Confessions of a Blogger - Seeding and Division Placement

Ok, I'm going to come clean here. I lied. Just a little. To be honest, I was just trying to play up the drama thing. Drama is compelling. That part is true. Come to think of it, I don't think I actually lied... I just didn't reveal all of the information. Time to come clean.

In the summary of our last "A" meet against Donaldson Run, I said that it was the closest score of any meet in Division 3 all season. That was 100% true. And while I didn't explicitly say so, I tried to imply that it was the most dramatic win in the Division also. That is that part that wasn't entirely true. But to stick with our Star Wars theme from last week, I'll quote some Obi Wan here, "You're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

If you didn't know what you missed, then it was the most dramatic win of the season. But the reality is, that from the overall picture of Division 3, there was an EVEN MORE dramatic meet this year. But, due to timing and the fact that probably none of us were there, we didn't notice.

First, some background: a little known fact is that the NVSL Divisional schedule is set up based on forecasted rankings of the teams. The #1 and #2 teams are supposed to meet in the final week, as well as 3/4 and 5/6. It works out a lot in D1. Chesterbrook was the pre-season #1, and Overlee was the #2. They were both undefeated coming into the final week and Chesterbrook won to take home the championship according to the script. In other divisions, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. It's harder to make pre-season predictions down the table. For D3, technically Hunt Valley vs Hunter Mill was supposed to be the 1 vs 2 finale... but it didn't turn out that way for two main reasons: (1) Hunter Mill wasn't quite as strong as predicted this year, and (2) High Point Pool was much stronger than anyone anticipated. This resulted in TWO OTHER meets being the de facto dramatic battles for the D3 Championship trophy much earlier in the season.

The first meet we'll talk about involved us, as it was our meet against Hunt Valley in Week 3. As discussed previously in the blog following that meet, we had a good chance to win if the cards fell a little better for us, but alas, it was not meant to be. The meet didn't seem that dramatic because the score wasn't as close as it should have been (read the blog to review the details). In hindsight however, had we won that one, we'd have ended up in a 3-way tie for first with High Point Pool and Hunt Valley. Another little known fact is that there is no tie-breaker in the NVSL, so a three-way tie results in three trophies for three champions. So, on the bright side, we saved the NVSL some money.
And to be clear, while winning trophies is nice, we do have a lot already (go take a peek in the pavilion). We can't win them all.

Anyway, the real whopper of a meet, the grand-daddy of drama, occurred while none of us probably noticed at the time. It was High Point Pool versus Hunt Valley way back in Week 2. You'll recall that HPP came into the Swamp in Week 1 and sort of shocked us with the big win. I'm sure Hunt Valley saw that result, so was probably a little more prepared, but still had their hands full. To give you a quick meet summary, the teams split Freestyle, then High Point opened up a 5 point lead in Backstroke, and followed by adding 30 points to the lead in a dominating Breaststroke. Hunt Valley recovered some of that in the Fly, but still went into the relays TRAILING by nearly 20 points, 171-189. That meant Hunt Valley needed to win 8 out of 12 of the relays to pull off the comeback. A pretty huge task any week. Then to add to the drama, as the relays began, High Point Pool won 3 out of the first 4 relays to open up their lead even more to 204-176. With eight more relays to go, HPP only needed to win two in order to take the win and (as we know now) win the Division. But Hunt Valley would not be denied- they rattled off EIGHT STRAIGHT relay wins to come from behind and win the meet. What a clutch performance by those relay teams! I can only imagine the excitement and intensity amongst the swimmers and parents as the momentum built. That was a dramatic win for the ages, and as was the deciding factor in Hunt Valley taking the Division 3 crown this year. It's just a little bit too bad that it was in Week 2 instead of Week 5. Drama is always a bit more dramatic when it happens at the end.

What does this all mean for the Gators and the rest of Division 3 leading into next year? I'm pretty sure it means that both HPP and HV are moving up to D2. And the Gators will remain in D3 along with Hunter Mill. We'll probably be joined by Dowden Terrace (1-4) coming down from D2 as well as Crossepointe (5-0) and Oakton (5-0) both undefeated and likely moving up from D4 and D5 respectively. There will also be a sixth team... either Vienna Woods (4-1 in D4) or Vienna Aquatic (0-5 in D2). My analysis is that Vienna Woods will get the call up to D3 and Vienna Aquatic will drop all the way to D4 instead. We'll see. This is all just speculation. The actual seeding meeting happens in February.


And with that, we are now at the point of the swim season where the "team" format is over. The meets are no longer scored with resulting wins and losses in the standings, instead each swimmer is looking to achieve individual glory (while representing the Gators, of course). So, good luck to all of those swimmers heading to Divisional Championships on Saturday. As a reminder to readers, each swimmer's time at the Divisional Championships is the only determining factor for who gets into All-Stars in August. Previous seed times are nice and may look good on paper, but every swimmer needs to show up and hit those times at the Divisional meet to make the cut. We'll definitely have a few Gator All-Stars, but the big question is how many? And I'm sure we're going to see lots of personal best times and maybe even a few more Gator (and perhaps NVSL?) records broken. Check back later to see how it goes!

Thunderweek extended.... or the shortest RITS ever

Last week was Thunderweek. Read about it in the blog if you missed it. But apparently the thunder decided to hang around a little bit longer into this week and spoil the Romp In The Swamp. Also joining thunder was his good friend "flash flood warning" which also doesn't make for the greatest meet environment. So, what we got was the shortest meet of all time. A couple of hours to set up, warm up, get everybody into positions, get a great national anthem rendition, then.... a little more than 2 events and done. About 10 minutes and it was over. On the bright side, at least we were able to finish the 8 & under Freestyle events for both the boys and girls. And that's an important one... it sort of serves as the minor league baseball game, letting us see all the talent that is going to burst onto the scene next year. So, at least we got that in. But that was about it. Results are here.

