The Secret to Life - Gators Swimmers of the Week

Curly and Mitch were driving the herd of cattle from New Mexico to Colorado when the elder cowboy Curly revealed his secret of life to Mitch, the City Slicker. Holding up his gloved index finger, Curly told him the secret was just, "One thing..." Confused, Mitch asked, "What's the one thing?" And Curly replied, "That's what you've got to figure out." Mitch's task was to find HIS one thing and then stick to it. Thereby, he'd find his focus, straighten his life out, and solve all his problems. Pretty sage wisdom for an early 90's western comedy, I've always thought. (The movie was City Slickers, if you didn't get the reference. And spoiler alert: Mitch's one thing was his family.)

Finding your thing gives you confidence. Finding your thing helps you achieve wonderful things. Now, I'm not saying that our Gator Swimmers of the Week have found their one thing already.... after all they are both only 8 years old. In fact, I would hope and encourage them to continue to search through other potential "one things" in the years to come before they lock down on their one thing. But, maybe, just maybe, this "swimming thing" could be the "one thing" for these two little Gator stars. It sure looks like a contender. Working hard and progressing week in and week out, they have put up repeated quality times and quality performances all season long.

Congratulations to the Gator Swimmers of the Week: Sam Bruce and Josie Cowen! Josie and Sam, both 8 & unders, were critical elements to the Gator victory and helped power that group to the coveted title of Age Group of the Week. You can read more about the whole meet here.

Once again, Sam helped start the meet off in style by winning the first event of the day, the 25m Freestyle, in a very tidy time of 20.00 seconds. He then followed that up with another victory in the 25m Backstroke, finishing in 26.49 to best the field by over 2 seconds.  Sam completed his trio of victories on the day by leading the Boys 100m Free Relay to a dominating win in a time of 1:25.78.

Josie won the Girls 25m Free in 21.15 and finished second in the Back with a time of 29.45. Josie was a key part of the Girls Free relay, helping the team to its finishing time of 1:32.78.

The future is looking bright for the Gators with great young swimmers like these two. Congrats again, and great swimming!

Go Gators!

Orientation and an A Meet vs Lakevale Estates

Gator seniors. And a duck. 

Orientation is the determination of relative positioning and gaining an understanding of the environment. Getting properly oriented to a situation helps you to perform well and be successful in that environment. Understanding where things are, how others will behave, and how you should behave yourself are all important parts of a good orientation.

Transitions can be challenging and stressful. Leaving home and going off to college is the biggest life event for most people that age. The first thing a new student does at college is attend an orientation to learn about the campus and get comfortable in the processes. Another key part of the transition process is closure. In this, our final A meet of the season, we recognize our outgoing seniors for their accomplishments. It's important to celebrate the successes of the past as we transition to the future. Senior Day is the team's chance to honor and thank the outgoing seniors for their dedication, commitment, and performance.  The seniors all walk through the tunnel of fins and are recognized by their teammates in a very fun tradition while we all get to hear about their past successes, future goals, and dreams. Tears were shed, hugs were plentiful, and in true Gator spirit our seniors received a fitting farewell.

Fins to the left, fins to the right...

Good luck, Seniors! Coaches... you're staying.

The theme for the day was College Day. All the swimmers were decked out in the colors of their new schools. It was great to see the terrific colleges our seniors are all heading off to this year: Old Dominion University (Cameron Morey), Ohio State University (Tres Greszler), Dickinson College (Ian Baker), and Georgetown University (Maddie Finn). You can read more about our Gators seniors on their page on the Gator Website here. There's a common theme I've noticed after six years of Senior Days.... Gator swimmers go to great schools. So, here's a little orientation tip for new parents of little Gators- keep swimming! There's something special about the team, the work ethic, and the habits formed from swim team that truly produces great leaders, great students, and great people.

