Gators Storm to Strong Second At Division Relay Carnival With Scintillating Swims and Awful Alliteration.

In the 22 events last night at the Relay Carnival, MVP took seven firsts, five second places, and one third place.  Those strong showing were good for 190 points and second place in the Division 3 Carnival.  Two years ago, also in Division 3, the Gators managed just 138 points and finished last.

Six new team relay records were set -- scroll down to the next article to read all about it.

This suggests the team is, at worst, the 14 best relay team out of the 103 teams in the NVSL, and, not shockingly, Stat Boy will do a comparison with Division 2 teams to see if our relays are better than any of those teams -- once that data is available tomorrow.

Speaking of fourteen, there were that many Gator relays under last year's All-Star cut, so we are waiting with bated breath (note to confused people -- it's not "baited breath" -- unless you are fishing and swallow the worm!) to find out tonight how many All-Star relays MVP is sending this season.  From last season's blog post on earned All-Stars:

"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."

We won't know till tonight -- check the blog tomorrow morning -- but there's a pretty chance that 2012 record will be surpassed.  (Btw, for more on "bated breath" versus "baited breath" see the bottom three paragraphs of this posting.)

The score was:

Wakefield Chapel      212

MVP                          190

Lee Graham               159

Fairfax Frogs             145

Vienna Woods           140

Donaldson Run          122

Wakefield Chapel had an impressive eight relay wins, so 15 of the 22 first places went to the top two teams, with the two relay powerhouses allowing the remaining seven to be scattered among the other four teams like overlords in medieval times scattered crumbs among the peasants (legal note: use of this analogy no way signifies approval of the feudal system by the author, it's just a real stretch of an analogy, for cryin' out loud!).

First place Gator relays were swum by:

• 200 M Free Relay -- Girls Mixed Age team of Emma Jones, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, Cassidy Bayer, and Sara Bertram.
• 100 M Medley Relay -- 9-10 Girls team of Emily Makin, Olivia Blondin, Abigail Dittman, and Juliana Skopp-Cardillo.
• 100 M Medley Relay -- 9-10 Boys team of Andrei Zaitsev, Parker Blondin, Charlie Ruppe, and Clark Bayer.
• 200 M Medley Relay -- 13-14 Girls team of Jessie Bricker, Kaila Stein, Cassidy Bayer, and Elaina Phalen.
• 100 M Free Relay -- 9-10 Girls team of Emily, Olivia, Abigail, and Juliana.
• 100 M Free Relay -- 9-10 Boys team of Andrei, Parker, Andrew Baker, and Clark.
• 200 M Free Relay -- 13-14 Girls team of Jessie, Kaila, Elaina, and Cassidy*

* Many swim observers were questioning the wisdom of having Cassidy Bayer swim the anchor leg, but she seemed to do okay as she reeled in two other teams to help the Gators to a win by more than two seconds.  Given her swims last night, that girl has a chance to do well with the Gators!

Second place points were scored by:

• 100 M Medley Relay -- 11-12 Girls team of Mac Brotherton, Sheridan Phalen, Emma Jones, and Claudia Theriot.
• 200 M Medley Relay -- 15-18 Girls team of Torie Bolger, Jayne Orleans, Sara Bertram, and Maddy Bolger.
• 100 M Free Relay -- 11-12 Girls team of Claudia, Sheridan, Mac, and Emma.
• 100 M Free Relay -- 11-12 Boys team of Sean Jansen, Collin Sundsted, Jack Brunton, and Nick Dupuis.
• 200 M Free Relay -- 15-18 Girls team of Maddy, Anna Fracasso, Torie, and Sara.

The third place finish was logged by:

• 100 M Medley Relay -- 11-12 Boys team of Collin, Sean, Cole Miller, and Nick.

More Relay Carnival details on a later post re All-Star nominations.

Now, since you've been waiting with bated breath!

Shakespeare is the first writer known to use it, in The Merchant of Venice, in which Shylock says to Antonio: “Shall I bend low and, in a bondman’s key, / With bated breath and whisp’ring humbleness, / Say this ...”. Nearly three centuries later, Mark Twain employed it in Tom Sawyer: “Every eye fixed itself upon him; with parted lips and bated breath the audience hung upon his words, taking no note of time, rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale”.

For those who know the older spelling or who stop to consider the matter, baited breath evokes an incongruous image; Geoffrey Taylor humorously (and consciously) captured it in verse in his poem Cruel Clever Cat:

Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.

Source: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bai1.htm

For my next language rant, I will focus on the misuse of the words "rein" and "reign."  You've been warned.