a little later today.

Stingrays Snap Gator Winning Streak

Successful swimming by the Stingrays shattered a shot at a division title for MVP.  Hunt Valley won the meet 237-183 to move to 4-0 and all but clinch the trophy.  The Gators drop to 3-1.

The Stingrays started strong and never looked back.  What had the potential to be a close meet never came together for MVP, as Hunt Valley consistently swam well and nabbed key points. 

After freestyle, the Gators trailed 43-47.  The backstroke went against the team in green by 38-52, and suddenly the Stingrays led by eighteen points.  Hunt Valley really opened it up by taking breaststroke by 26 points, essentially clinching the meet.  The Gators tied the Stingrays in fly at 45-45.

Hunt Valley won seven out of twelve relays -- which underscores that they are sending 14 relays to All-Stars, while the Gators have eleven All-Star teams (see related article).  MVP swimmers did set one individual and three relay records during the meet (see related article).

Gators had three sweeps -- the 11-12 girls freestyle (Cassidy Bayer, Emma Jones, Parker Fulghum), the 13-14 girls freestyle (Jessie Bricker, Torie Bolger, Mollie Passacantando), and the 13-14 girls fly (Anna Fracasso, Mollie Passacantando, Jessie Bricker).

Gator heroes -- those who swam up -- include Anna Fracasso, a 14 year old swimming 15-18 back, Kaila Stein, a 13 year old swimming 15-18 back, Sarah Jones, a 14 year old swimming 15-18 fly, and Cassidy Bayer, a 12 year old swimming fly in the 15-18 200 meter medley relay.

The race of the week was swum by Nick Dupuis, who won his 25 flyby just 0.12 seconds.  (Race of the week based on the closest first place MVP win over the opposing team.)

Double winners were Nick Dupuis (free and fly), Cameron Morey (free and back), Cassidy Bayer (free and fly), Emily Makin (back and fly), and Sara Bertram (back and fly).

Single MVP winners were Jessie Bricker (free), Kevin Adams-Mardi (back), Juliette Fore (breaststroke), and Anna Fracasso (fly).  Overall, Gators won 14 out of 40 races.

Second place points were earned by James Piland (free), Cage Theriot (free), Emma Jones (free and fly), Kevin Adams-Mardi (free), Torie Bolger (free and back), Leigh Orleans (free), Kenny Krogh (back), Mac Brotherton (back), Parker Fulghum (back), Gus Leyden (back and fly), Charlie Ruppe (breaststroke and fly), Parker Blondin (breaststroke), Sean Jansen (breaststroke), Elaina Phalen (breaststroke), Nick Ducceschi (breaststroke), Sarah Jones (breaststroke), Jayne Orleans (breaststroke), Olivia Blondin (fly), and Mollie Passacantando (fly).  MVPers took 23 second place finishes.

Third place points were scored by Sheridan Phalen (free), Sean Jansen (free), Parker Fulghum (free), Tom Dupuis (free and fly), Mollie Passacantando (free), Collin Sundsted (back and fly), Molly Cabral (back), Cyrus Adams-Mardi (back), Brian McNamara (breaststroke), Sam McBroom (breaststroke), Duncan Hoag (breaststroke), Kaila Stein (breaststroke), Jack Benson (breaststroke), Leigh Orleans (breaststroke), Kenny Krogh (fly), Jessie Bricker (fly) and Jessica Metter (fly).

The Dunn Loring Dolphins come to MVP on Saturday for the battle for second place -- both teams are 3-1 on the season.

Swimmers of the Week: Juliette Fore & Nick Dupuis

Juliette Fore and Nick Dupuis earned Swimmer of the Week honors for week four. 

Based on times going into the meet, 8 & under Juliette was likely to finish second to her Hunt Valley Stingray rival, but instead Juliette smoked to a best time and won a breaststroke race the Gators didn't expect to have.

Nick Dupuis won both his races -- one in blowout fashion and one in nose-out fashion.  Nick swam nearly a second under the All-Star cut in easily winning the 9-10 freestyle.  He then won the 25 meter butterfly by 0.12 seconds to complete the double win.

Directions to Riverside Gardens (Not Marvin Gardens)

8633 Buckboard Drive Alexandria, VA 22308

Take State Route 629 (better known as Ft. Hunt Road) to a right turn on Old Stage Road (across from Heritage Presbyterian Church AND Plymouth Haven Baptist Church).

