Bannockburn Dolphin Times -- FINAL EDITION of 2013

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 8 (July 21, 2013)

FINAL EDITION OF 2013

This represents the final Dolphin Times of the season. We hope you enjoyed seeing everyone’s name in print. For those who want to relive the swim season all winter long, we will keep the blog site up and running. 

http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

As always, please share the Dolphin Times with your swimmers. We email only to the parents, but the fun of the newsletter is for the kids to see their names and their races written up. 

Our goal for next year is to include more pictures and more stories about the swimmers. So stay tuned for an even better Dolphin Times in 2014. Until next May, Doll Finn and the other reporters will be enjoying an extended vacation. 

Go Dolphins!

Division F Prepares for Dolphin Invasion

By Doll Finn,

Senior Swim Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins are headed to Division F in 2014 as the sixth seed, MCSL disclosed on Sunday.

The division consists of:

1. Wildwood.

2. Little Falls

3. Regency Estates

4. Lakelands

5. Flower Valley

6. Bannockburn

For those wondering who decides this, Reach of the Wall in 2012 had an insightful article. MCSL has created a proprietary program that creates the average times of the three fastest swimmers on each team in each event. They then run virtual meets so that all 90 teams compete head-to-head against each other.

The stat that matters is how many of these virtual meets do you win? The maximum is 90, which is the number of wins that Upper County has as the leader of Division A. A few teams in Division 0 have zero or one win. Bannockburn clocks in with 55.5 wins. That puts us 1.5 wins ahead of Garrett Park, which is the top team in Division G in 2014.

The league told Reach for the Wall that the system in 2011 produced an average margin of victory of 67 points. The only way the division assignment would change is if a new team with an established record enters the league.

The program does not age up swimmers or account for those leaving the pool. So there is always margin of error. As a result, we may be ranked sixth but our fate is far from sealed.

Divisionals: Dolphins Storm to Third Place

By Doll Finn,

Senior Swim Correspondent

Wow that was close.

The Bannockburn Dolphins used some record setting performances to hold on to third place in a hotly contested divisional competition on Saturday at the Daleview Pool.

The third place finish meant that the Dolphins cemented their third place finish overall in the division.

At the meet, Bannockburn beat those other Dolphins -- Northwest Branch -- by only 10 points. That margin reinforces how important each swim in in a meet where first place nets 12 points. 

Bannockburn finished only 30 points behind Inverness Forest and 52.5 points behind Stonebridge. In fact, the spread between first place and last place was only 168.5 points. For a divisionals competition, that is pretty close. This reporter seems to recall spreads twice as big as that in prior years.

The Dolphin’s strong finish can be attributed to four record-breaking races. Meyer Eskin took 0.14 seconds off the team records in 25 breast with an All Star Time of 23.21.

Then there is Jeffrey Su who set the team record for 13/14 50 fly with a 30.18. That represents a 0.29 second improvement.

Two relay teams also set records.

Andy Lair-Ferrari, Ryan Chitwood, Nick Hopkins and Evan Steingass took down the 200 Medley record by 0.20 seconds with a 2:00.62.

Then there is the boys 175 graduate relay. The teams of Gideon Helf, Ray Crist, Jeffrey Su and Jacob Seiberg have been pressing for this record every week of the season. Going into relay carnival, they were just 0.15 seconds away. At divisionals, they crushed the record with a 1:53.15. That is 1.26 second improvement over the prior team record.

Divisionals is always an impressive and intimidating meet. These are the best two swimmers in each stroke in the division. That means a really good swimmer in each even will finish 12th even though that competitor often will be in the top two or three at a dual meet. 

It is also a meet where some strong performances can mean the difference between second, third and fourth.

We saw those strong performances all meet long.

Ray Crist and Jack MacIsaac each took about two seconds off their IM times to secure third and fourth for the under 12 IM. 

In under 8 free style, Jacob Seiberg dropped 0.10 to finish seventh while Ella Scott dropped 0.08 to finish fifth. Gideon Helf in 9/10 dropped 0.25 in 50 free to finish fourth while Andrew O’Brien took 1.11 seconds off for eighth. Katie MacIsaac dropped 0.22 seconds for 11th while Shifra Eskin took eighth.

And with spots 1 to 12 scoring points, Bannockburn was very much in this meet.

Jeffrey Su was second in 13/14 boys free in an All Star Time while Jessie Kline secured third and Kaili Gregory fifth in a finish that was so close that you almost needed instant replay.

Ray Crist crushed the 50 free, winning by taking 0.50 seconds off his time. Jack MacIsaac was fifth and dropped 0.41 seconds off his seed time. Evan Steingass and Andy Lair-Ferrari took fourth and fifth in 15/18 free with Maddie Alagia in third and Bryna Steel dropping 0.40 seconds for seventh.

13/14 IM is a strong suit for the team. Jeffrey Su won with Jack Blazes taking 1.37 seconds off for seventh. 

Jessie Kline was second, shaving 0.44 seconds off her seed time. Katya Damskey was fifth.