The Romp in the Swamp is always a fun (and final for most) meet every year. It is geared toward the younger Gator swimmers with the older and Divisional swimming Gators doing all the jobs normally done by the adults. It's too bad we couldn't get the whole thing in, but something is better than nothing.

Quick meet. Check.

Quick blog. Check.

The End.

Fastest in the Fort: The IM Invitational

Historical perspective is important. My kids have been swimming at MVP for seven years now. During that time, we have never lost the IM Invitational. I just assumed that was always the case. But, I was wrong. Like many things in sports, the recency bias had affected me. In fact, we had only begun the "Great Gator Winning Streak" two years prior to the time we moved here. Yes, it's true, the Gators have taken home the IMI trophy every year since 2010. We did win some before that, but not very much. In fact, for most of the preceding years all the way back into the 1980's, it was Waynewood who dominated this event, accumulating a total of 13 victories back in the day. Riverside Gardens has also won six times. As the sands of time have shifted, so have the relative levels of Fort Hunt area swim power. The last decade or so has belonged to the Gators- eight wins in a row and 10 out of the last 12.  But, all good things eventually come to an end, right? Waynewood was once in this position only to be displaced by Mount Vernon Park. Is this the year that the curtain falls on the era of Gators? Would the streak be broken and a new power rise to the top of the local swim scene?

All the most dedicated Gators stayed until the
very end so they could pose with the trophy. 

No. We won. But, just remember, it's not automatic. The kids had to train all winter and all summer and then swim really fast on Monday to do it. Staying on top is hard work.

The win this year comes as a particularly special milestone. Not only is it our ninth straight title, it is also the team's 13th overall... finally pulling even with Waynewood for the all-time lead. Next year is going to be the rubber match. It's going to be hosted at their house. Like they say, "To be the man, you've got to beat the man." I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I think you know who I'm betting on.

But enough about the past and the future, how about the present? For those new to the team, how about a refresher on what the IM Invitational is?

Here's the basics:

The Event, IM = Individual Medley, which is a race where each competitor swims all four strokes (Fly, then Back, then Breast, then Free). Note: 8 & under actually just swim Fly, not the full IM at this meet. Back in the day, 8 & under didn't swim Fly at all in regular meets because there were not enough younglings who could do it. That's changed, thanks to modern science, nutrition, and competitive parenting. But, even though they do swim Fly in regular meets now, a full IM is a bit of a stretch for most of the little ones.

The Teams: Lots of them- Riverside Gardens, Waynewood, Little Hunting Park, Hollin Hills, Hollin Meadows, Highland Park, Mansion House, Hayfield Farm, Highland Lake, and Mount Vernon Yacht Club all participated this year. We've had 13 teams in some years, and this year we had 11. Each team sends their top three swimmers in every age group, then any remaining slots are filled with alternates based on quality times. MVP tends to get a lot of alternates in because our 4th, 5th, and 6th (etc) swimmers are still very good. Our team is pretty deep in case you haven't noticed.

Gator vs Gator

The Scoring: This is very similar to the Relay scoring system that I've described before with the top eight finishers earning points. 10 points to the winner, then 8, 6, 5, 4,3 2, 1. There is one caveat, which is apparently called the "Waynewood Rule" from back in the day when they were the Kings/Queens of the IM Mountain. The caveat is that no team can earn points for more than three swimmers in any event, so if a fourth of fifth swimmer from the same pool finish in the top eight, their points slide down the ladder and go to the next swimmer on the score sheet. (We had this happen  in the 13-14 Boys this year, with four of our swimmers all finishing in the top eight.)

Breaststrokers really cater to our photographers. They keep
popping up every few yards just to have their pictures taken.

The Stakes: Mostly bragging rights. Swimmers get to be the fastest in the land, and teams get to be "Kings/Queens of the IM Mountain." (Go back and read the stuff above, if you missed it.) But there is one more key outcome for some of the swimmers as this is their last chance to improve their IM times and possibly qualify for Divisionals next weekend. Note: the IM is not an event in the normal "A" meets all season, BUT, it is one of the five events for Divisionals and Individual All-Stars. The times for swimmers to earn a spot in the IM at Divisionals come from events like this.

Also pictured, the rare "Pascarell" Rose,
which is often only photographed at victorious meets. 

The Results: As mentioned above, MVP scored the most points (79.5) and took home the trophy. Our nearest competitor was Waynewood with 53 points, followed closely by Hollin Meadows in third with 52. All tolled, we had 60 swimmers splash in this meet- 10 younglings doing the Fly and 50 doing a full 100 meter Individual Medley. Out of those 60, 38 of them posted a best time and 17 earned points for the team. We also had five DQ's. As I mentioned, the IM is pretty tough. Lots of strokes, lots of distance, lots of required technique. It's tough, especially for younger swimmers, to keep it all together for the full 100 yards.

To be honest, with so many swimmers posting best times, it would take me too long to type them all up here, so I'm just going to link you the the fancy PDF document on our website which has all of the Gator results formatted very nicely. If you want to see how everyone did, there is also a link to the results from the whole meet which includes results from all 11 teams.

