Dolphin Times: Issue 3, Season 2015

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 3, Season 2015

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 Stay in First with Palisades Win

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins are starting to like Division H.

After beating Tantera a week ago by 77 points, the Dolphins stole a road win over Palisades by a score of 406 to 383.  That leaves the team tied with Merrimack for first place.

That right. This meant the event really came down the 175 meter relays at the end of the meet.

But let’s set the scene for this dramatic showdown. The Dolphins had a 23 point lead when the boys took the blocks. This meant the pressure was on Palisades to win event 49 so they could be in position to win the meet with event 50, which is the girls 175 relay.

Yet the boy’s team of Meyer Eskin, Gideon Helf, Ray Crist and Charlie Conroy were not going to let Palisade get back into this meet. There 1:59.03 was nearly 10 seconds faster than the Palisades relay. In fact, the boy’s team of Will Spooner, Andrew O’Brien, Jack MacIsaac and Zachary Kraus nearly sealed the victory for the Dolphins but fell 15/100 of a second behind the first Palisades team.

With first and third secured with the boy’s relay, the pressure was off the girls. If they matched the second and fourth performance of Palisades in the boy’s relay, then both events would negate each other out. And that would give Bannockburn the 23 point win.

Guess what happened?

The girl’s team of Darby LeFaivre, Shifra Eskin, Gabby Helf and Annie Kessner took second in a time that would have also secured them second place if they competed against the boy’s teams as they topped the Palisades boys by 7 seconds. The girls team of Maya Lall, Evelyn Wassiliew, Caitlin Ryan and Nadia Lall took fourth.

That gave the Dolphins the win and a share of first place in Division H.

Of course, a lot happened to get to this win.

Shifra Eskin got first for the firsts in the 100 IM while Gideon Helf got second for the boys.

This pretty much had the meet tied going into free style.

The under 8 boys did not sweep the top six spots as a Palisades simmer won the event. But Charlie Conroy, Zachary Kraus, James LeFaivre, Aidan O’Brien, Cade Afas and Nicholas Molineus took spots two through seven.

Annie Kessner took second for the girls under 8 with Willow Boison in fifth, Nadia Lall in seventh, Grace Miller in ninth, Celia Noya in 11^th and Alisha Mink in 12^th. We would give a special shout out to Grace, who dropped four seconds from her seed time in an event that is only 25 meters long.

Again, that left the meet pretty close.

In step the 9/10 swimmers.

For the boys, Meyer Eskin, Will Spooner, Jacob Seiberg and Constantin Molineus took spots one thru four. William Kessner was seventh. Then came the girls with Darby LeFaivre winning and Maya Lall, Ella Scott, Sam MacIsaac, Anahi Tinel and Teresa Romeu taking third, fourth, sixth, eighth and 11^th.

In 13/14 50 free, Ray Crist was second with Jack MacIsaac in third. Ethan Wendel took eight with Lucca Scott, Ali Sahfi and Morgan White in ninth, 10^th and 11^th. The top finisher for the girls was Gabby Helf, who came in third. Caitlin Ryan was fourth with Naomi Seiberg in eight and Sarah Cobau in 10^th.

For the boys 9/10, they couldn’t take first place. But did get positions two thru six with Gideon Helf, Andrew O’Brien, Cole Wassiliew, Duncan Ryan and Damina Molineus. Jack Burke took 8^th.

Darby won for the girls in 9/10 50 free with Maya Lall in third, Ella Scott in fourth, Sam MacIsaac in sixth, Anahi Tinel in 8^th and Teresa Romeu in 11^th.

The 13/14 boy Dolphins did not win the 50 Free, but Ray Crist took second and Jack MacIsaac was third. Ethan Wendel, Lucca Scott, Ali Shafi and Morgan White took spots eight thru 11.

On the girls 13/14 side, Gabby Helf and Caitlin Ryan were third and fourth with Naomi Seiberg in eighth and Sarah Cobau in 10^th.

Finishing up free style were the 11/12. Gideon Helf, Andrew O’Brien, Cole Wassiliew, Duncan Ryan and Damian Molineus finished second thru sixth. Jack Burke took 8^th.

Shifra Eskin took first for the girls 11/12 with Evelyn Wassiliew in fourth, and Katie MacIsaac in fifth. Lily Singh took 10^th and Anna-Louise Cobau took 11^th.

That brought up to the 100 free, which is for the 15/18 year olds. Jake Winter and Evan Steingass took second and third with Vince Steis, Jonathan Rufino, James Cobau and Alex Butman taking 6^th thru 9^th.

Bryna Steel took second for the girls with Jessie Kline, Katya Damskey and Danielle Lair Ferrari in third, fourth and fifth. Kali Gregory was seventh and Samantha Kline was 10^th.

