Lest you think this grizzled old blogger is being harsh, of the nine Gator teams swimming, three were 18th seeds, two were 17 seeds, and two were fifteenth seeds. Only two meed it as single digit seeds (4th and 8th). Now you see what I mean.
Every year, coach Paul and I play a little game for All-Star Relays. If any Gator relay team beats its seed, he gets my convertible sports car for a weekend (enjoy the Phalen's Volvo next year, Paul!). This year, the Gators failed to beat their seeds. Instead, they mutilated their seeds. Smashed them. Crushed them. Destroyed them. Paul gets the car for a weekend, again.
If you add up the seeds for the Gator relays, the total going into the meet was 130. If you add up the finishes for the Gator relays, those total 80. That means MVP relay results beat their seeds by a combined 50!
That stunning improvement vaulted MVP into 10th place overall with 205.3 total points. Just so there is no confusion, that's 10th out of 102 teams, including 64 teams who scored points at the meet.
(Yes, the ".3" means there was a three-way tie, which I've never seen before. Unfortunately, that .3 means MVP will definitely be moving to Division 2!).
(Editor's Note: If the Gators move up, THAT won't be the reason!)
The Division 3 Gators finished ahead of one Division 1 team, two Division 2 teams, and every Division 3 team. No team from Division 4 or lower beat MVP.
Working backwards, in the last eight years, MVP has finished 10th, 13th, 8th, 9th, 14th, 11th, 16th, and 14th at All-Star Relays (those 8th and 9th place finishes clearly means the team had quite the team reps!). The 2013 point total of 268 points is the highest in the MGE (Modern Gator Era).
Not that we pay attention to these things, but I always randomly check to see how the 33rd place, 39th place, and 49th place teams did. Lo and behold, those teams are Mansion House, Hollin Meadows/Waynewood (they tied), and Riverside Gardens. MVP had 205 points, while those four teams combined had 220 points.
Four team records were set -- scroll down to the next article for the details. And now for the results:
- The most impressive seed improvement -- not just of the night, but that this long-time Gator observer has ever seen -- came from the 11-12 girls free relay team of Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, Abigail Dittman, Emily Makin, and Gabrielle Greszler. They were seeded 17th and finished 3rd, for a whopping 14 seed gain! Wow.
- The boys 11-12 free relay team of Andrew Baker, TJ Heck, Andrei Zaitsev, and Clark Bayer also finished in third place overall, a one place improvement over their fourth seed.
After those two teams finished top six, four Gator relays hit 8th place:
- The 15-18 girls free team of Jessie Bricker, Parker Fulghum, Elaina Phalen, and Cassidy Bayer moved up to 8th, a seven place improvement over their 15th seed.
- Also finishing 8th was the 8 & Under boys medley team of Matthew Makin, Alexander North, Tyler Swartz, and George Schulte. They also jumped seven places from their 15 seed.
- The second biggest seed jump came from the 11-12 boys medley team of Zaitsev, Heck, Baker, and Bayer. They were third Gator team in 8th place, which is ten better than their 18th seed.
- The 11-12 girls medley team of Makin, Skopp-Cardillo, Olivia Blondin, and Greszler were seeded 8th and finished that way.
- The 15-18 girls medley team of Fulghum, Bayer, Bricker and Phalen moved up five spots from their 15th seed to claim 10th place.
- The 13-14 boys free team of Sean Jansen, Collin Sundsted, Cole Miller, and Nick Dupuis finished 15th overall, a three place improvement over their 18th seed.
- The 13-14 boys medley team of Sundsted, Jansen, Miller, and Dupuis were seeded 18th and earned 17th place.
The other Division 3 teams finished 11th (Fairfax), 13th (Vienna Woods), 16th (Little Rocky Run) (!!), 17th (Dunn Loring), and 52nd (Fairfax Station) (!!).
Gator Relays roll on.
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