So, while I'm not going to post them all (click on the link, it's super easy... I promise), I will hit a couple highlights:

• We had two event winners who are officially the "Fastest in the Fort": Donovan Kovalsky won the 11-12 Boys and Emily Makin was took the 13-14 Girls (both were very impressive victories, too, with margins of 4 and 7 seconds respectively). 
• We also had two runners-up, with Sheridan Phalen taking the figurative silver medal for the 15-18 Girls and Liam Fore finishing second in the 8 & under Fly. 
• Interestingly, we didn't have anyone finish third at any age. (I guess it's probably not that interesting, but it is true.) 
• We maxed out "pointers" by getting three swimmers in the top-eight in three of the age groups: 11-12 Boys, 11-12 Girls, and 13-14 Boys. As I mentioned before, the 13-14 Boys actually got FOUR swimmers "in the money" to earn points, but could only count three of them due to the aforementioned "Waynewood Rule." 

All in all, a pretty solid outing. I'm already getting excited about next year's rubber match. Who's going to be "First to Fourteen"... ;-)

Go Gators!

The elusive IMI Fly. Fly pics are the best swim pics.

We Love Drama! "A" Meet at Donaldson Run

Dude... we totally have a Darth Vader
statue to highlight our Star Wars theme.
Gators are AWESOME. 

Drama is good. Drama creates tension. Drama adds pressure. Drama creates excitement. Drama exists in many walks of life, but it is most welcome in the sporting world. Sure, there is something interesting about crazy blow-out wins, such as the NFC versus AFC Super Bowls in the 80's and early 90's. They were all NFC blow-outs. Huge wins. They were remarkable in that they were so dominating, but they really weren't that fun to watch in the moment. Even when my team was in it, I tuned out by halftime and just had fun at the Super Bowl party, but didn't really enjoy the lack of drama in the game. Drama comes when the contests are close and each participant must perform at a high level to tip the game to victory. One of the reasons Tom Brady gets a lot of positive press as a Quarterback is that so many of his wins were dramatic- tight victories held or stolen from arguably better teams at times. Dramatic wins are memorable.

This week we had a pretty dramatic meet at Donaldson Run. In fact, it was the closest score of any meet in all of Division 3 this year. Not to spoil the buildup, but it literally came down to the final relays before it was over. We knew both teams were pretty even and we've always had close meets against the Thunderbolts in the past. The drama was heightened by the fact that we came in with a record of 2-2, and a win put us over .500, while a loss put us below. Even a tie was in play up until the end, and it nearly turned out that way.

Dress like a Wookie, get your picture in
the Blog. Its a rule. 

The meet started off running in our favor, with the Gators taking the advantage in the Freestyle 50-40, and then adding to that lead with a 51-39 score in the Backstroke. After two events, the drama didn't look like it was going to materialize in this meet, until the Thunderbolts charged back in the Breaststroke... winning 54-36 to cut the Gator lead down to just 4!  That happened to be the most lopsided point difference for the Gators in Breast all season. Of all the times... why now?! Drama. The Gators were able to stop the slide and edge them in the Fly 48-42. So MVP headed into the relays with a 10 point lead (185-175) and needed to win five out of the 12 relays to secure a tie or take six for the win.

The odds seemed reasonable, but the Thunderbolts were not going to go down quietly. (Pun intended.) The teams split the first few relays, and then Donaldson Run came on strong with three straight to close the gap heading into 15-18 Girls Medley. At that point the score was MVP 205-DR 200. If DR won the final three, they would pull off the come-from-behind upset victory. The drama stage was set...

Yeah, we have both sides of the Force. Take that.

The 15-18 Girls Medley was a terrific race to watch. Donaldson Run's team was motivated and everyone knew the status... the meet was on the line. In fact, through the first three legs, the adrenaline and drumbeats from the crowd helped push the Thunderbolt girls to nearly a body length lead on the Gators! These were some of MVP's best swimmers, but somehow, in the drama packed moment, DR was holding them off and looking to steal a victory! But then, the anchor leg came through and turned this one into the MVP Race of the Week. With 50 meters to go to reel her in, Sheridan Phalen did just that... turning in a spectacular performance in the Freestyle leg to overtake the Thunderbolt swimmer and pull out the victory by nearly a second! Score MVP 210-DR 200.


With two races to go, DR could still force a tie by winning the remaining relays, but the Boys Mixed Age Free Relay (Donovan Kovalsky, Sean Kovalsky, James Piland, and Clark Bayer) finished things off in the next event to give the Gators the meet victory, 215-205.

Drama! It was exciting to see the Gators build the lead, and then to nervously watch as the Thunderbolts rallied to make that final run at the end. We've really had a great season of closely matched meets, and this one ended up being the closest of them all. 

Umm.... I'm just gonna leave this here. 

The Gators pulled out three Clean Sweeps this week in the 9-10 Boys Free (Sean Kovalsky, Joe Mills, and Sam Bruce), the 9-10 Boys Fly (Sam Bruce, Gavin Moore, and Sean Kovalsky), and the 11-12 Girls Breast (Elizabeth Moorman, Caroline Baker, and Cassidy Crowther). The 9-10 Boys earned the honor of Age Group of the Week. The won every race they were in on this day, shutting out the Thunderbolt boys- in addition to the two cleans sweeps, Gavin Moore won the Back, and Shaan Nagda won the Breast, and Gavin, Shaan, Sam, and Sean teamed up in the Relay to round out the ownership of every victory on the day.

Look at that lead just from the start! 

Choosing the Swimmer of the Week was a challenge, as always. Two of the 13-14 Boys had terrific meets (as usual) with Charlie Ruppe (Breast, Fly) and John French (Free, Back) both winning each of their events on the day against strong competition while swimming probable All-Star worthy times. It was a close vote, but John ends up winning the Swimmer of the Week title this week, with an upset victory in the Freestyle and a new MVP record time in the Backstroke (cutting his own mark to 31.47) tipping the scales in his favor.