Backstroke points were a bit harder to come by, but some Dolphins really pulled out personal bests and strong performances. Gideon Helf in 9/10 took third and Andy Lair-Ferrari in 15/18 was second. Ray Crist in 11/12 took 0.82 seconds off for 5th place while Naomi Seiberg dropped 1.43 seconds to take fifth place.

Jeffrey Su nearly matched his seed time with a fourth place finish in an All Star Time while Jessie Kline pushed to first place in 13/14 back. 

In 15/18 IM, Andy Lair-Ferrari dropped 0.43 seconds for second while Evan Steingass dropped 0.11 seconds for fifth. Both were All Star Times. Maddie Alagia finished sixth with Bryna Steele dropping 2.27 seconds on the 100 IM for seventh.

Breast stroke helped the team. Meyer Eskin finished first and dropped 1.29 seconds in the under 8 25 beast. Maya Lall was fourth. In 9/10, Andrew O’Brien dropped 0.09 seconds for fourth while Cole Wassiliew dropped 0.28 seconds for seventh. 

Shifra Eskin really turned on the speed with a first place and a drop of 0.36 seconds. Katie MacIsaac took off 0.20 seconds to finish seventh.

In 11/12, Jack MacIsaac and Owen Wassiliew swam All Star Times for third and fourth with Owen taking 0.23 seconds off. Jack Blazes dropped 1.42 seconds in 13/14 50 breast for second place while Kaili Gregory took off 0.30 seconds for fifth place.

Ryan Chitwood tied for second and dropped 2.51 seconds in 15/18 100 breast with Evan Steingass in fourth. Hannah Melrod dropped 1.10 seconds for fourth place.

This brought us to butterfly, which could well decide whether the team finished second, third or fourth.

Both under 8 boys beat their seed times. Jacob Seiberg was seventh and 0.48 seconds faster while Meyer Eskin dropped 1.56 seconds for eighth place. Maya Lall dropped 0.39 seconds for seventh.

Gideon Helf was third in 9/10 boys with Andrew O’Brien crushing his seed time by 1.29 seconds. Shifra Eskin dropped 0.99 seconds for sixth, providing more needed boost to the team.

Ray Crist’s strong meet continued with the 11/12 fly. He dropped 1.55 seconds to finish second. Ethan Wendel took eighth. For the girls, Naomi Seiberg was 10th and Gabriela Helf was 12th.

That third place finish seemed more secure after 13/14 fly. Jeffrey Su took 0.47 seconds off his time for a team record while Jack Blazes dropped 2.02 seconds for 11th. Katya Damskey and Jessie Kline were first-second for the 13/14 girls.

Andy Lair-Ferrari took third in an All Star Time for 15/18 boys with Evan Steingass in fifth. Maddie Alagia was sixth and Samantha Kline dropped 0.09 seconds for 8th.

That lead to the relay. The sun was now shining full blast and all sides of the pool were lined with spectators and swimmers looking to cheer on their relay teams. This was an extremely strong event with the record setting Bannockburn boys team taking fourth in 1:53.13. Competition on the girls side was even crazier with the team of Shifra Eskin, Caitlin Ryan, Jessie Kline and Darby LeFaivre taking sixth in 2:04.91.

That this correspondent’s fingers got tired typing up all the time improvements in divisionals is a true testament to the qualify of our coaches. Head Coach Malena Lair-Ferrari, Assistant Head Coach Spenser Steele, Junior Coach Nicholas Hopkins, Junior Assistant Coach Kellan Steele, Junior Assistant Coach Andy Lair-Ferrari and Junior Assistant Coach Maddie Alagia clearly whipped these Dolphins into peak performance at just the right time.

Parent volunteers were out there in force. Maria Kozloski was at automation, A Rep Andy Kline was prowling the pool deck, Cheryl Rothenberg after cooking up a few hundred pancakes on Friday was out there with ribbons, and B Meet announcer Tom Helf was timing.

There were literally a dozen plus other parent volunteers working the meeting and helping the team. And if they were not working today then they had made all the other meets possible. While this newsletter is aimed at the swimmers, the last edition needs to praise the parents. Parents Rule!

So much of swim team is about the spirit from the cheers, to the fantastic pancake breakfast and to the caravans to the banquet. There was a fun surprise en route to Daleview. Hanging over the beltway was a banner proclaiming Bannockburn #1. Kudos to whomever managed to pull that off.

And a special shout out from this reporter to Tyler Crist and Cookie Lair-Ferrari who remained dressed in blue throughout the entire meet as they sweated on the edge of the pool to cheer on their teammates. Way to make it that much more fun for everyone.

Pre-Team Meet: Young Dolphins Kick Butt

By Flip Turn,

Junior Swim Correspondent

Pre-team members dominated the pool on Wednesday during the final B Meet of the season.

The annual B meet features three events -- 25 kick board, 25 free and 25 back -- and the older swimmers typically volunteer as timers, ribbon writers, runners and cheer leaders.

As a result, this is one of the best meets for parents as they don’t have to do anything other than scream and yell for the swimmers. 

For the Dolphin Times, this is a tough meet as we have to try to read the writing on the time cards. And have you ever tried to read how a 10 year old writes another kid’s name? It is a challenge. So if we have any errors, please email the Dolphin Times and we will fix the online version ASAP.