While the meet obviously cycled through back, breast and fly, there are some notable performances to highlight.

The under 8 boys continue to sweep. Charlie Conroy, Alex Spooner and Emmet Conroy took first to third in back, while Charlie, James LeFaivre and Aidan O’Brien took second to fourth in breast, and Aidan, James and Zachary Kraus went second to fourth in fly. Hannah Warfield took almost five second off her back stroke time in under 8 to take second.

The 9/10 boys were doing some of their own sweeping. Meyer Eskin, Jacob Seiberg and Will Spooner took first thru third in 25 back. They were all at least five seconds ahead of Palisades. Meyer and Constantin Molineus took first and second in breast while Will and Jacob were first and third in fly.

On the girls 9/10 side, Darby LeFaivre and Sam MacIsaac went first and second in back while Maya Lall and Ella Scott took first and second in breast with Charlotte Tama in sixth.  Darby, Sam and Maya swept the top three spots in fly.

In 11/12 boys, Gideon Helf, Andrew O’Brien and Damian Molineus were second to fourth while Katie MacIsaac took first for the girls in 50 back.  Duncan Ryan won 25 fly with Cole Wassiliew in second. Shifra Eskin won for the girls in 50 fly.

Jessie Kline took first in 100 back while Evan Steingass was second in the 100 IM. Jack MacIsaac won 13/14 50 breast while Ray Crist took first in 50 fly.

Strong Swims at Palisades B Meet

By Walter Tu Kold

Junior Dolphin Reporter

Palisades-palozzo continued on Wednesday with the second B meet of the year, which occurred in the tranquil home waters of the Bannockburn Dolphins.

While we don’t do event-by-event coverage of B meets, we do try to highlight some of the more impressive performances.  B Meets are all about getting better and highlighting the improvements reinforces this message.

We put our list together using Team Unify to determine those with double-digit time improvements. As the software is suspect, this is not an exact process.

That said, we highlight the following:

Willow Boison dropped 6.19 seconds in 25 back while Timothy Burke took off 5.17 second in 25 free. Gideon Helf dropped 4.65 seconds in 50 breast, Aaron Kraus took off 5.82 seconds in 25 fly, Zachary Kraus improved 4.49 seconds in 25 back and Sawyer Makl dropped 4.36 seconds in 25 breast.

Then there was John McCarthy who dropped 5.47 seconds in back, Alexander Meltzer who took off 11.62 seconds in 25 free, Caroline Moeller who dropped 3.87 seconds in 25 back, and Gabriella Noya who improved by 10.06 seconds in 25 free.

Gabriella Scott  dropped 3.22 seconds in 25 fly, Victor Singh improved 3.74 seconds in 25 back, Charlotte Tama dropped 16.97 seconds in 50 free, Davis Turrentine took off 8.3 seconds in 25 back, Hannah Warfield dropped 12.35 seconds in 25 free, and Jack Willis improved 5.38 seconds in 25 free.

That makes the winner of the biggest percentage improvement in time from the Palisades meet to be Alexander Meltzer with a swim age of 7 who improved 23.72% in 25 free.

Now a nearly 24% improvement in a time is pretty impressive, but Dolphin swimmers have been known to post improvements of 30% of more as we get into the season. This reporter may be new, but he bets we will get those first 30 percenters after next week’s B meet.

Dolphin Times -- Issue 2, Season 2015

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 2, Season 2015

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 Kick Way to First Place

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins are in first place in Division H.

After a 430.5 to 353.5 win over the Tantera Tarpons on June 13, your Bannockburn Dolphins sit tied for the lead in Division H. This will set up a critical contest this Saturday against Palisades.

Yes, that’s right swim fans. We are up against our rivals on the other side of the One Lane Bridge next week. And not only do we compete against them in the A meet next week, but four days later we see them at the B meet. The A meet is away and the B meet is at home.

Before we get too caught up in looking forward, it worth recounting how the Dolphins came to claim their piece of first place in the Division after Week 1. Our Dolphin Times analysis shows the win was driven by the strength of the younger kids and a plethora of All Star Times.

It started with Gideon Helf taking first in 1:18.78 in the Under 12 100 IM with Andrew O’Brien in third and Duncan Ryan in fourth. Then Shifra Eskin took over with a big win in the 12 and under 100 IM for the girls followed by Katie MacIsaac who outdueled a Tarpon to secure second. Maya Lall nearly took fourth, but secured the point for fifth.

The Boys 200 Medley was hotly contested. This was so close that your reporter had to wait for the results to find out that the Dolphin team of  Jake Winter, Evan Steingass, Jack Blazes, and Jonathan Rufino  took first in 2:05.43. The team of James Cobau, Owen Wassiliew, Ethan Wendel and Alex Butman took third in 2:27.53.

