Gator Relays Rip Through All-Stars

Like a Nick Dupuis swimsuit, the MVP All-Star relay teams tore through their events Wednesday night.  The Gators scored 198 points to finish 13th out of the 62 teams that scored points.

In the last seven years, MVP has finished 13th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 11th, 16th, and 14th at All-Star Relays.  Of the teams that finished higher, six are Division 1, four are Division 2, and two are Division 3.

Not that we pay attention to these things, but I always check to see how the 25th place, 32nd, 43rd, and 53rd place teams did.  Wow -- what a coincidence -- it turns out those are Riverside Gardens (118 points), Hollin Meadows (97 points), Waynewood (62 points), and  Mansion House (30 points).  Who knew? 

Stat Boy notes that last season Mansion House scored 154 points and Riverside Gardens only had 16, so the MVP consistency of scoring lots of points and finishing seven straight seasons between 8th and 16th place is pretty darn impressive.

Three team records were set by Gator relays (scroll down for related article blog post).

The highest Gator finish was the girls mixed age relay team of Sheridan Phalen, Emily Makin, Cassidy Bayer and Sara Bertram.  They finished second place, missing out on the win by just 0.02 seconds.  The four broke a team record that was believed to be unbreakable.  They improved from 3rd seed to second place, and cut an amazing 2.32 seconds off their seed time.

Two Gator relays tied for the biggest Gator seed jumpers -- both moved up five places from their seed.

The first were the boys mixed age relay team of Nick "Rip" Dupuis, James Piland, Cameron Morey, and Kevin Adams-Mardi.  Besides setting a new team record, they went from 17th seed to 12th place.  They cut a solid 0.88 off their seed time.  (All kidding aside, Nick swam an amazing lead-off leg for a guy with a undamaged swimsuit, much less doing it after a wardrobe malfunction!).

The 13-14 girls medley relay team of Parker Fulghum, Elaina Phalen, Cassidy Bayer, and Emma Jones also moved up five places, going from 14th seed to 9th place.  They also whacked 1.47 seconds off their seed time.

The biggest Gator time drop came from the 15-18 girls medley relay team of Anna Fracasso, Torie Bolger, Sara Bertram, and Jessie Bricker.  They cut a full 3.23 seconds off their seed time.  They were seeded 13th and finished ninth, a jump of four spots.  

Nearly every Gator relay had really strong performances.  

In event order, the other Gator relays:

• The 9-10 boys medley relay team of Kenny Krogh, Colby Webber, Charlie Ruppe, and James Piland finished 13th, improving their seed by one position.  They cut 1.95 seconds off their time.
• The 11-12 girls medley team of Taylor Makin, Lily Penn, Sheridan Phalen, and Juliana Skopp-Cardillo finished 15th with a time drop of 0.79.
• The 11-12 boys medley team of Andrei Zaitsev, Brian McNamara, Parker Blondin, and Nick Dupuis picked up one place to finish 15th, and they cut 0.89 second off their time 
• The 11-12 boys free relay of Clark Bayer, Brian McNamara, Andrei Zaitsev, and Nick Dupuis finished 13th overall.
• The 13-14 girls free relay of Cassidy Bayer, Elaina Phalen, Parker Fulghum, and Emma Jones hit their high seed on the mark, finishing fourth overall.
• The 15-18 girls free relay of Sara Bertrm, Anna Fracasso, Jessica Metter, and Jessie Bricker set a new team record, and moved up from 11th seed to 9th place.  They cut 1.34 seconds off their seed time.

The other Division 3 teams had a wide range of finishes.  Little Rocky Run finished 10th with 240 points, and Donaldson Run was right behind them in 11th place with 214 points.  Lee-Graham finished 15th with 170 points, Vienna Woods finished 29th with 108 points, and Oakton was 34th with 92 points.