Now, this is a swimming blog, so, about that swimming... This A meet between the MVP Gators and the Lakevale Estates Dolphins was our third, and final, dual meet against our many "Dolphin" opponents this season. The Gators welcomed their guests to the swamp by giving every member of the visiting team a handmade keychain as a token of sportsmanship. It's pretty common knowledge that Dolphins use echolocation, their internal sonar system, to help with orientation to their environment. But gators, especially our Gators, have learned to use vocalizations to disrupt and confuse those dolphins and keep them disoriented. And so, once in the water, the more primal side of the gators emerged and the pre-meet cheers and frequent triple gator grunts, in response to the season-high SIX clean sweeps, clearly kept the dolphins disoriented during the course of the meet.

The Gators put on a dominant swim display, opening up with a 58-32 lead in Freestyle, and adding to that lead in every stroke: 54-36 in Back, 61-29 in Breast, 52-38 in Fly, and 40-20 in the Relays. The outcome of the meet was decided relatively early and the Gators prevailed in this one 265-155.

Of course, there were quite a few group and individual performances worthy of recognition in this one. As I mentioned above, there were six clean sweeps for the Gators (as a reminder, a sweep is when one team wins all nine points in a race by finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd):

Girls 15-18 Free: Cassidy Bayer, Sheridan Phalen, and Parker Fulghum
Girls 8 & under Back: Helen Milito, Ella Prible, and Bianca Murphy
Boys 9-10 Back: Matthew Makin, George Schulte, and Gavin Fore
Girls 8 & under Breast: Helen Milito, Josie Cowen, and Natalie Crowther
Girls 13-14 Breast: Emily Makin, Olivia Heck, and Olivia Blondin
Boys 9-10 Fly: Matthew Makin, Gavin Moore, and George Schulte

Additionally, there were seven other races where Gators earned 8 points by finishing first and second. That's some serious team depth!

On the group level, the 9-10 boys only dropped two points on the day, earning 39 out of a possible 41 points for their age group. Talk about impressive.

Individually, there were a few remarkable finishes. In our "Race of the Week," Gavin Moore finished 3rd in the Boys 11-12 Backstroke (that's 9 year old Gavin Moore, by the way) and earned a point swimming up an age group. Swimming up is often considered "taking one for the team" and merely an opportunity for more live racing, but Gavin wouldn't be denied points in his race. Great race, Gavin! In golf, there is a thing called "shooting your age" which demonstrates the skill of an older golfer. It's hard to shoot 75 or 80 in that challenging sport, and to do it when you are 75 or 80 years old is pretty remarkable. We need a similar measure for swimming, perhaps call it "swimming your age," because that's what six year old Natalie Crowther did on Saturday by earning 6 points with a win in the 8 & under Fly and a third place finish in 8 & under Breast. And while we're talking about Natalie, can someone please explain to her that Fly is a hard, physically demanding stroke that you aren't supposed to be excelling at when you are only six! Out of four A meets so far, Natalie has finished 1st or 2nd in Fly EVERY time. As a 6 year old. The future is so bright, we ALL need to wear shades.

There were quite a few Gators in the point placing positions this week and all are listed below:

First place finishers:  

Samuel Bruce	8 & under Free	20.00S
Josephine Cowen	8 & under Free	21.15S
Tyler Swartz	9-10 Free	34.81S
Cassidy Crowther	9-10 Free	39.74S
Donovan Kovalsky	11-12 Free	30.18S
Clark Bayer	13-14 Free	26.93S
Cassidy Bayer	15-18 Free	27.22S
Samuel Bruce	8 & under Back	26.49S
Helen Milito	8 & under Back	25.02S
Matthew Makin	9-10 Back	42.58S
James Piland	11-12 Back	37.15S
Lily Palmerino	11-12 Back	40.68S
Anthony Sarro	8u Breast	28.44S
Helen Milito	8u Breast	28.81S
Alexander North	9-10 Breast	46.65S
Abigail Litonjua	9-10 Breast	46.40S
Donovan Kovalsky	11-12 Breast	40.10S
Tj Heck	13-14 Breast	37.02S
Emily Makin	13-14 Breast	37.81S
Liam Fore	8 & under Fly	22.22S
Natalie Crowther	8 & under Fly	29.97S
Matthew Makin	9-10 Fly	17.31S
James Piland	11-12 Fly	34.94S
Cassidy Bayer	15-18 Fly	28.94S

