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.