Relay Madness and Streaking Into All Stars

Pre-race. Getting pumped up. 

In case you haven't heard it here before, Divisional Relays are pretty awesome. As a quick refresher, the Relays are a meet between the six teams in our division with every age group swimming a Medley Relay and a Free Relay, with two Mixed Age Free Relays thrown in there for good measure.

It is a great event that really highlights the strong team bonds formed in summer swimming. The event itself creates a highly competitive environment between the teams. Then, that environment is amped up by the high level of solidarity and camaraderie demonstrated by each relay team- supporting and cheering for their team mates. Lastly, factor in the high level of swimmers every team has up at the Division 3 level and you get a truly impressive event. It's intense!

National Anthem Swim.

The big carrot at Relays is making the cut for All Stars, which has every team pushing their hardest to get the best possible times. Times from the regular season don't count, the only thing that gets a relay into All Stars is their time at Divisional Relays, so there is lots of pressure on the teams. All Star cuts are determined by selecting the top 18 relay times throughout the entire NVSL, so the exact cut is never known, but last year's numbers are usually a pretty good guide. Placing 1st or 2nd at Divisionals does not automatically get a team into All Stars. The time is what matters. In some Divisions, no teams get in to All Stars at all, while in the strongest divisions, even a 5th or 6th place team can make All Stars if the times are that good (keep reading for an example of this!).

Breaststroking to victory. 

The Relay Carnival itself is scored differently than normal meets, since their are six teams swimming in every event. Every team that completes a race without a DQ gets points. First place teams get 14 points, second place teams get 10, third place gets 8 and so on progressively down 6, 4, 2 for the other three. Then those points are totaled up at the end of the meet to give a final score to each team and crown a Relay Carnival Champion.

Strangely, there were no thunderstorms in the forecast and the meet went off without a hitch this year... which may be a first (at least for the past few years).

Good starts, good swims, good transitions.

The Gator teams swam wonderfully and were able to place in the top three in 13 out of 22 events. On top of that, TEN out of those teams qualified for the All Star Relay Carnival. That makes this the sixth year in a row that the Gators have sent a double-digit number of teams to the All Star Relays. What a streak!

The complete meet results are available here and pictures are all available here. Below is a listing of the teams that placed in the top three, and the asterisks (*) identify teams that made the cut for All Stars.

Winning Relay Teams
Boys Mixed Age Free: Donovan Kovalsky, Tyler Swartz, Clark Bayer, and Cole Miller
*Boys 9-10 Medley: George Schulte, Alex North, Matthew Makin, and Tyler Swartz
*Girls 15-18 Medley: Parker Fulghum, Taylor Makin, Cassidy Bayer, and Zoe Greszler
*Boys 9-10 Free: Alex North, Matthew Makin, Gavin Fore, and Tyler Swartz
*Girls 13-14 Free: Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, Gabby Greszler, Olivia Blondin, and Emily Makin
*Boys 13-14 Free: Andrew Baker, TJ Heck, Andrei Zaitsev, and Clark Bayer
*Girls 15-18 Free: Cassidy Bayer, Taylor Makin, Parker Fulghum, and Zoe Greszler

Second Place Relay Teams
*Girls 9-10 Medley: Cassidy Crowther, Abigail Litonjua, Ginny Grubbs, and Jill Humphreys
*Boys 11-12 Medley: James Piland, Jack Klopson, Donovan Kovalsky, and Jack Dupuis
*Girls 13-14 Medley: Olivia Blondin, Emily Makin, Gabby Greszler, and Juliana Skopp-Cardillo
Boys 13-14 Medley: John French, TJ Heck, Andrew Baker, and Clark Bayer
*Boys 11-12 Free: James Piland, Jack Dupuis, Jack Klopson, and Donovan Kovalsky

Third Place Relay Team

Boys 8 & under Free: Sam Bruce, Liam Fore, Anthony Sarro, and Cooper Swartz

Not only fast... but some of the races were pretty close, too.
Tied for 1st.

First to the wall in the most races, MVP and Langley led the field and were tied with 7 victories each. When the final scores were tallied, MVP finished in an impressive second place, with the Langley Wildthings being crowned the champions. 

The final point totals were: 

Langley 212

MVP Gators 198

Dowden Terrace 172

Vienna Aquatic 160

Dunn Loring 122

Lakevale Estates 96

The excitement of hearing that low time...All Stars bound.

Between all of the six pools in our division, 45 of the relay teams made the cuts for All Stars. (I told you Division 3 was some pretty high level competition.)  There were also a double digit number of records broken by all the teams, so many in fact, that I lost count of the exact number. But I do know that the Gator Girls 13-14 Medley team set a new mark in the 200m... which isn't too much of a surprise since they've set the 100m mark THREE TIMES already this year. Olivia Blondin, Emily Makin, Gabby Greszler, and Juliana Skopp-Cardillo swam the race in 2:11.27, breaking the old mark of 2:13.06 which was set back in 2009.

And in the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" level amazing category, the entire Div 3 Girls 13-14 age group from is sending FIVE teams to All Stars in BOTH the Medley and Free relays (including both Gator relay teams), and the 15-18 Boys age group is sending four teams in each of those relays. Yes, Division 3 is strong.  

Great swimming to all! The All Star Relay Carnival is next Wednesday. Go Gator Relays!

Yes, even at the Relay Carnival, Butterfly pictures
make the best pictures.