This was our final dual meet of the season and our third victory. The Gators finished at 3-2, solidly in 3rd place and with a near guarantee to return to Division 3 next year. After the IM Invitational (Mon) and the Romp in the Swamp (Wed), the Divisional Championships will be held next Saturday. Okay, admittedly, I'm starting to feel a bit depressed that the season is ending. It's all gone so fast! I need to remind myself (and you) of what I tell my kids sometimes when they are upset about endings, "Don't be sad that its over, smile because it happened." And this is an easy one to smile about.

Go Gators.

Butterfly pictures make the best swim pictures. 

All-Star Relays Create Impending Budget Shortfall

You read that headline correctly. We're having problems. We're getting complaints. The hardest working employee at MVP is having to work extra hard, which is causing some necessary, but unbudgeted, overtime payments. Not to mention the significant supply and resource costs we are now finding ourselves burdened under.

Your 2018 Relay All-Stars

What's the big issue, you ask? Well, to tell you the truth, it's all the records. Our swimmers keep breaking them. Too fast. Too often. It's becoming a real problem. By the time we get one record updated on the big board, somebody or some team breaks another one. Keeping the record board current has basically become a full time job. The existing pool staff is over-burdened. So, it appears we need to solicit for a new pool employee just to get all that work done. And don't even get me started on the brass plates. Those are totally cost prohibitive. We've shifted over to using only adhesive labels, which does help with cost somewhat. But, even with that plan, we're still struggling to keep up. A committee has been formed to evaluate whether it would be easier to shift to an even more dynamic system such as a white board with a live staff always present at the board to keep up with the frequent updates. We'll see what the committee decides. Either way, expect an increase to your pool dues and/or swim team payment next season because of this. These kids are just too fast. No record is safe.

(Disclaimer: The above blog introduction was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. There is no actual plan to raise pool dues nor swim registration fees because of the high volume of records being broken. Please do not complain to management.)

13-14 Boys. Afterglow.

But I am serious about the fact that there are a lot of records being broken. Four more went down on Wednesday at All-Star Relays. If you read the blog last week following Divisional Relays, you'd know that four records were broken by relay teams on that night also. Well, all four of those teams lowered those records even further this week. I told you All-Star Relays were an excitement-filled, energy-fest. And our teams rose to the occasion. (You can see the entire updated list of Gator records here.)

Record setting swims were delivered by:

*Boys 11-12 Free: Matthew Makin, Jack Dupuis, Alexander North, and Donovan Kovalsky(1st)
Boys 11-12 Medley: Alexander North, Jack Dupuis, Matthew Makin, and Donovan Kovalsky (3rd)
Boys 13-14 Medley: John French, Charlie Ruppe, James Piland, and Jack Klopson (13th)
Girls 15-18 Free: Parker Fulghum, Gabrielle Greszler, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, and Sheridan Phalen (6th)

Double medalists, the 11-12 boys.

That first one on the list with the asterisk is extra special. Not only was it an All-Star swim. Not only was it an MVP record time. But, it was also #1 in the entire NVSL. Yes, you read that right. They beat them all. NVSL Champions. That's kind of a big deal. Take that Chuckalee! (Disclaimer: Chuckalee is not an actual swim club. It may, or may not, be an amalgamation of several Division 1 teams who are all envious of our first place finish in the Boys 11-12 Medley.)  Great job Gators!


So, I made a big deal about the 11-12 Boys video last week. This week's videos are pretty cool, too. My favorite part of this one, is the announcer's quote at the finish. It definitely caught him off guard when MVP's team stormed to a big finish in the event... "a MONSTER anchor leg in lane 4. MONSTER. Lane 4 Mount Vernon Park." Be sure to have your sound on. It's classic.

And that was just foreshadowing for their next, and championship winning, swim in the Free Relay.

Our other impressive All-Star Relay swims, performed against the best of the best in the NVSL, were:

Girls 8&U Medley: Karly Whitehead, Alexandra Myers, Natalie Crowther, and Evie Craig (15th)
Girls 8&U Free: Alexandra Myers, Karly Whitehead, Evie Craig, and Natalie Crowther (15th)
Boys 9-10 Free: Samuel Bruce, Sean Kovalsky, Gavin Moore, and Joe Mills (14th)

Boys 13-14 Free: James Piland, John French, Jack Klopson, and Charlie Ruppe (16th)
Girls 15-18 Medley: Parker Fulghum, Taylor Makin, Elaina Phalen, and Sheridan Phalen (7th)

The 8 & under girls. Adorbz. 

Pretty good work Gators. The All-Star Relay Carnival is a scored event, similar to the Divisional Relays. All teams that finish (i.e. start and don't DQ) earn points, with the top finishers more heavily weighted. In short, the first place team gets 44 points, and then all other teams get a decreasing point amount all the way down to 18th place, who get 2 points. Division 1 teams tend to have the most teams present, and tend to come away with the most points. For MVP, those nine relay teams were able to amass enough points (182) to put the Gators in 16th overall place for the meet. (Chuckalee won.)

How about the other local teams in the Fort Hunt area? Hollin Meadows finished with 50 points, Mansion House had 46, Waynewood 32, Riverside Gardens had 28, and Little Hunting Park was able to muster up 14. The two remaining local pools didn't have any teams in the event this year... just showing how hard it is and what an honor just to make it!

Because I know some of you are competitive, I'll throw in a little math here so you can have bragging rights at the country club or around the campuses.... add up all those other team scores (50+46+32+28+14+0+0) and you get 170. So, the local score was MVP 182 - Everybody else 170. That's definitely Triple Gator Grunt worthy. Wup! Wup! Wup!