Tantera’s strength was its older girls, who won the 200 IM. The Dolphin team of Bryna Steele, Alexa Crist, Katya Damskey and Kaili Gregory took second in 2:31.57 while the team of Cecily McArdle, Naomi Seiberg, Sarah Cabou and Evelyn Wassiliew took fourth in 2:52.84.

At this point, the meet was pretty close. That began the change with the younger swimmers.

Under 8 boys swimmers Charlie Conroy, Aidan O’Brien, James LeFaivre, Zachary Kraus,  Cade Afas and Aaron Kraus swept spots one to six in the 25 free. Dolphin Times cannot recall such a stunning sweep in any of the last few seasons.

The girls under 8 was a closer affair. Annie Kessner appears to be the ace of the squad with a second place finish. Nadia Lall took sixth, Willow Boison took 7^th, Maggie Southworth was 10^th, Celia Noya was 11^th and Caroline Moeller was 12^th.

As we moved back to the boys, we got a sweep of the top three spots for the 9/10 50 free. This actually became a pattern for these boys during the meet. Meyer Eskin won with Will Spooner and Jacob Seiberg right behind. Just 1.05 seconds separate the three. Max Kroloff was sixth, Constantine Molineus was 7^th and Anthony Noya was 11^th.

In the girls 9/10 50 free, the Dolphins took spots two thru five with Darby LeFaivre, Ella Scott, Maya Lall, and Sam MacIsaac. Teresa Romeu and Anahi Tinel were 10^th and 11^th.

There were some great races among the old kids. One of the first involved 13/14 boys with Ray Crist taking first in the 50 free despite a Tarpon on his tail as well as Jack MacIsaac who took third, Owen Wassiliew who took fourth and Lucca Scott in fifth. Ethan Wendel was seventh and Ali Shafii was 10^th.

The Tarpon’s strongest age group was the girls 13/14. Despite the tough competition, Gabby Helf powered to fifth place followed by Caitlin Ryan in sixth and Alexa Crist in seventh. Naomi Seiberg took 9^th and Sarah Cobau was 11^th.

Next up were the 11/12 boys in the 50 free. Gideon Helf took first by a comfortable margin with Duncan Ryan in fourth, Cole Wassiliew in fifth, Damian Molineus in sixth and Ben Baisinger-Lee in 11^th.

On the girls 11/12 50 free, Shifra cruised to first with Evelyn Wassiliew in second, Cecily McArdle in fourth and Anna-Louise Cobau in 10^th.

In the 100 free, Jake Winter took first in 15/18 in 58.81 with Evan Steingass tied for third. Jack Blazes took sixth, Jonathan Rufino was ninth, Alex Butman was 11^th and James Cobau took 12^th.

With free style out of the way, the meet started to advance more quickly. Ray Crist, Jack MacIsaac and Owen Wassiliew took one to three in the 100 MI for 13/14 while Gabby Helf was the top female finisher in fourth.

The strong boys under -8 team swept 25 back with Charlie Conroy edging sibling Emmet Conroy by 1/100 of a second to win. Alex Spooner was close behind in third place. For the girls, Annie Kessner blocked a Tantera sweep with a third place finish.

The sweeping for the boys continued with 9/10 25 back. Meyer Eskin, Will Spooner and Jacob Seiberg took first to third.

The 9/10 girls were not about to be one upped by the boys and they took their own sweep with Darby LeFaivre, Ellas Scoott and Anahi Tinel in spots one to three.

For the 15/18 boys, Jake Winter took second and Jack Blazes was fourth. Bryna Steele and Kaili Gregory were fourth and fifth for the girls.

Gideon Helf, Andrew O’Brien and Damian Molineus took second through fourth in 50 back for 11/12. It was a close race between Andrew and Gideon with Gideon pulling away at the end.

It was not close for the girls. Katie MacIsaac cruised to a win with Evelyn Wassiliew in second and Cecily McArdle in sixth.

For the 13/14 boys, Ray Crist won with Jack MacIsaac in second. Gabby Helf took third for the girls with Naomi Seiberg in fourth. Jack Winter won in boys 15/18 with Katya Damskey the top girls with a third place finish.

In under 8 breast stroke, the eight and under boys sweep continued. James, Aidan and Martin Alvarez took first, second and third.  Caroline Jensen finished first for the under 8 girls.

In other breast stroke news, Meyer Eskin took first in boys 9/10, Maya Lall was second for girls 9/10,  Andrew O’Brien, Cole Wassiliew and Duncan Ryan swept for the boys 11/12 and Shifra Eskin and Katie MacIsaac took first and second for the 11/12 girls. Owen and Jack in 13/14 boys took first and second in 50 breast Alexa Crist as the top Dolphin on the girl’s side with a third place finish.  Jack Blazes took first for the 15/18 boys and Katya Damskey was second with Kaili Gregory in third.

