Dolphins Out Perform, But Fall Short in First A Meet

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 2, Season 2014

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 Outperform Expectations But Still Fall Short Against Regency Estates

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

Bannockburn entered the season ranked at the bottom of Division F so the coaching team knew the first meet – which is typically against a high seeded team – would be a real challenge.

Those fears proved to be true, though in a positive sign for the rest of the season the Dolphins outperformed expectations based on prior times. This suggests the team is getting stronger headed into next week’s A Meet and the Relay Carnival.

Regency Estates won by more than 200 points. They set the tone in the first event, sweeping the top three spots in the 12 and under 100 IM. Gideon Helf was fourth, but took three seconds off his seed time while Andrew O’Brien was fifth about a second below his seed time.

The pattern repeated itself for the 12 and under 100 IM for the girls. Regency Estates swept the top three positions with Shifra Eskin dropping almost seven seconds to finish fourth and Katie MacIsaac taking firth.

The Dolphins got second and third in the boy’s 200 Medley relay with Jack MacIsaac, Owen Wassiliew, Evan Steingass and Alex Butman taking second and Jonathan Rufino, Alex Burbelo, Ethan Wendel and James Cobau taking third.

The girls brought home the gold in the 200 Medley Relay with Elena Palermo, Hannah Melrod, Jessica Kline and Bryna Steele taking first. The team of Naomi Seiberg, Alexa Crist, Gabriella Helf and Anna-Louise Cobau finished fourth.

We then got into the meat of the meet. For under 8 boys in free style, Will Spooner finished third in 19.26, which was almost 1.5 seconds faster than his seed time. Max Kroloff was seventh, taking almost half a second off his seed time.

For the girls, Darby LeFaivre remains a force to be reckoned with as she won with an All Star time of 17.59. Annie Kessner was eighth.

In 9/10, Andrew O’Brien won the 50 free while Cole Wassiliew finished fifth and Jacob Seiberg was sixth. Bannockburn grabbed third and fourth for the girls with Evelyn Wassiliew and Maya Lall both scoring points.

The boys 13/14 50 free was the best race of the day. Regency Estates’s Neema Moayed out-touched Jeffrey Su by 1/100 of a second to take first. Despite this, Jeffrey scored an all star time. Ray Crist and Jack MacIsaac were right behind in third and fourth.

Compared to the boy’s race, the girl’s event was a blow out as Katya Damskey won by 2/100 of a second over Regency’s Beth Wright. Danielle Lair Ferrari was third and Gabriela Helf was fourth.

When the 11/12 boys got their shot, Gideon Helf secured fourth place. Ali Shafii dropped half a second to take 10^th. The top girl for the Dolphins was Shifra Eskin in sixth.

As we moved to the 100 Free, Evan Steingass took second with Jonathan Rufino in fifth, Alex Butman in seventh, Andrew Ford in eighth and Hugo Burbelo in 10^th. Bryna Steele and Jessie Kline took second and third.

The boys and girls kicked butt in the 13/14 IM with Jeffrey Su winning with an All Star time and Ray Crist and Jack MacIsaac tying for third. On the girls side, Katya Damskey won by a four seconds with Danielle Lair Ferrari in third.

With free style over, the times walked to the shallow end for the start of back stroke. This is a 25 meter event for eight and under as well as for 9/10.

Will Spooner was second and James LeFaivre was fifth and Aidan O’Brien was sixth. Darby LeFaivre won for the girls with Taylor Pyle and Annie Kessner in fifth and sixth place.

Jacob Seiberg was the top back stroker for 9/10 boys with a third place finish that was 8/10 of a second better than his seed time. Meyer Eskin was just behind him, dropping 1.4 seconds off his seed time while Cole Wassiliew was sixth but took about 7/10 of a second off his seed time.

Our top girl was Evelyn Wassiliew in third and a half second better than her seed time. Maya Lall and Teresa Romeu were fourth and fifth.

Even Steingass won in backstroke for the boys 15-18 while Jessie Kline and Bryna Steele were second and third.

In 11/12 backstroke, the top Dolphin boy was Lucca Scott in fourth while Katie MacIsaac was the top girl. She also finished fourth.

Jeffrey Su had another All Star time in 13/14 back and a first place finish. Ray Crist and Jack MacIsaac were third and fourth. For the girls, Katya Damskey was the highest finisher with a second place. Naomi Seiberg and Gabriella Helf were fourth and fifth.

In another strong swim, Evan Steingass got another win in the 15-18 100 IM while Jessie Kline finished second for the girls.

We then reset for the 8 and under 25 breast. Max Kroloff was the top boy in second. There was not a female finisher.