Second place: 

Alexander North	9-10 Free	36.18S
Jill Humphreys	9-10 Free	39.84S
Isabella VanDamme	11-12 Free	34.24S
Katya Zaitsev	11-12 Free	34.24S
Gabrielle Greszler	13-14 Free	29.53S
Sheridan Phalen	15-18 Free	29.72S
Evan Prible	8 & under Back	28.74S
Ella Prible	8 & under Back	26.95S
George Schulte	9-10 Back	43.65S
Cassidy Crowther	9-10 Back	45.40S
Clark Bayer	13-14 Back	32.14S
Olivia Blondin	13-14 Back	34.56S
Parker Fulghum	15-18 Back	34.72S
Josephine Cowen	8u Breast	29.45S
Tyler Swartz	9-10 Breast	47.19S
Lily Palmerino	11-12 Breast	47.46S
Charlie Ruppe	13-14 Breast	38.22S
Olivia Heck	13-14 Breast	39.81S
Taylor Makin	15-18 Breast	39.78S
Noah Litonjua	8 & under Fly	32.74S
Gavin Moore	9-10 Fly	19.78S
Abigail Litonjua	9-10 Fly	20.34S
Jack Klopson	11-12 Fly	39.88S
Caroline Miller	11-12 Fly	39.40S
Andrew Baker	13-14 Fly	31.78S
Gabrielle Greszler	13-14 Fly	31.73S

Third place Gators: 

Anthony Sarro	8 & under Free	23.27S
Alexandra Myers	8 & under Free	24.03S
Jack Dupuis	11-12 Free	35.09S
Andrew Baker	13-14 Free	28.40S
Juliana Skopp-Cardillo	13-14 Free	29.58S
Cole Miller	15-18 Free	26.96S
Parker Fulghum	15-18 Free	30.14S
Bianca Murphy	8 & under Back	29.22S
Gavin Fore	9-10 Back	44.87S
Miriam Keller	9-10 Back	49.90S
Gavin Moore	11-12 Back	47.37S
Elizabeth Moorman	11-12 Back	44.18S
Abby Dittman	13-14 Back	35.81S
Cole Miller	15-18 Back	32.52S
Sheridan Phalen	15-18 Back	35.22S
Cooper Swartz	8U Breast	32.93S
Natalie Crowther	8U Breast	34.10S
Nora Hixson	9-10 Breast	51.31S
Jack Klopson	11-12 Breast	43.68S
Isabella VanDamme	11-12 Breast	47.81S
Olivia Blondin	13-14 Breast	42.46S
Brian McNamara	15-18 Breast	37.53S
Lily Penn	15-18 Breast	40.51S
George Schulte	9-10 Fly	21.21S
Ginny Grubbs	9-10 Fly	20.46S
Charlie Ruppe	13-14 Fly	34.24S
Emily Makin	13-14 Fly	32.44S
Cameron Morey	15-18 Fly	30.56S
Taylor Makin	15-18 Fly	34.31S

The competition for Age Group of the Week was understandably heated with so many great Gator performances, but ultimately it was the 8 & unders who prevailed this week, earning 67 out of 82 points on the day.

You can see the complete results for the meet here and as always the pictures are linked on the Gator website here.  Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out who will win the coveted title of Gator Swimmers of the Week!

Go Gators!

Senior Day Butterfly pictures make the best pictures.

Poetry in Motion - Gator Senior, Cameron Morey

Yes, even Coach Cameron used to be a little Gator.

When he swims, it does seem like poetry in motion. When he leads, the team cheers and follows. When he coaches, all the little Gators are attentive to his every word. Speaking of poetry and words... Gator senior, Cameron Morey penned a wonderful "Memories of a Gator" poem for all to read. And please do (and make sure your little Gators read it, too), because it it great:





Oh the Memories You’ll Have – by Cameron Morey

Oh the memories you’ll have as an MVP Gator
Of A Meets and B Meets, they don’t get much greater
Except of course at the Green and the White meet
Where it’s guaranteed there’s no Gator defeat
Practice your strokes, turns and starts every day
And listen to Coach Paul when he tells you “no horseplay!”
Avoid the frustration of false starts that I had
When I fell in the pool and was DQ’d by my dad
Pasta dinners, teen nights and progressive dinners
These are the fun things that make us all winners
Gator Nation is awesome in pool and out
With Gators good sportsmanship is what it’s all about
Work hard and do your best to be a record breaker
Oh the memories you’ll have as an MVP Gator

The poet pose.

