Gators Frolic In Mansion House Monday Night Meet

by David Ruppe, B Meet Correspondent

Every young Gator learns about the real gator living deep below the lifeguard shack --- but I've never seen a mansion or a house at the Mansion House pool. Huh? Anyway, Gator Nation had some massive time drops for personal bests at the Monday night  home-meet against Mansion House. Most notably, Elena Amaya cut 31.80 seconds! from her previous 8U 25 Free time; while Meela Stevenson cut 17.52, Molly French 8.40, and Dakota Edwards 8.41 in the same event.

Dakota can boogie.  That's right, Gators are number #1!

Other large cuts were recorded for Maxwell Kelch (8.82 sec., Boys 8U 25 Free), and in the Girls 9-10 50 Free for Caroline Henry (6.60), Lilian Babin (6.65), Natalie Ruppe (6.20), and Hannah Leslie (6.86).  Saira Nagda chopped 5.15 in the Girls 9-10 50 Breaststroke.  Big cuts in the 8U 25 Back were posted for Lizzie Grubbs (5.34), Josie Cowen (5.05.), Ela Prible (11.61), Alexandra Myers (12.06), Dakota Edwards (14.15), and Meela Stevenson (20.17), which gave her a total combined improvement of 37.69 at the meet! 

For such massive overall improvement, Stevenson and Amaya certainly deserve Gators of the Week honors!

Ready to launch!

Heat winners for the meet were:

Freestyle

Tyler Swartz, Liam Garvey, Gavin Moore, Grayson Normand, Liam Fore, Anthony Sarro, Thomas Foley, Cassidy Crowther, Miriam Keller, Andrea Morales, Josie Cowen, Ella Prible, James Piland, Jacob Chidester, Isabella Van Damme, Katya Zaitsev, Caroline Henry, Andrew Baker, Charlie Ruppe, Sheridan Phalen, and Parker Fulghum.

Freestyle heat winner Anthony Sarro.

Backstroke

Alexander North, Liam Garvey, Anthony Sarro, Thomas Foley, Cassidy Crowther, Caroline Myers, Lizzie Grubbs, Josie Cowen, Ella Kreiner, Kenneth Krogh, Abigail Dittman,  Grace McGee, Lily Penn, and Parker Fulghum.

Breaststroke

Gavin Fore, Nora Hixson, Jack Klopson, Lily Palmerino, Caroline Henry, Parker Blondin, Julian Skopp-Cardillo, Ellie Cullo, Taylor Makin, Ian Baker, and Sara Jones.

Ellie Cullo is all smiles after winning her heat.

Fly

Tyler Swartz, Caroline Myers, James Piland, Isabella Van Damme, Gaby Cullo, Andrew Baker, Emma Jones, and Cameron Morey.

Caroline Myers won both her heats.

On July 20, MVP will host again our local IM invitational and Gators have been chugging through the four-stroke event at each B meet in hopes of attaining greater personal and team glory.
IM heat winners Monday were Donovan Kovalsky, Isabella Van Damme, TJ Heck, Andrew Baker, Sheridan Phalen, and Cassidy Bayer.

Coach Emily is a beatbox freestyler.

My editor Glen pays me by the word, and since a picture is worth a thousand, here are a few more great ones from the meet:

Emily Walzl slices with precision through the water.

Abigail Dittman swims her nighttime IM in impressionist colors.

The folks at the Gator table are a big reason MVP meets are so well run.