The 9-10 Boys. Also, adorbz, with a slice of swagger.

After the conclusion of the All-Star Relay Carnival, all the swimmers and families gathered for a special dinner to replenish all those calories and celebrate their achievements with each other. After the swimmers were all satiated and rehydrated, the coaches handed out the hardware (medals and ribbons) to the teams. Cheers were heard, and photos captured. It was glorious. Okay, I admit, glorious may be overstating it... but it was really fun and memorable, for sure.

The complete results of the meet are here on the NVSL website. And while we have fewer pictures than normal (photographers don't get special passes to be on deck at All-Stars) we've still got quite a few posted here.

I only posted a couple here, but ALL of the swims are available on the SwimNinja website again. Watch them. Watch them often. Send them to friends and family. Share the Gator love.
https://swimninja.com/2018/01/01/2018-nvsl-all-star-relays-medley/

Next up is our final "A" Meet of the season at Donaldson Run. It's sure to be another close one and may come down to the final relays. But, as detailed above, I like our chances if it does come down to the relays! Then the IM Invitational is on Monday, the Romp in the Swamp is on Wednesday, and next weekend is the Individual Divisional Championships. This is such an exciting time of the swim year. It's going to be fun. 

Go Gators!

15-18 Girls mentoring the 8 & unders on how to
properly apply sparkle and establish All-Star attitude. 

Finished product. Ready to disco the night away and/or
swim record times. (Spoiler: they went for the swim thing.)

Welcome to Thunderweek!

Does anyone else feel like we have blurred the meaning between the words thunder and lightning? Thunder is the sound we hear when lightning strikes, caused by the rapid heating and expansion of air. Lightning on the other hand is a super charged bolt of electricity streaming down from the sky. They are clearly two different things, but we seem to use them interchangeably. 

So, what are you the God of again?

Take Thor, for instance. You may know him as the God of Thunder from the Marvel comics and movies. In the recent movie Ragnarok, Thor gets into quite a few fights. In one, he's battling his long-lost sister, Hela. His sister mocks him as she is beating him and says,"I am the God of Death, what were you the God of again?" Then, his dad, Odin, comes to him in a vision and reminds him that he is the God of Thunder which energizes him to fight back (as Led Zepplin music starts thundering in the background). But, here is the confusing part... when Thor fights back, does he use thunder? Does he summon loud, booming claps that crush his enemies ear drums or punish them with powerful sound waves knocking them to the ground? No. He does not. He hits them with a flurry of lightning bolts. He even has a quote in the movie after that battle with Hela that goes, "I hit her with the biggest lightning bolt in the history of lightning bolts, and it still did nothing...." or something close to that. So, is he the God of Thunder, or the God of Lightning?

"Dude, have you been reading the Gator Blog? Its so
captivating and full of important information and analysis."

I know, I know. So what. We all get the point, right? But words do matter. Thunder isn't necessarily something to fear. Thunder is just the sound that accompanies the truly dangerous thing- lightning. Now, lightning is something to worry about, even fear. As old Doc Brown tells us, lightning produces 1.21 gigawatts of electrical power capable of destroying enemies (in Thor's case), or travelling through time (in Marty McFly's case). In addition, lightning also has the positive sports connotation of speed when used in the fashion of a "lightning fast swim." Thunder on the other hand is not quite as sports-appropriate in my humble opinion, especially not for swimming... "he dove into the water and landed with a thunderous flop" just doesn't evoke the right message. Know what I mean? So, while thunder is certainly a dangerous weapon, as sound can cause pain and damage, lightning would be my personal choice between the two, if I was a Marvel superhero or choosing a sports team name.

So, let's dance! ...

Interestingly, TeamSnap, a youth sports team management website, published some stats and says that Thunder is the #1 ranked team name on their website, ahead of Tigers, Warriors, Panthers, and Wildcats. I find that extremely vexing. Is that because people actually think Thunder itself is dangerous? Do they just like the way the word sounds? Or are they really naming the team for the loud parents who watch their children, cheering and shouting in booming voices from the sidelines and stands? I normally like to have answers in this blog, but I seem to just be creating more questions here.

-Yes! ...  -Yes! ...  -No. I SO am NOT dancing.

So, why is this Thunderweek? Well, three reasons. First, because we had a "B" Meet against Riverside Gardens. And if you've been with the pool for any amount of time, then you know that this particular Monday always comes with a guaranteed thunderstorm every year. Now we know it is lightning that causes us the real concern, but safety is paramount and any sound of thunder does portend the proximity of lightning and causes delays to swim meets (and soccer, and lacrosse, and baseball...and so on). So, since it was the Riverside Gardens meet, we did end up having our standard weather delay. Thankfully, this year, the storm came through early and quickly and once we got going after the slight delay, we were able to finish the whole meet.

Despite the threat of storms, we had a fun and energetic "B" Meet with our southern neighbors. And the Gators were able to lay down some terrific swims, dropping quality time.

These swimmers all were able to drop 3 seconds or more off of their best times:

-What are you swimming?
-I don't know. I'm really just here for the Chick-fil-a.

Free:
Spencer Keene
Rowen Bohaty
Emma Bucca
Evan Pribble
Christian Kurth
Julia Himes

Back:
Abigail Kangas
Lauren Lipkin
Hartley Weyrauch
Vera Stevenson
Elizabeth Whitson

Breast:
Sean Kovalsky
Juliana Skopp-Cardillo (A three second drop for a 15-18? That's practically unheard of. Nice swim Juliana!)

Fly:
Julia Himes (That's almost 9 seconds total shaved off her two times on Monday!)