Relays. Blue Ribbons. 'Nuff said.

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. 

Halftime

Gators are tracking towards one Billion swims.... 

We're just a bit past the midway point of the summer swim season. Time sure flies when you are having fun. I thought I'd use this opportunity for a summary recap of recent events and a quick look ahead.

First, where have we been the last few weeks? There has been a lot going on. The Gators are 2-1 in Division 3, we had a great showing at the Fort Hunt Sportsman Relays, and have had great B meet performances by all of our swimmers. If you were on vacation, slacked off on some of your blog reading, or if you've missed any recent events for any other reason (jobs perhaps?) you can catch up by reading some of the recent blog entries linked below:

Time Trials

A Meet vs Dunn Loring
Swimmers of the Week vs Dunn Loring 
B Meet vs Hollin Hills 

A Meet vs Dowden Terrace
Dowden Terrace Swimmers of the Week
Green and White Meet

A Meet vs Vienna Aquatic
Swimmers of the Week vs Vienna Aquatic 
B Meet vs Mansion House

Now that you've been caught up, what's on the calendar?

We have quite a few meets remaining this season. Our next A meet will be this Saturday at home against the Lakevale Estates Dolphins. This is also Senior Day, as we will be honor our graduating seniors swimming their final season as Gators. 

Next Monday (7/17) is our final dual B meet (i.e. two teams) of the season at home against our local rivals, the Riverside Gardens Tsunami.

Then, next Wednesday is the All-Star Relay Carnival. All 17 divisions (102 teams) in the NVSL competed tonight (Wednesday) in a Divisional Relay Carnival. From those competitions all over Northern Virginia, the top 18 teams from each age group will be invited to swim at the All Star Relay Carnival. The Gators had some great swims tonight at Divisional Relays, so be sure to check back to see the blog in the next day or two to see which of our relay teams made the cut to All Stars.

Saturday, July 22nd is our final A meet of the season away at Langley against the Wildthings. This is shaping up as potentially a battle for the Division 3 title, so make your plans to attend this must watch event now!

So excited for more swimming! 

Then the week of July 24th is super busy and packed with fun and excitement: first the IM Invitational on Monday, the Romp in the Swamp on Wednesday,  the Divisional Championships on Saturday morning, and concluded with the Gator End of Season Awards and Campout on Saturday night.

Then summer swim comes to a final conclusion with the Individual All Stars for the qualifying swimmers on August 5th.

Just like a 9 year old getting to the wall half way into their first 50 meter swim, we've come a long way but we've still got a lot left to do. Enjoy the next few weeks!

And on the blogging front, be on the lookout for a few posts from some of our senior Gators over the next few weeks, as they tell some of their stories about what being a Gator has meant to them. These are always great reads and show a terrific perspective on the value and benefits of swim team!

Go Gators!

Reflections of a Gator - by Maddie Finn

Most of my memories of summer are revolved around Mt. Vernon Park. I remember running up and down the hill, pasta dinners, staying up all night at camp outs, and cheering as loud as I could during meets. Probably the least significant thing, at least to me, was the swimming itself. Sure, I loved winning. And when we won I was the happiest girl there. One year we were undefeated, and that was the most triumphant summer of my life. But for summer swim team, there was always much more to it than winning or simply dropping time. Our team has some of the best swimmers out there, but most of us aren’t going to make the olympics (although some might! *ahem-Cassidy*). Summer swim team was about the fun. 

