Swimming Fast and Dancing to the Rhythm of Time Trials

Amazing weather, great tunes, excellent dance moves, and a spirited vibe!  Mount Vernon Park was alive on Saturday morning for time trials and I can’t get Barry Manilow’s "Copacabana" out of my head.  Let me just say, before we get into the swimming results, that MVP has some great dancers, and they danced on Saturday!  For coaches, I would definitely say Laurel Greszler had it going on.  The timers found a little time to loosen up and shake it, and I give Lauren Cardillo kudos for being a dancing queen on deck.  And for swimmers, well there was a lot of hip movement and hands in the air and the two that come to mind as the ring leaders were Cassidy Bayer and Cole Miller!

 

Swimmers, coaches, volunteers, and spectators alike seemed relaxed and happy on Saturday and all of this positive energy set the stage for some great swims at time trials.  The Gators prepared for their first A and B meets on a picture perfect June morning.  265 swimmers took part in this event, swimming for almost four hours.  I caught up with Coach Paul Makin after the meet and asked him for his quick first impressions on this internal meet.  “Backstroke was looking very strong.  And I loved the team spirit today.”

I'm ready to swim!

Age group freestyle top times went to Sean Kovalsky, Ginny Grubbs, Donovan Kovalsky, Katya Zaitsev, Kenneth Krogh, Emily Makin, Clark Bayer, Sheridan Phalen, Cole Miller, and Cassidy Bayer.

On deck Emily Bayer and Jim Phalen are thrilled we made it through Freestyle!  Jim just holds it in better.

Age group backstroke top times went to Gavin Moore, Ginny Grubbs, Donovan Kovalsky, Lily Palmerino, Kenneth Krogh, Emily Makin, Brian McNamara, Sheridan Phalen, Kevin Adams-Mardi, and Parker Fulghum.

Age group breaststroke top times went to Shaan Nagda, Ginny Grubbs, Alexander North, Elizabeth Moorman, Charlie Ruppe, Emily Makin, Brian McNamara, Taylor Makin, Sean Jansen, and Cassidy Bayer.

And, finally, age group butterfly top times went to Sean Kovalsky, Ginny Grubbs, Donovan Kovalsky, Caroline Miller, Kenneth Krogh, Juliette Fore, Brian McNamara, Gabrielle Greszler, Cameron Morey, and Cassidy Bayer.

Teammates are always there to congratulate each other!

And what a difference a year makes -- a quick shout-out to some amazing time drops for our younger swimmers from last year.  For freestyle, the following swimmers dropped 8 or more seconds: Riley Drewry, Thomas Kelly, Maxwell Kelch, Anthony Campbell, Catherine Delaune, Heidi Schulte, Avery Santore, Lizzie Grubbs, Lucy Waid, Karly Whitehead, Heleyna VanRemortel, Addison Dickerson, Liliana Fore, and Mia Colaizzi.  For backstroke - Liam Fore, Evan Prible, Heidi Shulte, Karly Whitehead, Dakota Edwards, Lucy Waid, Addison Dickerson, and Colin Baxter.  For breaststroke - Ginny Grubbs, Elizabeth Moorman, Natalie Ruppe, Charlie Bradburn, and Saira Nagda.

Do you see what I see?  Did they really just drop that much time from last year?!

The first B meet is on Monday against Waynewood.  The first A meet is on Saturday against Hunt Valley.  Both meets are at Mount Vernon Park.