Andrew O’Brien took first in the 25 breast stroke for 9/10 while Maya Lall was top girl with a third place finish. Gideon Helf won in the 50 breast for 11/12 while Shifra Eskin was the top Dolphin girl finished with a third place showing.

For 13/14, Jack MacIsaac and Alex Burbelo were second and third in the 50 breast while Danielle Lair Ferrari was second for the girls. Alexa Crist finished fifth.

The 15-18 crew needs to swim a 100 breast.  Jonathan Rufino was third and Alex Butman was fourth. Hannak Melrod took first place for the girls with Elena Palermo in third place.

Butterfly is always tough for the under 8s, but Will Spooner swam clean for third and took close to three seconds off his seed time.

Darby LeFaivre took more than a second off her seed time to win the race and establish an All Star time.

Andrew O’Brien for 9/10 boys won in an All Star time while Jacob Seiberg was fifth. Evelyn Wassiliew took second with Ella Scott in fourth.

11/12 50 Butterfly was a tough event as the boys were swept with Gideon Helf the top Dolphin finisher in fourth place. Shifra Eskin kept up her strong meet with a second place finish that was more than two seconds better than her seed tie.

Jeffrey Su kept up his winning ways with first for 13/14 boys in 50 fly with an All Star time. Ray Crist took third.

Jeffrey better watch out because Katya Demskey also set an All Star time in winning the 50 fly for the girls. Danielle Lair Ferrari and Naomi Seiberg were third and fourth.

In 15/18 100 fly, Alex Butman was the top Dolphin boy in fourth while Jessica Kline and Bryna Steele were second and third. Elena Palermo was fifth.

Like all our meets, we ended with the graduated relay. This might be one of the best events in kids sports. Will Spooner nailed the finish to help the Bannockburn team that also include Andrew O’Brien, Gideon Helf and Jeffrey Su finish second.

On the girls side, Darby LeFaivre closed the door on Regency to secure second place. And if the race was any longer she might have caught the winning relay. Her team was powered at the start with Evelyn Wassiliew, Shifra Eskin and Katya Damskey.

The meet ended with a team photo, tasty sandwiches and some great music provided by Tom Helf, the voice of the Bannockburn Dolphins.

Despite the loss, the coaches seemed upbeat about the improvements in time and the stronger than expected performances. With the team the low seed in a tougher division, consistently winning as the team did last year is going to be more difficult. But it appears the team is positioning itself to out perform at the end of the season.

That’s it until next week with a the regular A Meet on Saturday and Relay Carnival on Sunday.

Editorial: Let’s Get Cake Crazy!

By Haydn the Dog

Dolphin Editor in Chief

The Dolphin Times endorses the inaugural Cake Off, which is set for Friday after practice. Our endorsement is centered completely on how this will be a fantastic team building exercise for big kids and little kids alike and has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the Editor and Chief of this fine publication really, really, really likes cake.

Look for details in the weekly team email. And come decorate cakes that this editor can eat. Err, I mean come and join this opportunity for swimmers to bond together.

Mars v. Venus Goes Beyond the Thunder Dome

By Walter Tu Kold

Dolphin Correspondent

Mars v. Venus was a thrilling B meet with the Dolphin boys taking on the Dolphin girls in a display of amazing athletic accomplishment.

And by athletic accomplish I of course mean the ability to run to the pizza line before the life guards got too angry that folks were outside despite the loud rumbles of thunder.

Meet officials only got in the first heat of the first event, which was the mixed 12 and under 100 IM. This correspondent was so anxious for pizza that he did not even record the results of heat 1.

As a result, the winner of the meet is officially the thunderstorm.

Now some may ask why even bother to try to start a meet if there is a risk of storms. To answer that question, we consulted with Marge N. Oferror, the official statistician of NPR’s Car Talk. We figured it anyone knew the answer, it would be a public radio person.

Marge explained that there is pretty much the chance for a thunderstorm on EVERY single evening in the summer. Yet there are very rarely thunderstorms that require meets to be canceled. For instance, the forecast for Tuesday night was identical to the forecast for Wednesday night. And the weather was perfect for Tuesday.

So don’t be discouraged by the forecast. Despite the threat of storms, the vast majority of meets not only start on time but they are completed on time as well. Okay, we are not quite sure about that completed on time stat. But it sounded good so we are sticking with it.

As for the official pool rule, no one is allowed back in the pool until 30 minutes after the last burst of thunder or lightening. So even though the real storm did not hit until much later, the mere sound of the thunder requires the lifeguards to close the pool. The swim team cannot override the lifeguards.