And fun it was. Getting up early in the summer, especially when I did 5 am practices for NCAP, was never easy. But amazing coaches and hilarious teammates made sure that I rarely regretted it. Participating in team traditions like diving for pennies when I was young or nearly drowning during water polo kept me coming back for more. In fact, my family centered summer vacations around swimming, including one time I was driven back home from the Outer Banks to swim in the All-Star Relay meet at age 8. Swimming takes a village, but it is worth it, I promise.

The only ever time I raced in All-Star Relays was when I was 8. The 100m freestyle relay consisted of myself, Grace Sylvester (currently living in California), Cassidy Bayer, and Parker Fulghum (if memory serves me well). I think we got third, but I don’t remember. The most memorable thing from that day was at the dinner afterwards, when Glen Bolger, then team rep, stood behind us and said “This is the future of the gators.” Little did he know that my freestyle time would in fact get slower as I aged, but the sentiment was still true. My speed had nothing to do with it. I loved the team and all the people on it, and win or lose, I was a gator, through and through.

Reflections of a Gator - by Cameron Morey

Throughout the multiple years on the Gator team, I have many fond memories. One of the earliest I can think of was a pep rally, where Josh Stein and I had to push a watermelon across the pool together, it was actually just Josh because my 8 year old self was just about as big as the watermelon (hard to believe isn’t it). Then there was the time when I DQd in backstroke, and by ‘the time,’ I mean every single swim for about 2 years when I was 9 and 10 years old. I’m surprised I still got to swim the event in A meets, but eventually I quit DQing.  My favorite swim ever was during all-star relays when Nick Dupuis’ swim suit ripped right down the back right before he dove in and our entire relay team was in tears watching as the timers and referees tried to avert their eyes.  The first time I made the mixed age relay at about 11, Kevin Mardi gave me my first fast skin, that had to be like 20 sizes too small or at least it felt that way. How do we get those on anyway??  I loved being part of the 15-18 Medley Relay that broke a 40 year-old pool record and also a part of the Mixed Age Relay that broke a 27 year-old pool record.  I enjoyed the endless water polo games with the older swimmers, which many times were just the boys and Tori Bolger.

However, my most memorable moments on the Gator team are the ones coaching.  Thank you Kelli and Paul Makin for giving me the opportunity to see how rewarding it is.   Every time I get in the water to help out the young gators and all the times I was splashed really resonated with me, and have taught me a lot about what I plan to do in the future, as well as just general life skills. I also want to thank all the coaches for dealing with me. Kelli Makin for being there to shut me up when I would not stop talking at practice and finding me for the 8 and under relay that I would’ve missed due to my obsession with fishing in the pond. Laurel for being an amazing mother of the team and being one of my best friends, both on MVP and NCAP. Paul for being so hard on me and helping me realize my potential and always being there to give me a laugh.  And Kellee Brotherton, for being an amazing coach to me and my teammates, as well as a good friend.

As I move on to the next phase of my life, I will always look back fondly on these memories that helped form the person I’ve been and I will always be a gator.  Eyeballs.  GATORS.

Healthy Competition: Mansion House Comes to Our House for a B Meet

This is why we swim. Go Gators! 

Healthy competition is good. It's one of the benefits of youth sports. Competition drives athletes to improve and reinforces that giving their best effort has rewards (even if that reward is not always victory). Swimming has lots of competition, especially on a high performing team like MVP. Yet, while there are lots of great swimmers at MVP and therefore lots of great competition, one really great thing about this particular sport is that since the primary outcome of every race is a "time," it is easy to measure progress against yourself, no matter where any individual swimmer falls on the ladder. A positive response to the simple question of, "Did you drop your time?" always shows progress no matter how much better or worse anyone else performed. Like Dory said in Finding Nemo, "Just keep swimming" and good things will happen.

As I discussed last week after the Green and White meet, one of the big objectives of B Meets is for swimmers to improve times,  or for newer swimmers, trying to successfully complete a different stroke in a competitive environment without a DQ. In short, B meets are about improvement.

Ready to race.