Take an immediate left on Buckboard, and it is all the way to the end of the street.  Parking is grim, so you may end up on the street -- just don't block a driveway.

Please allow yourself at least four minutes to get to Riverside Gardens.

Hunt Valley Haiku

Stingrays sting Gators.
Trophy on the line, but missed.
Grunt, wait till next year!

Hey Now, You're An All-Star, And So Are You and You and. . .

The MVP Gators are sending a modern era record eleven relay teams featuring 28 different swimmers to All-Stars Wednesday night at Lincolnia Park.  The old modern record was nine, both in 2011 and 2009.

First, The Background 
There are 102 teams in the 17 divisions in the NVSL.  The First Division has the fastest and best teams that actually even recruit, and Division 17 has the smallest and, um, not so best teams.  Teams move up and down divisions based on some complex formula divined with frogs, magic hats, and secret sauce at a place in Scotland called "Hogwarts."

Every year, on the Wednesday after the third A meet, there is a meet consisting of all six teams in the division swimming 22 different relays mixed age, medley, and freestyle across the different age groups and genders (don t worry, things haven t changed since you were younger, there are still only two genders). Results from across the 17 divisions are compared, and the top 18 teams in each age/gender group make it the following Wednesday to a huge meet called All-Star Relays, along with two alternates.

All-Stars is like Woodstock for swimming -- the best from the biggest summer swim league in the country -- a total of 396 relays swim, which results in approximately 1,700-1,800 swimmers.

In 2006, the Gators sent seven relay teams to All-Stars. In 2007, the number dropped to three (although they put on a show). In 2008, the number bounced back up to seven. Then, in 2009, the Gators hit a new high of nine relay teams going to All-Stars.  That "dropped" to eight in 2010, although there were some powerhouse relays, before bouncing back to nine last year.  With another eleven this year, the team has averaged 9.25 relay teams in the past three seasons, whatever the heck that means!
Now, the DetailsThe All-Star teams are seeded, from one to 18, and swim in three heats, with the slowest heat going first, and the fast six teams in the final heat. Teams can move up -- we've had Gator teams in the slow heat finish in the top six overall. (Of course, they can also go the other way).

Nine girls teams and two boys teams qualified for All-Stars.  Of the 23 girls who swam Wednesday at Divisional Relays, 20 are on teams that qualified!  Both 11-12 girls relays are top seed, and we have two other single digit seeds.

Here are your 2012 Gator All-Star relays:

Mixed Age Girls relay – 7^th seed (Cassidy Bayer, Sheridan Phalen, Jessie Bricker, Sara Bertram)

8 & under girls medley relay – 7^th seed (Cage Theriot, Juliette Fore, Emily Makin, Cecilia Morales)

9-10 girls medley relay – 11^th seed (Mac Brotherton, Lily Penn, Olivia Blondin, Sheridan Phalen)

9-10 boys medley relay – 2^nd Alternate (Andrei Zaitsev, Brian McNamara, Parker Blondin, Clark Bayer)

11-12 girls medley relay – top seed (Cassidy Bayer, Holly Jansen, Emma Jones, Elaina Phalen)

13-14 girls medley relay – 8^th seed (Torie Bolger, Sarah Jones, Anna Fracasso, Jessie Bricker)

8 & under girls free relay – 16^th seed (Cage Theriot, Juliette Fore, Cecilia Morales, Emily Makin)

8 & under boys free relay – 16^th seed (James Piland, George Pacious, Connor Dunn, Charlie Ruppe)

9-10 girls free relay – 14^th seed (Mac Brotherton, Taylor Makin, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, Sheridan Phalen)

11-12 girls free relay – 1^st seed (Holly Jansen, Emma Jones, Elaina Phalen, Cassidy Bayer)

13-14 girls free relay – 8^th seed (Mollie Passacantando, Torie Bolger, Anna Fracasso, Jessie Bricker)

 The 9-10 boys medley relay were just 0.07 seconds away from being 18th seed instead of second alternates -- very, very close!

Congrats to all of the Gator All-Stars!

Division 4 Relay Carnival Pictures Are Here!