Richard Caddell was first to the wall in the first event -- 25 kick board -- in 42.20. Others with strong performances in 25 kicks included Maddox Feldbaum in 47.26, Theo Zobrist in 50.43, Zachary Kraus in 50.09, Alex Spoonel in 55.48, Nora Feldbaum in 45.89 and Brooke Ortman in 48.68.

This reporter was impressed at how fast those kids can kick. Yet that was nothing compared of their 25 free times. Fastest to the wall was Aaron Kraus in 34.61. Others with impressive times include Sawyer Makl in 56.39, Margaret Southworth in 50.54, Finn Fischer in 53.17, Mathias Jensen in 1:08.77, Oliver Abrams in 1:02.36, and Nolan Koonce in 46.47.

The final event was the 25 back. Head Coach Malena better watch out as these kids were so fast that they might put her Bannockburn back stroke legacy at risk. Some notable performances included Tim Burke in 58.70, Caroline Liddy in 1:03.50, Alisha Mink in 56.73, and Nadja Lall in 55.87.

Scouting the meet was ESPN’s Mel Kingfish, who predicted many of these swimmers would dominate under 8 next year. “The Dolphins have schools of young talent swimming around their pond,” Kingfish said. “Their rivals will be in worse shape than a worn on a hook.”

Prior Editions on Dolphin Times Online!

For those who missed an issue, get all of your Dolphin news at our blog site, which is at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

And please let us know of any breaking Dolphin news at haydnthedogseiberg@gmail.com.

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 7 (July 16, 2013)

Please share the Dolphin Times with your swimmers. We email only to the parents, but the fun of the newsletter is for the kids to see their names and their races written up. Pictures and prior editions of the Dolphin Times are available online at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

PICTURES are now added to this edition!

Dolphins Fall to NW Branch in Fun Meet

By Doll Finn,

Senior Swim Correspondent

The Dolphins won the final A Meet of the season.

Unfortunately it was the Northwest Branch Dolphins rather than the Bannockburn Dolphins.

The final score was 447.5 to 343.5, though that masqueraded some very impressive performances.

The caravan crew to Northwest Branch came dressed for the Fiesta theme.

For this correspondent, the highlight of the meet was the second boys open IM relay. Northwest Branch did not even enter a second team, but Head Coach Malena and Assistant Spenser gave several swimmers a chance to compete in the A meet.

The team of Alex Butman, Ali Shafii, Owen Wassiliew and Andrew Ford had a collective 49 years under their belts. The winning Northwest Branch team had a collective 67 years – nearly five years older per swimmer – over this group. By coincidence, the Bannockburn team of Andy Lair-Ferrari, Ryan Chitwood, Nick Hopkins and James Cobau also had 67 years under their belt. By competing, the younger Dolphins picked up valuable points for the team that otherwise would have gone unclaimed. 

That performance – where the boys were outgunned by much older co

mpetitors – epitomizes what is so great about summer swimming. This is a team event and if the team has a chance to get some points then all hands are willing to pitch in and get wet. This reporter was quite impressed.

As for the meet, the team was in trouble in the start as Northwest Branch had two very fast 11/12 boys, That meant Bannockburn was not sweeping every 11/12 boy event as we typically do.

It also did not help that several swimmers were missing.

While Bannockburn was under pressure in the first several events, they picked up needed points in the girls 200 Meter Medley Relay with the team of Elizabeth Fosburgh, Hannah Melrod, Maddie Alagia, and Bryna Steele getting first and the team of Elena Palerm, Danielle Lair-Ferrari, Katya Damskey and Kellan Steele getting second.

In under 8 25 free, Jacob Seiberg finished third and was the only boy to score point. The girls fared better with Ella Scott in second, Darby LeFaivre in third and Anna Cavanagh in fifth.

This pattern kept repeating itself. We’d get close, but not enough points. In 9/10, Andrew O’Brien was third while Shifra Eskin was second for the girls. 

The 13/14 girls kept us in the meet. Kaili Gregory was first in 50 free with Jessie Kline tied for second, Katya Damskey in fourth and Danielle Lair-Ferrari in fifth. For 11/12 boys, Ray Crist was second. Caitlin Ryan and Naomi Seiberg were third and fourth. In 15/18, Andy Lair-Ferrari scored third while Elizabeth Fosburgh won.

Jack Blazes was second in the 13/14 IM while Jessie Kline and Katya Damskey were first and second.

A big pre-meet cheer led by the coaches.

In backstroke, Bannockburn did not have a first place finish until Elizabeth Fosburgh in 15/18. Andy Lair-Ferrari did come close, finishing second. Jessie Kline in 13/14 continued to dominate, winning in back with Priscilla Felten in third.

Elizabeth Fosburgh got another first for 15/18 100 IM.

On to breast stroke where Meyer Eskin won in under 8 while Darby LeFaivre and Maya Lall were second and third. Andrew O’Brien and Cole Wassiliew were second and third in 9/10 with Shifra Eskin winning for the girls.

For 11/12, Jack MacIsaac and owen Wassiliew were second and third with Caitlin Ryan and Alexa Crist second and third as well. Jack Blazes won for 13/14 boys with Kaili Gregory and Katya Damskey in first and second for the girls.