This brought us to the last stroke of the meet, which is butterfly. Could the under 8 boys keep the streak alive? They came close with James LeFaivre and Aidan O’Brien taking first and second. But a Tarpon took third to ensure the streak did not live on.

In other fly news, Annie and Nadia were second and third for under 8 girls with Will Spooner winning for 9/10 boys with Jacob Seiberg in third and Max Kroloff in fourth. Darby, Maya and Sam MacIsaac took second, third and fourth for 9/10 girls. For boys 11/12 50 fly, Gideon took first with Andrew in third and Duncan in fourth.  Shifra, Evelyn and Katie swept spots one to three for the 11/12 girls.

There was another really close race for the boys 13/14 fly with Ray Crist edging out the win and Lucca Scott in third and Owen in fourth. Gabby was the top finisher for the girls with fourth place. For 15/18, Jack Winter took second for the boys and Katya was third for the girls.

One of the greatest events in kids sports is the 175 graduated relay. It is the only time you see big and little kids compete in the same event. And the amount of cheering for the 8 year olds in that final 25 meters is deafening.

On the boys side, the team of Meyer Eskin, Gideon Helf, Ray Crist and Aidan O’Brien won though they were less than two seconds ahead of the Dolphin team of Will Spooner, Andrew O’Brien, Jack McIsaac and James LeFaivre. That give the Dolphins a sweep of the boy’s event.

For the girls, it really did come down to the eight year old. Despite a strong swim at the end, the team of Darby LeFaivre, Shifra Eskin, Gabby Helf and Annie Kessner finished second. The Bannockburn team of Ella Scott, Katie MacIsaac, Caitlin Ryan and Nadia Lall was third.

Dog Food Wins Cake Wars

By Walter Tu Kold

Junior Dolphin Correspondent

Dolphin Times nearly called in the health department during Cake Wars: Year 2 on Friday night at the pool when we thought we heard the winning team declare that their secret ingredient was dog poop.

Thankfully it turned out to be dog food, which in this reporter’s view is a marginal improvement. Regardless, the winning team used the dog poop – err, dog food --  and the other ingredients to create a boat on the water.

Team Dog Food consisted of Katie, Zack, Jack, Ben, Allie and Caroline. They were extremely creative with the cake and the special ingredient.

The second place cake nearly flamed out. That’s right, the swimmers used their secret ingredient – which were noodles – to create a camp fire themed cake. There did not appear to be any dog poop involved in that cake. And fortunately it was not actually on fire.

That brings us to third place, which was a tie between theBannockburn Pool cake which had a cucumber as its secret ingredient and the martini cake which had an olive as the secret ingredient.

Other entrants included the monkey in the middle cake with cereal, the Candyland cake with Baloney, the Fields of Candy cake with corn, and the Candy Island cake with a radish.

The Bannockburn Dolphin coaches were the judges and Head Coach Malena delivered the verdict on all the cakes. A huge thank you to the many parent and swimmer volunteers who pulled off this event. We especially highlight Iron Baker Amy MacIsaac without whom this never would have occurred.

All Star Times Galore at First A Meet

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

The first meet of the season might as well have been called the All Star qualifier as the team swam numerous all star times. By way of background, Montgomery County Swim League establishes a time for each stroke/age group. If you beat that time, you have an all star time. And the fastest all star swimmers go to a special meet after divisionals.

All Star times were set by:

·      Ray Crist in 50 fly, 50 free;

·      Katya Damskey in 50 fly;

·      Meyer Eskin in 25 breast

·      Shifra Eskin in 50 breast, 50 fly;

·      Gideon Helf and 100 IM, 50 free, 50 back, 50 fly

·      Darby LeFaivre in 25 back;

·      Katie MacIsaac in 50 back;

·      Andrew O’Brien in 50 back, 50 breast;

·      Owen Wassiliew in 50 breast.

Dolphin Times commends all the swimmers on their All Star times. What a great start to the season.

Dolphin Times Editorial Policy

By Haydn the Dog

Editor in Chief

Dolphin Times has a policy of trying to spell every name correctly and get the names of as many kids as possible into each issue. That said, there are a lot of names, a lot of complicated spellings, we have tired fingers and eyes and the data base is not always correct that produces the names of the winner.

If you send us an email or tell us at the pool, we will correct the online edition ASAP if we make a mistake. We also welcome volunteer scribes so Doll Finn and Walter Too Kold can have a day off.

Starting with the next edition, we will have coverage of B meets. This coverage will primarily highlight those swimmers who show a 10% improvement in a time in a particular stroke. As a credit to the coaches, that is often a very big list.