The following swimmers cut between 1 and 3 seconds off their best times:

Ok, so one more time. First is the Y. Then the M.
Third is the C, and THEN we do the A last. Got it?

Free:
Owen Pribble
Stefen Boyd
William Nasir
Natalie Crowther
Kiersten Gordon
Evelyn Milito
Bianca Henderson
Anna Starr
Hartley Weyrauch
Lizzie Grubbs
Catie Hicks
Liliana Fore
Sam Starr
Sydney Himes

Back:
Ty Mills
Kiersten Gordon
Nora Hixson
Elaina Phalen (Another 15-18 cutting some big time!)

Practice makes perfect. 

Breast:
Ginny Grubbs
Helen Milito
Bianca Murphy
Catie Hicks
Liliana Fore
Emma Weyrauch
John French
Dylan Moore
Abby Adams
Grace McGee

Fly:
Natalie Crowther
George Schulte

Whew. That was a pretty long list of time improvements for the last "B" Meet of the year. Great swimming and season-long dedication, Gators!

You'll recall that I said there were three reasons for this being Thunderweek, and the RSG meet was only the first. The second reason is that we have nine teams going to All-Star Relays Wednesday night! The parents are going to be cheering like thunder and the kids are going to swim like lightning! (See the difference there?)  I've said it in the blog before, relays are my favorite part of summer swim, and the All-Star Relays are the pinnacle of that excitement! The more, the merrier, in the stands cheering on our MVP teams. We need a big cheering section to rival the crowds of those big (and thunderously loud) Division 1 teams. Come on out and lend some support! Go Gators!

The third and final reason that this is Thunderweek is that we are swimming against the Thunderbolts of Donaldson Run on Saturday in our final "A" Meet of the season. This is going to be a big one, as we come in with a 2-2 record. If we win, that means that 2018 is a winning season for the Gators, if we lose, then we're below .500 (still great, but you know, winning is better than losing). It's going to be another close one, but thankfully, its just the Thunderbolts. So, I'm not too worried. Now, if they were the Lightning.... then I might be more concerned.

The full results from the meet at RSG are on the Gator website.

Pictures are posted and there are a ton of super cute Little Gator shots, so be sure to check them out.

Go Gators!

Like this.

Not this.

This.

Senior Leadership (and the "A" Meet vs Hunter Mill)

Go Gator Seniors! 

Senior Day. The day we take to honor the graduating seniors on the Gator swim team and send them off into the world to begin the next phase of their lives. This day at the Swamp is pretty much the definition of a bittersweet event. It is an awesome celebration of the lives and youth swimming careers of a bunch of our oldest Gators, many of whom have been swimming at MVP for just about their entire lives. Sweet! But, it is also the harbinger of the time when those Gators will be graduating and leaving MVP. Bitter. It's an emotional roller coaster!

Bitterweet: Being injured on Senior Day, but still
coaching and rallying the troops! 

This year, we bid farewell to eight Gators: Cassidy Bayer, Anna Capper, Parker Fulghum, Emma Jones, Ian Neal, Elaina Phalen, Carl Questad, and Collin Sundsted. I'm not going to write too much more about the lives and careers of these graduating Gators here because we have lots of great stuff in their bios on our Gator Senior Page and PLEASE take the time to read their "Reflections of a Gator" personal essays on this very Gator Blog. And parents, be sure the kids read them, too! The personal essays are great and tell wonderful stories about what it is like to grow up as a Gator. (Note: two essays have been posted so far, Parker Fulghum and Collin Sundsted, with more coming over the next few days... so keep checking back here on the blog.)

One of the best ways to overcome the bitter part of "bittersweet" is to add more sweet. And the sweetest thing that our Senior Gators do (in this blogger's opinion, at least) is to swim fast in the pool... and that they did! And the rest of the team followed their lead as the Gators put up some great numbers in the tightest meet of the year against Hunter Mill.

These start photos are cool... AND they have timers in them.
Bonus: Starring Chief Timer Talley Fulghum in her final "A" meet!

On Senior Day, winning Senior Fly pictures
are REALLY the best swim pictures.

This one was exciting. The Gators started hot, winning Freestyle 48-42 to take the initial lead. The Sharks chomped into the Gator lead by winning Backstroke, 47-43. That gave the Gators a mere two point lead at the halfway point... which disappeared when Hunter Mill edged MVP 46-44 in Breaststroke. A tie score after the first three events, 135-135. (I told you this one was going to be close.) The Gators found their groove in Fly and opened up a bit of a lead, winning 53-37, capped off by the final event of that round, as the 15-18 Girls put an exclamation point on it finishing with a clean sweep! Hunter Mill started making a run early in the relays winning 3 of the first 4 and closing the gap, and the meet was still up in the air with the final 3 relays remaining. But the 15-18 Girls shut the door with their win in the Medley and the Gators held on for the narrow win, with the final tally for the meet, MVP 218 - Hunter Mill 202.

Winning Senior Backstroke pictures are pretty good, too.

So, how about that Senior Leadership? Well, first off, two of the Gator seniors ended up as the co-Swimmers of the Week! With Parker Fulghum and Elaina Phalen leading the 15-18 Girls to the only two Gator clean sweeps on the day (in Back and Fly, respectively). And they each swam those strokes in their legs of the winning 15-18 Girls Medley Relay race that put the Gators over the 210 point threshold to lock up the win. On top of that, the 15-18 Girls won the title for Age Group of the Week, bringing home 35 out of a possible 41 points.  Supporting our Swimmers of the Week in their sweeps and relays were their fellow 15-18 Girls: in the Backstoke Olivia Blondin and Taylor Makin rounded out the sweep, while in the Fly Sheridan Phalen and Gabby Greszler finished 2nd and 3rd. Sheridan and Taylor were also their Medley Relay partners swimming the Free and Breast for that event.

