Little Rocky Run Turns Up Heat and Takes Meet

Stingrays have our number this year.  The Gators had a second match-up against Stingrays this season (the first being against the Hunt Valley Stingrays) and both were losses by pretty significant margins.  The Gators headed to Clifton on Saturday to take on the Little Rocky Run Stingrays and were defeated 235 to 185.  In spite of the loss, the Gators never fail to produce good news stories…so please read on.

Who is this Caped Gator?

Gators were decked out as Avengers on Saturday

The heat wave that has gripped the country over the last week was in full force on Saturday morning and the Gators rolled into Little Rocky Run with tents for spectators to make it a little more comfortable to watch the meet.  This gesture was even tweeted by Brian van de Graaff, local ABC meteorologist.  It was one of those meets where you hear plenty of comments about the obnoxious weather, you stay in the shade as much as possible, and you pound the water and Gatorade like a champion.

Two critical comforts on Saturday - Ice and Shade

Plus cool towels!

Three records were broken on Saturday.  Donovan Kovalsky continues to chip away at his own record each week, with a new record time in the 9-10 freestyle of 32.53, beating last week’s record of 32.86.  Kevin Adams-Mardi (18) broke his 2015 record for 15-18 backstroke with a new record time of 29.42.  His previous record was 29.94.  In relays, we have one record to celebrate.  13-14 girls broke the 100 meter medley relay record, set earlier this year, with a time of 1:01.81.  Olivia Blondin, Taylor Makin, Gabrielle Greszler, and Sheridan Phalen were in their medley groove and dropped .28 seconds off of the previous record of 1:02.09.

One of my favorite sights is seeing all those green caps charging to the wall in first, second, and third place order.  We had four sweeps on Saturday.  Starting in breaststroke, boys 9-10 gators finished with Jack Dupuis in first, Alexander North in second, and Tyler Swartz in third.  Next, Cassidy Bayer, Sarah Jones, and Elaina Phalen brought home a sweep in girls 15-18 breaststroke in that order.  We had two sweeps in butterfly – boys 9-10 took all 9 points finishing with Donovan Kovalsky in first, Tyler Swartz in second, and Matthew Makin in third.  15-18 Gator girls showed dominance again with Cassidy Bayer finishing first, Elaina Phalen in second, and Jessie Bricker in third.

Cassidy in motion.

Another amazing photo courtesy of Dave Anderson!

The races of the week go to Sheridan Phalen and Kevin Adams-Mardi.  In event 8, girls 13-14 freestyle, Sheridan touched the wall just .32 seconds ahead of her Stingray opponent to take first with a time of 28.71.  Kevin had a close one when he set the new boys 15-18 backstroke, coming in first just .55 seconds faster than his Stingray opponent with his record time of 29.42.

Individual Gator winners included Donovan Kovalsky (free and fly), Emily Makin (free and breaststroke), Sheridan Phalen (free), Parker Fulghum (free and back), Brian McNamara (back and fly), Kevin Adams-Mardi (back), Jack Dupuis (breaststroke), and Cassidy Bayer (breaststroke and fly)

Second place points were earned by Katya Zaitsev (free), Clark Bayer (free), Kevin Adams-Mardi (free), Jessie Bricker (free), George Schulte (back), Taylor Makin (back and breaststroke), Anna Fracasso (back), Shaun Nagda (breaststroke), Alexander North (breaststroke), Caroline Baker (breaststroke), Charlie Ruppe (breaststroke), Nick Dupuis (breaststroke), Tristan Colaizzi (breaststroke), Sarah Jones (breaststroke), Ginny Grubbs (fly), Tyler Swartz (fly), Caroline Miller (fly), Juliette Fore (fly), Andrew Baker (fly), Gabrielle Greszler (fly), and Elaina Phalen (fly)

Third place points were taken by Jack Dupuis (free), Nick Dupuis (free), Juliana Skopp-Cardillo (free), Gavin Moore (back and fly), Matthew Makin (back and fly), Lily Palmerino (back and fly), Kenneth Krogh (back and fly), Juliette Fore (back), Clark Bayer (back), Olivia Blondin (back), Gus Leyden (back), Tyler Swartz (breaststroke), TJ Heck (breaststroke), Lily Penn (breaststroke), Elaina Phalen (breaststroke), Sean Kovalsky (fly), Sheridan Phalen (fly), and Jessie Bricker (fly)

James Piland catching some air in relays.