A Win For the Ages – Gators Get a Big W in Division 2 Against Thunderbolts

Big Division 2 win for the Gators on Saturday, our first of the season!  So big, I had to do some research to get perspective on how significant it really was.  After the meet I grabbed a couple Rolling Stones cassettes for my Walkman and headed over to the windowless basement of NVSL headquarters to review league data on microfiche and see when MVP won our last Division 2 meet.  That sounded way cooler than what I really did, which was to consult with the team historian, Glen Bolger (a new title for you, Glen), who shared with me that there is no record of MVP ever being in Division 2 since at least 1959, and it’s unlikely that it occurred before that because NVSL was way smaller then and didn’t have the same divisional structure.

Gators showed their college spirit on Saturday!

The bullhorn added some volume to Gator cheers, not that we need help.

Elaina Phalen getting swimmers ready to win

It was a huge win and a lot of fun to watch.  MVP took it to the Donaldson Run Thunderbolts, with the Gators winning this historic Division 2 meet by a comfortable 58 points, 239 to 181.  It was the perfect salute to Gator Seniors who were celebrated today at the last home meet of the 2016 season.  The Gators never let the Thunderbolts get any traction during the individual strokes; taking free 53 to 37, back 47 to 43, breaststroke 51 to 39, and fly 48 to 42.  Before relays began, the Gators were leading 199 to 161 and the Gator relay teams, coming off strong performances on Wednesday night at Division Relay Carnival, won 8 of the 12 relays to add an additional 40 points.

Sea of Gator balloons for our Seniors

Hugs for the stars of the day - Gator Seniors

Senior Day is always a wonderful celebration of all the awesome Seniors that are bidding farewell to the Gators as swimmers.  Many of these guys and girls have been swimming for MVP since they were little ones, and this home meet brings out a few more fans than usual.  The crowd on Saturday was large, with past Team Reps, additional friends and family, and other MVP veterans joining in the festivities and giving these Seniors a great send-off. 

We're gonna miss them!

Our Seniors are Gator leaders who encourage the younger swimmer and their friends/teammates, facilitate team cheers, and help keep the team organized.  There were lots of cheers and tears on Saturday morning for these great kids.  For more details on our Seniors, check out the Senior page on the Gators web-site.

Back to the swim portion of the meet news.  There was one record broken on Saturday and it was one that we all had a feeling was just a matter of time.  Last week Donovan Kovalsky (10) tied a nearly 50 year old record in boys 9-10 free, and this week he broke it!  His new record of 32.86 takes down the 33.00 record.

Gator girls took two Gator sweeps on Saturday.  Sheridan Phalen, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, and Gabrielle Greszler finished in that order in the girls 13-14 free.  In girls 9-10 breaststroke, Caroline Baker finished first, Abigail Litonjua touched second, and Elizabeth Moorman rounded out the sweep in 3^rd.

Ginny Grubbs clearly loves to win in dramatic fashion.  Ginny won two 8&under races this week, both by a mere .25 seconds or less.  In free, she beat her Thunderbolt opponent to the wall by .21 seconds, posting a time of 20.79.  In fly, Ginny clocked a time of 22.90, edging out her opponent by .25 seconds.  On the boys side, we had the closest race possible.  Donovan Kovalsky squeaked out the win in the boys 9-10 fly by .01 seconds with a time of 17.23.  Way to keep fighting Ginny and Donovan!

Individual Gator winners included Sam Bruce (free), Ginny Grubbs (free and fly), Donovan Kovalsky (free and fly), Nick Dupuis (free and breaststroke), Sheridan Phalen (free), Kevin Adams-Mardi (free and breaststroke), Cassidy Bayer (free and breaststroke), Emily Makin (back and breaststroke), Brian McNamara (back and fly), Taylor Makin (back and breaststroke), Gus Leyden (back), Jack Dupuis (breaststroke), Caroline Baker (breaststroke), Gavin Moore (fly), and Caroline Miller (fly)

Second place points were earned by Jack Dupuis (free), Katya Zaitsev (free), Juliette Fore (free and fly), Clark Bayer (free and back), Juliana Skopp-Cardillo (free), Gavin Moore (back), Monica Morales (back), George Schulte (back), Lily Palmerino (back), Kenneth Krogh (back and fly), Olivia Blondin (back), Alexander North (breaststroke), Abigail Litonjua (breaststroke), TJ Heck (breaststroke), Sean Kovalsky (fly), Andrew Baker (fly), Gabrielle Greszler (fly), and Elaina Phalen (fly)

Clark Bayer catching his breath after a strong race.

Third place points were taken by Caroline Miller (free), Gabrielle Greszler (free), Sean Jansen (free and breaststroke), Marina Soderlund (back), Matthew Makin (back), Katya Zaitsev (back), John French (back), Cameron Morey (back), Parker Fulghum (back), Edward Stone (back), Elizabeth Moorman (breaststroke), Charlie Ruppe (breaststroke and fly), Cecilia Morales (breaststroke), Lily Penn (breaststroke), Sarah Jones (breaststroke), Tyler Swartz (fly), Sheridan Phalen (fly), Cole Miller (fly), and Anna Fracasso (fly)

Great swim honey!

The final A meet of the season is this coming Saturday at Little Rocky Run.  It should be a battle, since both the Gators and the LRR Stingrays are 1-3 in the division.  The Stingrays stand in 4^th place, just slightly ahead of the Gators with 864 points to the Gator’s 819.