Well, actually they are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114682110635489328722/Division4RelayCarnival2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKLGw5qXw6P6wgE&feat=directlink

Thanks to David Anderson, another great job of capturing Gator Nation in full swim.

Four More Team Records Fall On Saturday

While Hunt Valley got the better of MVP on Saturday, Gator swimmers got the better of four team records.

• 13-14 Girls 100 M Med. Relay.  Torie Bolger, Sarah Jones, Anna Fracasso, Jessie Bricker swam a 1:03.05.  The old record was from 18 Jul 09.  Maddy Bolger, Sophia Passacantando, Sara Bertram, Leigh Orleans and their time of 1:03.37 have been erased from the record books.
• 15-18 Girls 50M Backstroke.  Sara Bertram broke her own record from 23 Jul 11 by 0.09 seconds.  Old time 32.22, new time 32.13.
• 15-18 Girls 200M Med. Relay.  Sara Bertram, Jayne Orleans, Cassidy Bayer, Leigh Orleans.  New time 2.:10.87.   Old time from last year, 23 Jul 11 with 2:11.38 with Julia Bolger, Sophia Passacantando, Sara Bertram, Maddy Bolger. 
• Boys 18 & Under Mixed Age Relay. 200M Free.  Cameron Morey, Nick Dupuis, Kevin Adams-Mardi and Cyrus Adams-Mardi shaved a significant amount of time off their record from 30 Jun 12.  Old time 2:01.50, new time 1:59.91.

The most noteworthy part of the records is that Cassidy Bayer, a 12 year old, is part of the 15-18 medley relay record.  Coach Paul Makin gambled that the 11-12 girls could win the relay without both Cassidy and Holly Jansen, and that by adding Cassidy to the 15-18 girls relay (kids may swim up in A meets, not relay carnival.)

Congrats to all Gator record holders.

Gator girls set new NVSL record, two other team records fall, two new marks established!

Emma Jones contributing to the cyclone.

Outlined against a blue-gray July sky the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Cassidy Bayer, Holly Jansen, Emma Jones and Elaina Phalen. They formed the crest of the Gator cyclone before which another NVSL record was swept over the precipice at Mosby Woods last Wednesday as hundreds of spectators peered down upon the record-breaking panorama spread out upon the blue waters within.*
The fearsome foursome beat the old record by 0.08, swimming a 1:01.83.  The old record was set by Division One powerhouse Overlee 19 years ago in 1993!  The Gator four also broke their own four day old team record by exactly one second. 

Because the rules for eligibility for Relay Carnival and A Meets are different, the NVSL recognizes two sets of relay records.  Having gunned down the faster Relay Carnival record, the 11-12 girls have a real shot on Saturday of breaking the slower A Meet record of 1:02.21.

Cameron Morey helps smash a record.

The next biggest record was set by the 11-12 boys free relay.  The team of Cameron Morey, Sean Jansen, Sam McBroom, and Dom Heratsch swam a 1:00.78, shattering the old record by 0.11.  The old mark was 23 years old (from 1989!) and was set by Karl Gron, Lance Wormell, Craig Dufek, and Kirk Myers.

The 11-12 girls free relay also set a new team record, swimming a 56.55, breaking the two year old record by a healthy 1.22 seconds.  The old mark was held by Torie Bolger, Molly Cabral, Anna Fracasso, and Emily Walzl.

The new team marks were set by the 8 & under medley relay teams -- because this is the first time those events have ever been swum in the NVSL (up till this year, it had been a modified medley of back, breaststroke, free and free.  With 8 & under fly now in the A meets, the modified medley was modified to a true medley for 8 & unders.)

Ringing in a record.

The two new records:

• 8 and under Girls 100 meter medley: Cage Theriot, Juliette Fore, Emily Makin, Cecilia Morales - 1:30.31.
• 8 and under Boys 100 meter medley: Kenny Krogh, Will Friedman, Charlie Ruppe, James Piland--1:39.62.

Congrats to all the new record holders!

* For those readers who think I've flipped my lid, I haven't.  Extra points to readers who know that I blatantly ripped off what is probably the greatest sports lede of all time.  So I borrowed -- but in this context, you gotta admit it is pretty cool!  (Google "outlined against a blue-gray October sky" if you don't catch the reference.)