Your Gator Nation Blog: One Down, Two to Go! Gators Win Divisional Relays!

The MVP Gators used depth and resiliency to reign supreme Thursday late afternoon in the 2015 Division 3 Relay Carnival to bring home another coveted trophy.

Little Gator Josie Cowen was part

of the National Anthem flag swim.

(The team competes for three trophies each year -- the Division Relay Carnival trophy, the Division Title Trophy, and the IM Invitational Trophy; hence the "one down, two to go" headline that the Phalens will hate me for!)

Emily helps the 11-12s to a win.

The great Gator relay machine scored 180 points, while Little Rocky Run had 170, followed by Vienna Woods at 168. The Dunn Loring Dolphins weren't far behind at 164. Further down were Fairfax (154) and Fairfax Station (114).

Zoe heads for home with the win in the 13-14 medley.

The last time the Gators won a Divisional Relay trophy was 2010, when they scored 180 to beat the second and third place teams who scored 170 (Langley) and 168 (South Run) points respectively. If you play 180170168 in the lottery today, and it doesn't work, don't blame me, but having the same scores five years apart is Scooby Doo spooky. (Go ahead, click on the link, listen to the song. It's okay, I will wait.)

Cole Miller is either doing breaststroke OR

holding his hands out for the trophy!

(After a bit. . . continues:) The Gators also won the division title that year -- but it was division 5, not division 3 like this year.

Gus checks out Kevin's RTO

The two upcoming meets are against Little Rocky Run and Vienna Woods. The tightness of those meets, which will determine the winner of Division 3 is highlighted by the fact that while MVP won three of the 22 relays, Vienna Woods won seven (!) and Little Rocky Run took five. Like MVP, Dunn Loring and Fairfax both won three relays.

Jill and Miriam trade places

It was the Gator depth that did the trick. Along with the three wins, MVP took six second place finishes and seven third place finishes. The 8 & under boys smashed the team record in the medley relay (see related article).

Andrei. TJ.

First place points were swum by:

8 & Under boys medley relay of Matthew Makin, Alexander North, Tyler Swartz, and George Schulte.
11-12 girls medley relay of Emily Makin, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, Olivia Blondin, and Gabrielle Greszler
13-14 girls medley relay of Emma Jones, Taylor Makin, Sheridan Phalen, and Zoe Greszler.

Just in the Nick of time.

Second place points were earned by:

8 & under boys free relay of Swartz, North, Schulte, and Makin.
9-10 boys free relay of Michael Ienzi, Jack Klopson, Donovan Kovalsky, and James Piland.
11-12 girls free relay of Skopp-Cardillo, Abigail Dittman, E. Makin, and G. Greszler.
11-12 boys free relay of Andrew Baker, TJ Heck, Andrei Zaitsev, and Clark Bayer
13-14 girls free relay of E. Jones, Z. Greszler, T. Makin, and S. Phalen.
15-18 girls free relay of Jessie Bricker, Parker Fulghum, Elaina Phalen, and Cassidy Bayer

In terms of Stat Boy oddities that strike Stat Boy as unusual, all three first places came in the medley relays, while all six second place finishes came in the ten age group freestyle relays.

But, that's not important. The important part of this story? Another trophy for the Gator trophy case!