Gator Trophy At IM Invitational Turns Out To Be Most Noteworthy World Event of the Day

Celebrating crowds outside of Buckingham Palace turned their attention away from the birth of some baby to celebrate the fifth Gator win in the last six Individual Medley Invitational meets.  The reign of the Gators was greeted with Gator love, Gator peace, and Gator joy throughout the world, although there was markedly less enthusiasm in areas known as Waynewood, Hollin Meadows, and Riverside Gardens.

Gators Win the Trophy. . .Again!

After MVP saved the cancelled meet by agreeing to host it and run it, the Gators went out and won the Colonial Division by a convincing 139.5 to 89 score over Waynewood, with Hollin Meadows (82) and Riverside Gardens 79.50 trailing not far behind.

While a few ungrateful louts whined about parking, most of the people representing the other twelve teams that participated in the meet were extremely appreciative of the effort MVP put into saving the meet this year.  The 13 teams are divided into three divisions based on team rank in the NVSL. 

It was a total team effort, as three Gators (the maximum allowed) scored points in seven of the ten events.  The top scoring event for the Gators were the 13-14 boys, who scored 21 points between Cameron Morey, Gus Leyden, and Ian Baker.

Cassidy Bayer crushed the old IM Invitational record set in 2009 for the 13-14 girls in being the only overall age group Gator winner.  She swam a 1:05.72, which is 2.13 seconds faster than the Gator team record she set back in June at Time Trials, and is 3.49 seconds faster than the old meet record of 1:09.21.

The meet is scored based on the modified Stableford system (Editor's Note: That's a lie, although to be fair to the reporter, any explanation of the scoring would be too confusing to the reader, as well as to the writer).  The most important aspect of the scoring is that swimmers are scored based on how well they did compared to their division counterparts.

Overall, 26 Gators scored points for the team, and another three finished top eight but were denied points under the scoring system.  For those of you who believe in numerology, the 26 Gator point scorers number is eerily similar to the 27 Gators who went to Relay All-Stars (Editor's Note: 26 and 27 are NOT the same number!).  For the rest of us, who don't believe in numerology, it's just coincidental that the two numbers are sequential.

Besides Cassidy winning overall, other Gator division winners (and ten point earners) were:

• Cage Theriot, who took 1.87 seconds off her seed time in 8 & under fly.
• Cameron Morey, who took 2.37 seconds off his seed time in 13-14 IM.

First place is worth ten points, second is eight, third is six, fourth is five, fifth is four points, and down to eighth place being one point.  Additional Gator points came from:

• Gus Leyden, eight points and a 0.69 second seed time drop.
• Sara Bertram, eight points and a 1.12 second seed time drop.
• Parker Blondin, six points and a 0.05 second seed time drop.
• Emily Makin, six points and a 3.70 second seed time drop.
• Nick Dupuis, six points and a 4.58 second seed time drop.
• Cyrus Adams-Mardi, six points and a 0.75 second seed time drop.
• Maddy Bolger, six points and a 0.12 second seed time drop.
• Colby Webber, 5.5 points and a 0.82 second seed time drop.
• Olivia Blondin, five points and a 0.17 second seed time drop.
• Collin Sundsted, five points and a 0.15 second seed time drop.
• Sheridan Phalen, five points and a 3.46 second seed time drop.
• Jessie Bricker, five points and a 1.19 second seed time drop.
• Torie Bolger, five points and a 1.63 second seed time drop.
• Andrei Zaitsev, five points.
• Clark Bayer, four points and a 1.67 second seed time drop.
• Kevin Adams Mardi, four points and a 1.23 second seed time drop.
• James Piland, four points.
• Mac Brotherton, three points and a 2.82 second seed time drop.
• Ian Baker, three points and a 0.08 second seed time drop.
• Abigail Dittman, three points.
• Cole Miller, three points.
• Mollie Passacantando, two points and a 0.70 second seed time drop.
• Ceci Theriot, one point.  That's the six year old's first Gator point!
• Taylor Makin, one point.

Also finishing top eight in the division, but not scoring points because three Gator teammates finished higher, were: Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, Anna Fracasso, and Emily Walzl.

Notable time drops were also turned in by Jack Klopson (cut 2.91 seconds), Andrew Baker (cut 4.38 seconds), Juliette Fore (cut 2.69 seconds), Nick McBroom (cut 5.39 seconds), Tristan Colaizzi (cut 2.62 seconds), and Emily Walzl (cut 1.55 seconds).

One touching moment was when Torie Bolger ended up racing her friend and West Potomac High School swim teammate Christine Pinter (of Stratford).  The two finished at the exact same time in adjoining lanes, and the watches confirmed the tie -- the two swimmers high-fived and hugged -- happy to share the heat win with their competitor and winter teammate.

There was a time when Waynewood won the Colonial Division every year, but those dark days of Dolphin dominance have been replaced by Greater Gator glory.  MVP has now won the IM Invitational eight times, including six of the last eight years.  Riverside Gardens has won it six times, Hollin Meadows once, and Waynewood has won it 13 times, but not since 2007.

Recently, the Gators have won in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.