Butterfly was a tough stroke for Bannockburn in this meet, though Katya Damskey and Jessie Kline were first and second in 13/14 girls and Elizabeth Fosburgh and Maddie Alagia were first and second as well in 15/18 girls.

Forget AC/DC; Dolphins Have Thunder

By Flip Turn,

Junior Swim Correspondent

Yeah, yeah yeah Thunderstuck. Yeah yeah yeah Thunderstruck.

It is not just AC/DC that has to deal with thunder. The Bannockburn Dolphins confronted thunder just before the start of breast stroke at our B Meet against Mohican. 

Because of the weather, the meet was called at the half way point. As a result, there are no times for breast or fly. Yet there were some great performances in IM, free and back.

Our list today compares times in the final B meet against times in the Sommerset B meet just a week ago. We flag times with improvements of at least 5%. What’s so impressive is that so many young Dolphins are still improving this late in the season.

• Alexander Austin (12) dropped 7.92 seconds in IM.
• Clara Baisinger-Rosen (7) dropped 2.63 seconds in free.
• Maxwell Burns (9) dropped 7.02 seconds in back.
• Lauren Caddell (8) dropped 7.10 seconds in back.
• Anna-Louise Cobau (9) dropped 1.88 seconds in back.
• Sarah Cobau (12) dropped 3.53 seconds in back.
• Cassidy Eyres (9) dropped 4.64 seconds in back.
• Payton Eyres (7) dropped 4.2 seconds in back.
• Aiden Kaplan (10) dropped 9.16 seconds in free.
• Ryan Kaplan (8) dropped 6.75 seconds in back.
• Aaron Kraus (6) dropped 3.67 seconds in back.
• Zachary Kraus (6) dropped 2.46 seconds in free.
• Max Kroloff (7) dropped 11.41 seconds in back.
• Sarah McAdoo (11) dropped 4.97 seconds in back.
• Sydney Merlo (6) dropped 1.82 seconds in free and 5.02 seconds in back.
• Anthony Noya (7) dropped 3.07 seconds in free.
• Celia Noya (6) dropped 6.38 seconds in free and 7.62 seconds in back.
• Aidan O’Brien (6) dropped 2.36 seconds in back.
• Teresa Romeu (8) dropped 4.61 seconds in back.
• Lucca Scott (11) dropped 3.01 seconds in back and 5.26 seconds in IM.
• James Setty (8) dropped 8.67 seconds in free and 3.34 seconds in back.
• Julie Solonsky (9) dropped 2.15 seconds in back.

Just as the under 8 boys were lining up for breast, the life guards finally pulled the thunder alarm and cleared the pool deck. It was simply no longer possible to dismiss the noise as either airplanes, a motorcycle or the tow truck that was saving a troubled car in the parking lot.

By pool rule, 30 minutes must elapse without more thunder for the pool to reopen. When it became clear that it would be no earlier than 8:30 for the restart, meet officials decided to call it a night. 

As this correspondent saw first hand when the storm last summer knocked out power and forced the team to compete at night in the dark in an A meet, it is real problem when Dolphins cannot see the wall. That makes a flip turn really tough. In addition, there are safety concerns with the ability – or inability – of lifeguards to see if there is anyone in trouble in the water.

And for those saying pool lights could solve this problem, we hear from Dolphins that this is not a panacea. They either blind the swimmer headed to the light or leave other swimmers in dark shadows.

Regardless, this reporter was impressed at how quickly parents can flee the pool when they are at risk of getting soaked in a thunderstorm. That pool deck was empty within five minutes.

Prior Editions on Dolphin Times Online!

For those who missed an issue, get all of your Dolphin news at our blog site, which is at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

And please let us know of any breaking Dolphin news at haydnthedogseiberg@gmail.com.

Dolphins Make it 3 Straight With Win Over Daleview

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 6 (July 9, 2013)

Please share the Dolphin Times with your swimmers. We email only to the parents, but the fun of the newsletter is for the kids to see their names and their races written up. Pictures and prior editions of the Dolphin Times are available online at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

Dolphins Win 3rd Straight By Beating Daleview

By Doll Finn,

Senior Swim Correspondent

Three in a row sounds pretty good.

The Bannockburn Dolphins defeated Daleview 411.5 to 379.5 on Saturday in the fourth A meet of the season. The win guarantees the Dolphins a winning record for the season and puts the team tied for second in the division.

To this correspondent, the graduated relay really summed up the meet. The boys team powered by Gideon Helf, Ray Crist, Jeffrey Su and Jacob Seiberg came within 15/100^th of a second of the team record to take first place. They were followed by Andrew O’Brien, Jack MacIsaac, Jack Blazes and Ryan Kaplan to take second place. That meant the boys left only two points for Daleview and scored 12 points for Bannockburn.

Daleview tried to manage the girls relay to sweep the top two spots given their plethora of strong girl swimmers. But the Bannockburn girls would not let this strategy succeed. Seven-year old Darby LeFaivre  accelerated past the Daleview B relay team to take second place in one of the most thrilling races of the day. Positioning Darby for the final push was some great swimming by Shifra Eskin, Caitlin Ryan, and Jessie Kline.