They may not be seniors yet, but I do need to say something about the 11-12 Boys. They also had 35 points, but didn't have any clean sweeps, so they lost the unofficial tiebreaker for AGOTW, but still get the honorable mention here. As a consolation prize, they did post a new record in the 11-12 Boys Medley. Not too shabby. Swimmers Alex North, Jack Dupuis, Matthew Makin, and Donovan Kovalsky set the new Gator mark with a time of 1:04.43. Congrats! And while we're talking about the 11-12 Boys... Donovan Kovalsky set another individual record with his winning time of 30.44 in the Fly. I know, this particular write-up of Donovan's record may come across as a bit cavalier given his performance, but this is Senior Day, and seniors only graduate once, while Donovan breaks records ALL THE TIME. Additionally, another great performance was delivered today in the 11-12 Boys group by Jack Dupuis, who has quietly been swimming very well in Donovan's (very large) shadow this year. Jack has been a member of all the Medley Relay records and posted a winning time of 41.56 in Breast and took 2nd behind Donovan in the Free with a likely All-Star worthy time of 30.46.

On the Race of the Week front, Cole Miller delivered a cracker in the 15-18 Boys Fly by going sub-29 for the first time in his career and pulling out a close win for the Gators.

Extra Bonus: This week's Race of the Week was Butterfly,
so you get extra awesome Fly photos.

In between the individual heats and the relays, the Senior Gators were all recognized and pass through the traditional Gator "Arch of Fins" where they were greeted by their families. Quite a few tears and quite a few cheers were witnessed. A touching celebration of our Gators. Bittersweet. I told you so.

And just for good measure.... how cool are we in Gatorville? Well, not only do the seniors win their races, win their relays, coach and motivate the younger swimmers... but they also play the National Anthem at the start of the meet. Nice work Elaina and Parker (also accompanied by non-senior, Sheridan). Gators are awesome.

The full meet results are on the Gator Website here. 

Dave was busy, and there are LOTS of photos on the website. Check them out here. 

See you next week. Coming up: Riverside Gardens B Meet, All-Star Relays, and Donaldson Run A Meet. Go Gators! 

Final Gator hug. 

Memories of a Gator – Parker Fulghum

When I started thinking about writing this I thought it was going to be really easy and that I knew exactly what I wanted to say. It turns out that it is very hard to fit 11 years into one short page, but here goes.

At age 7, I was very indignant about the fact that I never wanted to join swim team. My parents and I had been members at Mount Vernon Park since I could walk. It was where I had learned to jump off the diving board into my dad’s outstretched arms, where I’d belly-flopped off of the high dive, where I’d played in the pool countless times with friends, and where I had camped out under the stars for the first time. My parents kept telling me that I would like swim team if I tried it, but to me the pool seemed like a sacred place that needed to remain untouched by instruction and routine.

Finally in 2008 I gave in to my parents. I don’t remember the first day of practice, but I remember the feeling of euphoria that accompanied being sucked in to my first real sport. I remember the jittery feeling as I sat in the car on the way to my first A-Meet. I remember bits and pieces of my first experience at All-Star Relays (and our 8 and under girls relay team of Grace Sylvester, Maddy Finn, Cassidy Bayer and me). I remember pulling ribbons out of my folder and feeling so happy, not because of the place that I had come in, but because of the color ribbons I had gotten.

My favorite memory is actually not that distant. My favorite memory is from Divisional Relays, 2018, which was held a mere few days ago at Lee Graham. The 24 hours leading up to this meet were hectic to say the least. I didn’t know that I was swimming until 9:30 the night before, and I was worried that (because I haven’t been on the relay this season) I would mess up the routine that the rest of the relay team had set for themselves. However, they welcomed me into the relay with open arms, got me hyped up before the race, and congratulated me and each other after we swam, having taken down a pool record in our freestyle relay. This is a small-scale example of what the entirety of the Mount Vernon Park swim team represents. We are a family of 275 kids. We embrace anyone that wants to rise to the challenge. We roll with changes, even when they take us by surprise. We are champions at sportsmanship and we thrive on the energy that our teammates create. We are a team.

I guess through writing all of these memories, I have come to two solid conclusions. The first is that for me, swim team is not solely about winning. In swimming, your top competitor is not necessarily the person swimming in the lane next to you. Your greatest competition is the person looking back at you when you stare down at the water after hearing “take your mark.” You strive to beat the person next to you but you also strive to conquer the bounds that you set for yourself. You don’t just reach the bar, you pass it. And if you don’t, then you try again.

My second takeaway and hope for future Gators is that you swim because you love it, not because your parents want you to or because you think it’s the “right” thing to do. Every time I dive into that water and my veins fill up with chlorine, my heart grows a little bit larger because of how much I love swimming and the people that come with it. I met some of my best friends, incredible coaches, inspiring little Gators and great parents while I have been a member of this team. It seems like my journey with the Gators is coming to an end, but a part of my heart will always belong here at Mount Vernon Park and with this team. Peace. Love. Gators.

Div Relays Part Deux - The Details, The Records, and the All-Stars!

Caution: Gators in Water

Divisional Relays certainly did not disappoint. If you haven't read the first part of this article from yesterday, you should read here first to get some background and the overall big picture. If you are caught up already, then on to the details!

As in years past, the Gators brought it for the Relays. Below are the teams that finished in the top-3 places (with asterisks identifying the All-Star qualifiers).