But, sometimes, there is a little more competition between the swimmers themselves, even at B meets. Swimmers vie to make the cut for the A Meets, or get that last spot on a relay, or even just to win their heat for bragging rights. This B meet was one of those times where their was a little extra competition BETWEEN swimmers. This was the final meet before the fabled Divisional Relays, one of the most exciting meets of the year.  At the Divisional Relays each pool in the division sends two teams per age group to swim the Free and Medley Relays. It is always a very exciting and spirited meet.

So, because of the looming Relays, the air around the Gator swamp seemed a little heavier. It wasn't humidity. It was tension. Nervousness. Excitement. Triumph. Satisfaction. Lots of feelings and emotions could be felt in the air Monday night. The drive to improve and make one of those teams was palpable.

Nice swim. 

As I said at the beginning, healthy competition is good. It pushes young athletes to work harder and swim faster. And it certainly worked this time. The pressure and speed from fellow Gator teammates and the visiting Mansion House swimmers pushed many swimmers to personal bests- 112 in fact. That's a lot of time getting cut. How much? 210 seconds. Yes, that's right. Combined together, Gators cut 3 minutes and 30 seconds off of their collective best times.  Some are going to make new A meets. Some have new bragging rights. And some made the Divisional Relays. Congrats to everyone for some great mid-summer swimming! (And 26 people swam a new stroke for the first time in competition- also awesome!)

As always, the complete results for all of the Gators at this, and every, meet is available on the MVP website here. To highlight some of Monday's biggest cuts, here's a list of those who dropped more than 2 full seconds!

Name	Age	Stroke	Time	Cut
Kip Bryant	7	Free	32.56S	-2.63
Sabine O'Shea	8	Free	24.23S	-2.16
Hunter Edwards	10	Free	47.75S	-2.06
Evan Prible	8	Back	29.19S	-2.28
Lucy Waid	8	Back	31.54S	-2.39
Hayden Ward	6	Back	33.37S	-2.09
Evelyn Milito	6	Back	34.56S	-2.45
Jude Klopson	9	Back	57.53S	-2.90
Ginny Grubbs	9	Back	48.21S	-2.63
Samantha Cowen	10	Breast	59.28S	-2.78
Natalie Ruppe	11	Breast	1:01.03S	-2.32
Nicole Zajac	11	Breast	1:05.93S	-2.94
Jack Klopson	12	Fly	39.37S	-2.01

Not too shabby. But, if you thought that was impressive, how about this list of people who cut more than 3 seconds: 

Name	Age	Stroke	Time	Cut
Alexandra Holden	7	Free	29.85S	-4.11
Delilah Fischer	6	Free	42.16S	-3.71
Joseph Bucca	10	Free	43.16S	-3.43
Edward Stone	9	Free	57.28S	-3.42
Catie Hicks	10	Free	45.40S	-3.22
Alexandra Holden	7	Back	32.19S	-3.3
Kate Barber	6	Back	35.75S	-3.13
Sofia Bryant	10	Back	1:10.78S	-3.74
Edward Stone	9	Breast	1:08.11S	-4.86
Charlie Bruce	10	Breast	1:10.72S	-4.28
Ginny Grubbs	9	Breast	58.19S	-3.52
Emma Bruhl	11	Breast	57.47S	-3.86
Josephine Cowen	8	Fly	27.12S	-3.67

And yes, it's a little bit hard to fathom, but we've also got a list of people who cut more than 5 seconds off their personal bests... led by Jacob Milito who shaved off over 14 seconds from his 25m Free!

Name	Age	Stroke	Time	Cut
Adam Stanger	8	Free	32.17S	-10.17
Jacob Milito	6	Free	39.47S	-14.35
Kate Barber	6	Free	30.89S	-8.79
Elizabeth Delaune	9	Free	53.43S	-5.23
Kip Bryant	7	Back	35.65S	-5.05
Lincoln Jetton	6	Back	42.60S	-10.65
Dakota Todd	12	Back	1:16.06S	-10.38
Joseph Bucca	10	Breast	1:05.85S	-6.66

Once again, congrats to those who made improvements and made the cut for relays, A meets, or other goals. Be sure to check the blog on Friday to hear more about how well the Gator teams do at Divisional Relays.

Go Gators!

First timer photos could be even better than Butterfly photos.