With that second place finish, any doubts about which team would win should have been erased.

The meet was supposed to be very close and the start of the competition reinforced that early view. The three amigos of Jack MacIsaac, Ray Crist and Owen Wassiliew swept the 11/12 50 free while Daleview’s amazing Sammie Grant took first for the girls. But Daleview did not sweep. Naomi Seiberg secured third and Caitlin Ryan got fifth.

That was pretty much the pattern for the meet. Bannockburn would sweep events and Dalieview would dominate some events, but leave enough points on the table for Dolphin swimmers to ensure Daleview could not pull even

The Boys 200 Medley continued the trend. Andy Lair-Ferrari, Ryan Chitwood, Nick Hopkins and Evan Steingass took first while James Cobau, Max Palermo, Pieter Fosburg, and Jack Steingass took third.

It appeared Daleview was looking for the sweep for the girls 200 Medley but Elizabeth Fosburgh, Hannah Melrod, Maddie Alagia and Bryna Steele would not relent and took second.

Heading in free, the Dolphins were up by about 10 points. Jacob Seiberg and Ryan Kaplan ensured the team kept the lead with first and second for under 8. Then the under 8 girls kicked some butt with Darby LeFaivre, Ella Scott, Sam MacIsaac, and Cassidy Eyres taking first through fourth.

Gideon Helf won for boys 9/10  in an All Star Time with Andrew O’Brien tying for third. (And thus the reason for the half points in the final score.) Shifra Eskin and Katie MacIsaac took second and fourth.

Jeffrey Su glided to a win for the 13/14 free while Jessie Kline and Kaili Gregory took second and fourth for the girls. The three amigos in 11/12 boys again swept, with Ray Crist in first, Jack MacIsaac in second and Owen Wassiliew in third. For the girls, Caitlin Ryan secured some key points with a second place finish.

In 15/18 free, the boys took four of the top five spots. Evan Steingass, Andy Lair-Ferrari, Jack Steingass, and Ryan Chitwood were the victors. Elizabeth Fosburgh and Maddie Alagia secured points with a second and fourth finish.

Jeffrey Su took first in the 13/14 IM while Jessie Kline was second.

That brought us to backstroke. Jacob Seiberg and Meyer Eskin were second and third for under 8 while May Lall, Anna Cavanagh and Ella Scott swept the top three spots for the girls. Gideon Helf in 9/10 boys won in an All Star Time.

Andy Lair-Ferrari reclaimed the pool record in an All Star Time for 15/18 boys while Elizabeth Fosburgh won for the girls in an All Star Time. In 11/12, the three amigos fell short as they only got second, third and fourth. That one could say they fell short is a testament to how dominate Jack, Ray and Owen have become. 

In 13/14, Jeffrey Su won while Jessie Kline got an All Star Time and the win for the girls. 

That brought the meet to the intermission with the Dolphins holding about an 11 point lead. In other words, it was really close.

Meyer Eskin opened for under 8 with a win in breast while Maya Lall and Anna Cavanagh took first and second. In 9/10, Andrew O’Brien won in breast while Shifra Eskin won for the girls. Jack MacIsaac  and Owen Wassiliew were first and second in breast with Lucca Scott picking up a point in fifth. For the girls, Caitlin Ryan and Alexa Crist took second and third.

Jack Blazes won in 13/14 boys while Ryan Chitwood, Evan Steingass and Nick Hopkins were second, third and fourth for the boys in 15/18. 

The last stroke is always fly and Bannockburn began with a one-two finish in under 8 with Jacob Seiberg and Meyer Eskin. Max Kroloff took fourth to maximize the Dolphin points.

Maya Lall, Sam MacIsaac and Darby LeFaivre swept for the under 8 girls. 

Gideon Helf and Andrew O’Brien in 9/10 took first and second with Gideon getting an All Star Time. Evelyn Wassiliew was second for 9/10 girls. Ray Crist and Lucca Scott were first and second for 11/12 boys in fly with Ray getting an All Star Time. Naomi Seiberg and Gabriella Helf were third and fourth for 11/12 girls.

Jeffrey Su continued to dominate with a win in fly for 13/14 boys, but Katya Damskey and Jessie Kline stole the show in 13/14 with a first-second finish. That effort combined with Andy Lair-Ferrari and Evan Steingass going one-two in 15/18 fly and Elizabeth Fosburgh in 15/18 getting second that ensured the Dolphin victory.

Dolphins celebrated with the traditional plunge into the pool. This reporter saw Malena, Spenser, Nick, Kellan, Andy and Maddie all in the water. The cool down was followed by sandwiches from Moby Dick thanks to the many great parent volunteers. Go parents!

Swimmers, Parents Melt at Relay Carnival

By Flip Turn,

Junior Swim Correspondent

The Dolphins competed Sunday in one of the most fun meets of the season.

The relay carnival is a chance to stick a bunch of swimmers together and get them to do relays. There are medley relays (all four strokes) and free style relays. There are age group relays, mixed relays of boys and girls, and graduated relays featuring swimmers of different ages.

