Gators Chomp Dolphins, Finish With Winning Record

The MVP Gators closed out their A meet season with their third straight win, beating Lee-Graham by a convincing score 231-189.  The Gators came from behind after backstroke, winning breaststroke and butterfly by a combined 36 points, and capping it off with seven relay wins in the 12 races.

Cameron and a Little Gator being attacked by water.

The Gators finished the A meet season with a 3-2 record, marking their third straight winning season.  Last year MVP went 3-2 in Division 3 as well, and the year before they went 4-1 in Division 4.  No need to mention 2011 in Division 3, while they went 5-0 and won Division 5 in 2010 and 5-0 to win Division 6 in 2009.

The Gators aren't about swim team.  It's also about life. 

Here, the assistant coaches demonstrate personal hygiene.

"Step One: raise your arm.  Step Two: grab the deodorant."

The Gators finished tied for second this season along with Vienna Woods and Little Rocky Run.  The Gators beat LRR and lost to VW.  MVP was expected to beat VW and lose to LRR, which goes to show why you actually swim the meets.  Lee-Graham, named after the Confederate general and the inventor of my favorite kind of cracker (so, two crackers are involved in the naming!), finished 5th with a 1-4 record.

Dance, Dance Revolution is popular with teens.  Who knew?

(Editor's Note: Great -- now we will be deluged with angry emails from people upset we are calling Robert E. Lee a cracker!  Reporter: No offense intended.  I was, as usual, going for the cheap joke and not making an editorial comment.)

Colby with the sportsmanship handshake.

The meet was close through the first twenty events.  The Gators won freestyle 48-42, but the Dolphins came roaring back to win backstroke by eight points (41-49) and take the lead.

Abby takes her mark.

(Editor's Note: Dolphins don't roar.  They whistle, click and use burst-pulsed sounds to communicate. Reporter:  (Sigh).  Okay, how's this: "the Dolphins came whistling, clicking, and burst-pulsed sounding back to win backstroke. . ."  Editor:  That works!)

Cyrus churns up the water.

The Gators won seven of the twelve relays, including all six girls relays.

Anna wants to make sure she doesn't false start.

The Gators honored their seven graduating seniors with "Senior Day" at the swimming equivalent of half-time (the break between individual events and relays).  Long-time Gator fans were thrilled by the return of long-time announcer Greg Taylor to both call the meet and recognize the seniors. Congratulations to our seniors -- Cyrus Adams-Mardi, Kate Babiuch, Sara Bertram, Sarah Busch, Griffin Colaizzi, Jessica Metter, and Austin Neal.

Leah is focused on the task at hand.

Gator heroes of the week were Joseph Ienzi, a twelve year old who swam backstroke in the 13-14 boys breaststroke and finished fourth, Gabby Cullo an 8 year old who did 9-10 girls butterfly, and 12 year old Sheridan Phalen, who swam as part of the 13-14 girls relay and helped the team to victory.

A common occurrence: Mom talks, daughter ignores

by checking out smart phone.  Could be any family.

The Gator races of the week came from Donovan Kovalsky for the boys and Lily Penn for the girls. Donovan beat his Dolphin opponent by 0.15 seconds in the first event of the meet, the 8 & under boys freestyle.  Lily won her race by a close 0.19 seconds against her Lee-Graham opponent in the 11-12 girls breaststroke.

This is why coaches always yell "look forward!"

There was only one Gator sweep on the meet, and they waited until the last individual to do it.  Sara Bertram, Jessica Metter, and Jessie Bricker went 1-2-3 in the 15-18 girls butterfly.  For Sara and Jessica, it was a fitting cap for their final individual A meet race of their storied swimming careers.

Ellie in lane 5, while Gabby was in lane 1.

Unlike the previous two Gator victories this season, where the other teams won more races but MVP had more second place finishes, this time team put it out of reach by winning events.

Caroline and Lily plot strategy before the relay:

"If we swimmer faster than them, we win!"

Double Gator winners were Donovan Kovalsky (free and fly), Juliette Fore (free and breaststroke), Nick Dupuis (free and breaststroke), Sheridan Phalen (free and fly), Sara Bertram (free and fly), Lily Palmerino (back and fly), Emily Makin (back and fly), Cameron Morey (back and fly), Torie Bolger (back and breaststroke), and Elaina Phalen (free and fly).  Having ten Gators win double events is likely a modern MVP record.

Emily flies over Juliette.

Also winning races were Caroline Miller (free), Matthew Makin (back), Taylor Makin (back), Jack Dupuis (breaststroke), Caroline Baker (breaststroke), Colby Webber (breaststroke), Lily Penn (breaststroke), and Kevin Adams-Mardi (breaststroke).  The Gators won 28 out of 40 individual races, proving a 140-60 advantage on first place points for the meet.

Sean swims a key leg in a winning relay.

Second place points were earned by Colby Webber (free), Juliana Skopp-Cardillo (free), Sean Jansen (free and breaststroke), Parker Fulghum (free and back), Jessie Bricker (free), Olivia Blondin (backstroke and fly), Matthew Makin (butterfly), Caroline Miller (fly), Charlie Ruppe (fly), Emma Jones (fly), and Jessica Metter (fly).  Olivia's backstroke swim actually ended in a tie with the Dolphin swimmer.  While the 14 second place finishes is lower than normal, Gators won so many races that it would be expected for the Dolphins to take a majority of second place finishes.

Jim can smile -- the season is nearly over!

Third place points were racked up by James Piland (free), Emma Jones (free), Kevin Adams-Mardi (free), George Schulte (back), Katya Zaitsev (back), Kenny Krogh (back), Collin Sundsted (back), Anna Fracasso (back), Alexander North (breaststroke), Will Friedman (breaststroke), Brian McNamara (breaststroke and fly), Juliana Skopp-Cardillo (breaststroke), Sarah Jones (breaststroke), and Jessie Bricker (fly).  The Gators took 15 third places.

He's also smiling because his daughters are swimming so well.

Divisionals are Saturday at Vienna Woods, with the order being free, back, breaststroke, (break), fly, and IM.  Then, of course, Saturday night is the great Gator gathering, the Annual Awards Banquet!  That starts at 6 pm at MVP.