First Place Relay Teams
*Boys 11-12 Medley: Alexander North, Jack Dupuis, Matthew Makin, and Donovan Kovalsky
*Boys 13-14 Medley: John French, Charlie Ruppe, James Piland, and Jack Klopson
*Girls 15-18 Medley: Parker Fulghum, Taylor Makin, Elaina Phalen, and Sheridan Phalen
*Boys 11-12 Free: Matthew Makin, Jack Dupuis, Alexander North, and Donovan Kovalsky
*Girls 15-18 Free: Parker Fulghum, Gabrielle Greszler, Juliana Skopp-Cardillo, and Sheridan Phalen

Second Place Teams
Boys 9-10 Medley: Gavin Moore, Shaan Nagda, Samuel Bruce, and Sean Kovalsky

*Boys 9-10 Free: Samuel Bruce, Sean Kovalsky, Gavin Moore, and Joe Mills

Third Place Teams
*Girls 8&U Medley: Karly Whitehead, Alexandra Myers, Natalie Crowther, and Evie Craig
Girls 9-10 Medley: Amelia Adams, Abigail Leach, Ginny Grubbs, and Helen Milito
Girls 11-12 Medley: Lily Palmerino, Abigail Litonjua, Caroline Miller, and Elizabeth Moorman
*Girls 8&U Free: Alexandra Myers, Karly Whitehead, Evie Craig, and Natalie Crowther
*Boys 13-14 Free: James Piland, John French, Joseph Humphreys, and Charlie Ruppe

Relay Team Spirit

As I mentioned yesterday (and its worth saying again) FOUR of those races resulted in new MVP records: both Boys 11-12 races, the 15-18 Girls Free, and the 13-14 Boys Medley. Of note, the 13-14 Boys record had been around since 1991- that's a 27 year old record they broke... older than some of our swim parents here at the pool!

I don't necessarily want to single out one record breaking relay more than any others, but if you like sports, you're going to have to watch the Boys 11-12 Medley race. This thing could be one of those Nike or Gatorade commercials. I was hesitant to highlight this because this is a team event and all the members are contributing well, but there is one individual performance that I feel compelled to draw attention to. It's. Just. So. Good. We've talked here before about how Donovan Kovalsky is having an amazing record breaking season and how we expected records to keep falling week after week. But this one was just silly. You NEED to watch. The MVP team is in lane 6 at the bottom of the screen. And again, Donovan could not have done this without his teammates. In fact, the first three legs were swimming very well and seemed to be solidly in 2nd place behind the Hunt Valley team which was sort of pulling away from the pack. Hunt Valley had opened up a lead of nearly two body lengths on everyone.... and then it happened. Words don't do it justice. You need to watch the race, and focus on that blurry streak zooming across the bottom of your screen in the final leg.

That was nuts, right? Fun to watch. I feel like we need to name this one, sort of like Dwight Clark/Joe Montana and "The Catch" back in 1981 or the Cal/Standford band game in 1982 with "The Play." I hereby dub this one "The Swim." Please refer to it accordingly from now on. And one more tidbit, their final time in that event was 1:04.96 seconds. The old record was 1:04.97. Yes, they broke the old record by a mere 0.01 seconds. Zoom, zoom.

I'm pretty sure he flew all the way across the pool like this
and never actually touched the water. Is that legal? 

On the macro level, there are a couple of interesting things from an analytical standpoint about this meet. First, if you've been reading the blog for the past couple years, you're aware that Division 3 is pretty strong. In fact, EVERY single event winner at Divisional Relays was a qualifying All-Star time. Even more, in 19 of the 22 events the 2nd place finisher was also an All-Star time. Quite a few thirds and fourths even made it. And the peak? In the Girls 8 & under Free, 5 out of the 6 teams all qualified for All-Stars. This is the type of talent we're swimming against every week. And I assure you, stuff like this is definitely not normal in all 17 NVSL divisions.

To tell you the truth... some of these start photos are
rivaling the Butterfly photos for "photo supremacy." 

The second interesting observation is the number of victories for each team. As a benchmark, last year both MVP and Langley (who is now in Division 1) won 7 events each and accounted for 14 of the 22 victories just between our two teams, with the rest scattered amongst the other 4 teams. This year's meet ended with a very interesting result... which really highlights the parity and evenness of Division 3 this year (if you missed it, you can read about our Division's "Any Given Sunday" level of parity in last week's blog here). If you had any doubts about Division 3's balance they should go away now... because EVERY team in the division won either 4 or 5 races on Wednesday (except Lee-Graham, which had zero). I had to double check the results twice (um, triple-checked?) because it seemed too balanced to be true. But the numbers checked out: that's 5 races won for MVP and Hunt Valley, and 4 wins each for Hunter Mill, Donaldson Run, and High Point. THIS is why every meet this year is constantly up for grabs with no clear favorites.

If you are interested in watching more of the races, they are all available online. It just so happens that SwimNinja decided that the Division 3 Relay Carnival was going to be a great one and made it their "Meet of the Week." As discussed above, they were clearly right about that.

All the races are available here.  I'm not going to embed them all, so you'll have to go to the SwimNinja page to watch them. But, I will embed the other three Gator records right here in the blog:

11-12 Boys Free (Lane 4 in the middle):

15-18 Girls Free (Lane 1 up top):

13-14 Boys Medley (Lane 2 near the top):

That's it from the Divisional Relays. The All-Star Relay Carnival is next Wednesday for the 9 teams that qualified. Good luck and Go Gators! 

Complete meet results are available here. 

Lots more pictures are here.

But, let's be honest.
Butterfly pictures do make the best swim pictures.