The Dolphins finished fourth in the meet, but had some great swims by several kids who were not expecting to swim in as many events or who were not event expecting to swim at all.

The real news was in the parent relay. Vladimir Eskin began in the shallow end and we are not sure he remembered to breathe. John Cobau tried the running the start from the deep end and only false started by 18 inches. Thus is was within the informal two foot parent relay false start margin. Ellen actually looked like a serious swimmer while Andy moved his arms so fast on free that it made this reporter dizzy.

As we believe all the other parent relay teams really cheated by violating the two foot false start rule, the Dolphin Time is awarding first place to the Bannockburn Parent Relay. Great job.

The coaches are a different story. They had an IM relay. Malena did almost her entire 25 backstroke in streamline underwater. We hear her split was 14.3 seconds. Nick had a 15.6 split and huge running start. Spenser clocked 14.8 while Kellan finished in 16.7 seconds. 

Now the rules for coach relays are even looser than the rules for parent relays. Yet by just focusing on who touched the wall first, Bannockburn finished fourth. The key, however, seemed to be that we defeated Northwest Branch where Sarah, a former assistant for Bannockburn, is the head coach.

Bannockburn Invades Sommerset for B Meet

By Flip Turn,

Junior Swim Correspondent

Bannockburn Dolphins invaded Sommerset last week for our annual B meet against the cross town rival.

This correspondent may be a bit too generous with the term “annual” as this was the B meet that got canceled last summer thanks to the crazy storms that knocked out power to many Dolphin families and our pool.

As always, we highlight some great swims. The age of the swimmer is in brackets after the name. And rather than look at their improvement based on their lowest time of the season, we are looking at how they did against their B Meet time from the second B meet of the year, which was the Palisades meet. Also, swimmers with lucky birthdays after July 1 will show up in the list at the age they were in the meet. But they swim in the age group based on their age as of June 1. So this can get confusing……

A few swimmers to highlight who recorded at least a 5% time improvement based on their time from the prior week’s B meet:

• Benjamin Bassinger-Lee (10) dropped 9.08 seconds in 50 free.
• Anna Cavanagh (9) dropped 1.89 seconds in 25 free.
• Maya Clancy (7) dropped 2.7 seconds in 25 free and 3.5 seconds in 25 back.
• Cassidy Eyres (9) took 2.32 seconds off her 25 back time and 2.06 seconds off her 25 fly time.
• Max Kroloff (7) took 2.86 seconds off his 25 back and 7.31 seconds off his fly.
• Sarah Makl (9) dropped 4.16 seconds off 50 free and 2.99 seconds off 25 breast.
• Sawyer Makl (6) dropped 6.32 seconds off 25 free.
• Constantin Molineus (9) dropped 3.68 seconds off 25 free an and 7.5 seconds off 25 back.
• Anthony Noya (7) dropped 7.84 seconds off 25 back.
• Emma Reveiz (7) dropped 11.03 seconds in 25 back.
• Samuel Reveiz (11) dropped 3.93 seconds off 50 free and 11.03 seconds off 50 back.
• Henry Sills (7) dropped 5.11 seconds off 25 free.
• Julie Solonsky (9) dropped 6.18 seconds off 50 free.
• Cole Wassiliew (9) dropped 2.90 seconds off 25 back.
• Colleen Zeugin (11) dropped 3.27 seconds in 50 free and 4.84 seconds in 50 back.

Prior Editions of Dolphin Times Online!

For those who missed an issue, get all of your Dolphin news at our blog site, which is at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

And please let us know of any breaking Dolphin news at haydnthedogseiberg@gmail.com.

Dolphins Beat Rock Creek in Nail Biter

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 5 (July 2, 2013)

That Was Close, But Dolphins Beat Rock Creek

By Doll Finn,

Senior Swim Correspondent

It is rare in this correspondent’s experience that a meet comes down to the very last event. But that was the case on Saturday when the Bannockburn Dolphins defeated Rock Creek 400.5 to 188.5.

That’s right. The meet came down to 12 points, which means if we had false starts that DQ’d the two girl relay teams then we could have lost the meet. It also demonstrates why it is critical for every swimmer in an A Meet to show up to swim. Every Dolphin point is one less point for the opposition. And that could have been the difference on Saturday.

Pictures and prior editions of the Dolphin Times are available online at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com.

At the start is looked like a Dolphin blow out. The under 12 boys continue to dominate the IM scoring 13 points with the top three finishes Jack MacIsaac got the win with Ray Crist and Owen Wassiliew taking second and third.

Nothing like some neon to wake everyone up on a Saturday morning.

Yet it got closer with the girls under 12 IM as only Naomi Seiberg in third place finished ahead of a Rock Creek swimmer.

The 200 Medley Relay is quickly becoming a key Dolphin event. The team of Andy Lair-Ferrari, Ryan Chitwood, Nick Hopkins and Evan Steingass continued their winning ways.

The girls team was right with them. Elizabeth Fosburgh, Hannah Melrod, Maddie Alagia, and Bryna Steele took first.

We had two point getters in the under 8 25 free with Jacob Seiberg in third and Ryan Kaplan in fifth. For the girls, it was Darby LeFaivre with a second place finish while Ella Scott was fourth.

At this point, Rock Creek had the edge and this reporter felt some tension on the pool deck.

Gideon Helf, Andrew O’Brien and Cole Wassiliew helped relieve some of that pressure with a first, second and fourth place finish for 9/10 free. The girls got third and firth with Shifra Eskin and Katie MacIsaac.

Jeffrey Su got the first Bannockburn All Star Time for 13/14 free by taking 3/10 of a second off his seed time and finishing first.

On the 13/14 girls side, Bannockburn swept the top three spots. Jessie Kline, Kaili Gregory and Cookie Lair-Ferrari finished first, second and third.

The sweeping continue with boys 11/12 as Ray Crist, Jack MacIsaac and Owen Wassiliew took first, second and third. Just out of the points was Tyler Crist who had to defeat an airline and Dulles Airport in order to get to the meet. Good job Tyler.

Finishing in the points in third, fourth and fifth for girls 11/12 were Caitlin Ryan, Naomi Seiberg and Gabriela Helf. That performace helped as Rock Creek has a very fast girl in Caroline Karson.

Rock Creek won the 15/18 100 free but Evan Steingass finished second with an All Star Time. He was followed by Andy Lair-Ferrari. Elizabeth Fosburgh secured first with an All Star Time followed by Maddie Alagia and Bryna Steele in second and third.

As the meet moved to the 13/14 IM, it was still insanely close. This reporter wasn’t sure the Dolphins could pull it off. Then Jeffrey Su won the IM followed by Jessie Kline, Danielle Lair Ferrari and Kaili Gregory sweeping the top three spots for the girls.

This gave the Dolphins a small cushion heading into backstroke. Jacob Seiberg and Meyer Eskin for under 8 finished second and third while Maya Lall and Anna Cavanagh got second and fourth.

Then Gideon Helf got first in 9/10 back and Evelyn Wassiliew secured some points with a third place finish.

The inability of the Dolphins to get that first spot was eroding their margin. Yet Dolphins kept getting close. Andy Lair-Ferrari finished second in back for 15/18 before Elizabeth Fosburgh got an All Star Time and a win.

Those 11/12 boys continued to keep the team in the meet. Once again they took all three top spots with Jack MacIsaac, Ray Crist and Owen Wassiliew in first, second and third in back. For the girls, Naomi Seiberg was second and Caitlin Ryan was fourth.

For 13/14, Jeffrey Su was edged out of the win in back but took second with Jonathan Rufino in third. Jessie Kline and Kaili Gregory took first and second with Jessie getting an All Star Time. Sarah Cobau finished sixth but took 1.61 seconds off her time.

The usual names got points for 15/18 IM. Evan Steingass and Andy Lair-Ferrari took second and third while Elizabeth Fosburgh won with an All Star Time.

As we moved to breast stroke, we knew some DQs were coming. They always do. Meyer Eskin continues with his dominate ways in under 8 with a legal swim in an All Star Time that secured first. The girls were better with the DQs with Maya Lall taking third.

In 9/10, Andrew O’Brien and Cole Wassiliew took second and third while Shifra Eskin won for the girls. The three legged monster of our boys 11/12 was missing one, but Owen Wassiliew and Jack MacIsaac took first and second with Lucca Scott in firth. Caitlin Ryan took second for the girls with Alexa Crist and Sarah McAdoo in fifth and sixth. Both of those girls bettered their seed time.

Nothing starts off a meet better than swimmers singing the National Anthem. It took some digging but we believe our performers are Katie, Lily, Evie, Ella and Elena. Let us know if we erred. 

Jack Blazes took second for 13/14 boys while Kaili Gregory took first for the girls in 13/14. Evan Steingass and Ryan Chitwood battled to the very last glide to take first and second in a time that was only 4/10 of a second apart. Hannah Melrod took second for the girls while Elena Palermo took fourth.

On fly, Jacob Seiberg was second for the under 8 boys while Sam MacIsaac took fourth for the girls. Gideon Helf won for the 9/10 boys fly while Evelyn Wassiliew was fourth for the girls. Ray Crist and Ethan Wendel took first and second for the 11/12 boys while Naomi Seiberg was fourth for the girls.

Jeffrey Su won in an All Star Time for the 13/14 boys, which pretty much meant the meet was all tied up at this point. In steps Jessie Kline and Danielle Lair-Ferrari with a first second finish for the girls.

Andy Lair-Ferrari got second for 15/18 boys, but the girls once again gave the Dolphins a cushion. Elizabeth Fosburgh and Maddie Alagia finished first and second and Samantha Kline finished fourth.

The result is that the Dolphins had a slight lead going into the 175 Relay. To no one’s surprise, the boy’s team of Gideon Helf, Ray Crist, Jeffrey Su and Jacob Seiberg continued to dominate. They were eight seconds ahead of the Rock Creek team and about 6/10 of a second away from a team record. Andrew O’Brien, Jack MacIsaac, Jack Blazes and Ryan Kaplan got key points by finishing third.

This meant the girls needed to finish for the Dolphins to win. The team of Shifra Eskin, Caitlin Ryan, Jessie Kline and Darby LeFaivre finished second. That gave the Dolphins the win. Padding the margin were Katie MacIsaac, Naomi Seiberg, Kaili Gregory and Maya Lall with a third place finish.

The end result was a 12 point victory. The typical celebration was put on hold for the team photo. But it appeared the coaches – perhaps Malena and Spenser -- and some innocent bystanders all ended up in pool. Amazing parent volunteers then offered up the post meet lunch with sandwiches from Bethesda Market. Parents Rule!

80’s Workout Invades Bannockburn for B Meet

By Flip Turn,

Junior Swim Correspondent

Nothing like being home for a B Meet. Sure you have to get there earlier to warm up, but you also know the lay of the land and you get to enjoy the delicious burgers at the Dolphin Café.

What could be better?

How about 80’s workout theme? This reporter has never seen so much neon in one place.

We also had some big time improvements at the meet for a whole host of swimmers.

As always, we pull this data off Team Unify. So nothing is perfect and if you think we missed something please let Haydn, the official dog of the Dolphin Times, know at haydnthedogseiberg@gmail.com.

A special shout out to Cleo Kraske (age 6) who improved her 25 back time by 31.21% for a 47.60 second swim. That represented the biggest season to date performance improvement for anyone on the team.

All these swimmers – their ages in brackets next to the names -- improved at least 5% in a stroke from the baseline starting point for 2013:

·      Clara Baisinger-Rosen (7) took 4.21 seconds off 25 free.

·      Gabrielle Bede (7) took 3.28 seconds off 25 free.

·      Alexander Burbelo (13) took 5.07 seconds off 50 back.

·      Jack Burke (9) took 3.53 seconds off 25 back.

·      Maya Clancy (7) took 6.52 second off 25 free and 9.07 seconds off 25 back.

·      Sarah Cobau (12) took 3.18 seconds off 50 fly.

·      Ray Crist (12) took 4.91 seconds off his 50 breast time.

·      Willem DeSimone (8) dropped 3.7 seconds off 25 free.

·      Cassidy Eyres (7) took 1.58 seconds off 25 free.

·      Payton Eyres (7) dropped 7.69 seconds off 25 back.

·      Riley Greenwald (7) took 8.47 seconds off 25 free.

·      Margaret Hutt (8) dropped 5.19 seconds off 25 free.

·      Jack Keenan (8) took 2.00 seconds off his 25 free time.

·      Cleo Kraske (6) dropped 21.6 seconds off her 25 back time.

·      Max Kroloff (7) dropped 2.71 seconds in 25 back.

·      Danielle Lair-Ferrari (13) dropped 2.81 seconds on 50 back.

·      Maya Lall (8) dropped 9.36 seconds in the 100 IM.

·      James LeFaivre (6) dropped 2.89 seconds in 25 free, 3.63 seconds in 25 back and 5.91 seconds on 25 breast.

·      Samantha MacIsaac (8) dropped 2.07 seconds on 25 back.

·      Maia Mancuso (6) took 4.78 seconds off 25 back.

·      James Mann (7) took 825 seconds off 25 back.

·      Owen Mann (7) took 3.21 seconds off 25 free and 3.10 seconds off 25 back.

·      Jack Martin (9) dropped 16.09 seconds off 50 free.

·      Lea Anne McAdoo (10) took 3.86 seconds off 50 free, 1.96 seconds off 25 back, and 4.09 seconds off 25 fly.

·      Cecily McArdle (10) dropped 3.26 seconds off 25 free.

·      Sydney Merlo (6) took 3.22 seconds off 25 free.

·      Damian Molineus (10) dropped 6.95 seconds in 50 free, 4.53 seconds in 25 back and 2.43 seconds in 25 breast.

·      Anthony Noya (7) dropped 5.19 seconds in 25 free and 5.08 seconds in 25 back.

·      Celia Noya (6) dropped 15.29 seconds off 25 free.

·      Eli Putnam (10) took 2.33 seconds off her 50 free time.

·      Taylor Pyle (7) dropped 3.16 seconds off her 25 free time.

·      Duncan Ryan (10) took 2.31 seconds off her 25 free time.

·      Audrey Scott (8) dropped 6.42 seconds off 25 free.

·      Jacob Seiberg (8) dropped 11.36 seconds off his 25 breast time.

·      James Setty (7) took 5.36 seconds off her 25 back time.

·      Julie Solonsky (9) dropped 6.65 seconds off her 50 free time and 19.95 seconds off her 25 fly time.

·      Henry Stein (7) dropped 11.74 seconds off his 25 free time.

·      Reuben Stoll (10) took 4.85 seconds off his 25 back time.

·      Cole Wassiliew (9) dropped 3.32 seconds off his 50 free time, 4.52 seconds off his 25 back time and 3.52 seconds off his 25 fly time.

·      Lily Young (9) dropped 16.38 seconds on her 50 free time.

The list above is against the swimmer’s original time this season in the stroke. Now that the Dolphins are approaching the half way point, we will probably look at improvements based on their best time in the first half of the season in order to give credit to those who are still improving off their most recent times.

Prior Editions on Dolphin Times Online!

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And please let us know of any breaking Dolphin news at haydnthedogseiberg@gmail.com.