Dolphin Times, Issue 4, Season 2015

Bannockburn Swim Team

Dolphin Times

Issue 4, 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 Guarantee Winning Season; Division H Title Remains Within Reach

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins beat Inverness on Saturday in rainy and cold meet that produced few fast times but showed just how strong this 2015 squad of swimmers can be.

The final score was 458.5 to 323.5, but the meet felt much closer than that.

The Dolphins remain in first place in Division H with a 3 and 0 record. North Chevy Chase and Merrimack remain in the way of a perfect season for Bannockburn. That ups the pressure on the team for the next two meets.

Of course, the team wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for some impressive swims in pretty dreadful conditions. We are talking about a cold rain that varied from a midst to a steady raid. And there was wind on top of that.

The story of every meet often comes down to a single race or performance. In this case, Ray Crist crushed his leg in the 175 meter boys relay, which not only put the boys in position to win the relay but also ensured the Dolphins would prevail at the meet. Ray started about 1/3 of a lane behind the Inverness swimmer but finished several body lengths ahead of him in just 50 meters. That let Charlie Conroy swim for the win for the relay, which also included Gideon Helf and Will Spooner. Meyer Eskin, Andrew O’Brien, Jack MacIsaac and James LeFaivre finished third.

The girls did not win their 175 relay, but swept second and third for six points. Darby LeFaivre, Katie MacIsaac, Gabby Helf and Annie Kessner took second while Ella Scott, Evelyn Wassiliew, Caitlin Ryan and Nadia Lall took third.

The Dolphins started the meet with Gideon Helf winning the 100 IM with Andrew O’Brien in fourth and Cole Wassiliew in sixth. Shifra Eskin took second for the girls 100 IM with Katie MacIsaac in fourth and Maya Lall in sixth.

Then the Dolphins really picked it up with wins in both 200 Medley Relays. Jeffrey Su, Jack Blazes, Evan Steingass and Vince Steis took first by almost 10 seconds. They beat the Bannockburn team of Jake Winter, Owen Wassiliew, Ethan Wendel and Jonathan Rufino. That team was nearly seven seconds ahead of the top Inverness team and was almost a minute faster than the other Inverness team.

The girls were just as dominant. Jessie Kline, Danielle Lair Ferrari, Katya Damskey, and Bryna Steele took first with the Dolphin team of Naomi Seiberg, Alexa Crist, Samantha Kline and Sarah Cobau in second. They beat the Inverness team by more than eight seconds.

So we knew at this point that the older kids were strong. But the Dolphin’s strength so far this season has been the under 8 and the 9/10. Those kids would often sweep all the top spots.

This meet proved a bit harder for the younger kids though there were still some great performances.

Charlie Conroy continued his winning ways in under 8 25 free. James LeFaivre, Aidan O’Brien, Zachary Kraus, Nicolas Molineus, and Aaron Kraus took spots four thru eight. Charlie and his brother Emmet Conroy battled it out in 25 back with Charlie getting the win and Emmet taking second. Alex Spooner was fourth.  The under 8 boys swept 25 breast with James LeFaivre, Charlie Conroy and Aidan O’Brien getting first to third. This is not an easy stroke for under 8 as witnessed by the fact that all three Inverness swimmers DQ’d. Fly was more competitive with Aidan getting second and James taking fourth.

On the under 8 girls side, Annie Kessner took second with Nadia Lall in fifth. Caroline Moeller was 8^th with Willow Boison in 10^th and Celia Noya in 11^th.  Annie was second in back with Hannah Warfield in fourth and Alisha Mink in sixth. Annie notched another win in 25 fly.

 9/10 has been the other strength of the team in the past two meets. Today, the competition was tougher. Will Spooner took second with Meyer Eskin in fourth, Jacob Seiberg in sixth, Max Kroloff in eighth, Constantine Molineus in ninth and William Kessner in 12^th. Will picked up another second in 25 back. For 25 breast, Meyer took first while in 25 fly Will took second.

The girls were strong in 9/10, providing a significant number of points for the team. Darby LeFaivre, Ella Scott and Maya Lall swept the top three spots in 50 free with Sam MacIsaac in fifth, Anahi Tinel in eighth and Teresa Romeu in 11^th.  Darby, Ella and Sam took first to third in 25 back while Maya and Ella were first and second in breast. Darby, Sam and Maya then swept the top three spots in 25 fly.

That left 11/12. Gideon Helf took first with Cole Wassiliew, Damian Molineus and Jack Burke in sixth to eighth. Finn Martin was 11^th.  Andrew O’Brien was second in back while Gideon won breast with Andrew in second and Cole in fifth.  Gideon also took first in 50 fly.

On the girl’s side, Shifra Eskin took third in 50 free with Katie MacIsaac and Evelyn Wassiliew in fifth and sixth. Anna-Louise Cobau, Lily Singh and Maddie Watson were 10^th, 11^th and 12^th.  Kathie took third in back while Shifra won the 50 breast with Katie in third. Shifra took second in fly.

The Dolphins started to dominate with the older ages.

Jack MacIsaac, Owen Wassiliew and Ray Crist took first to third in the 13/14 100 IM. Earlier, Ray Crist, Jack MacIsaac, and Owen Wassiliew took first to third in 50 free. Lucca Scott was fifth, Ethan Wendel was sixth, and Tyler Crist was eighth.  Jack, Ray and Owen swept first to third in 50 back while Owen and Jack took first and second in 50 breast.

Lucca Scott notched first place in 13/14 50 fly with Ethan Wendel in second and Ray Crist taking third.

On the girls 13/14 side, Gabby Helf was third in 50 free. Caitlin Ryan took fourth with Alexa Crist in sixth, Naomi Seiberg in eighth, and Sarah Cobau in ninth.  Gabby took third in the 100 IM and the 50 back with Naomi in fifth in back. Alexa, Caitlin and Sarah took second to fourth in 50 breast.  Gabby was second in 50 fly.

Jeffrey Su won the 100 Free for 15/18 with Evan Steingass in third, Jake Winter in fourth, Jonathan Rufino in sixth, Jack Blazes in seveth and Vince Steis in eighth. Jeffrey took first in 100 back with Jake in third and Jack in fourth. Jack won the 100 breast with Jonathan Rufino in third and Vince Steis in fourth.  Evan and Jeffrey took first and second in 50 fly.

For 15/18 girls, Jessie Kline, Bryna Steele, Danielle Lair Ferrari, Katya Damskey and Samantha Kline finished first through fifth in 100 free.  Jessie, Katya and Bryna swept first to third in 100 back while Jessie and Danielle took first and second in 100 breast. Katya, Danielle and Bryna swept first to third in 50 fly.

B Meet Produces Top Performances

By Walter Tu Kold

Junior Dolphin Reporter

The Dolphins swam up River Road this week for our annual B Meet against Sommerset.

While there were many terrific swims, we continue to give special recognition in Dolphin Times to those who showed a 10% improvement off their best prior time in an event.

Now we apologize in advance if the data are not perfect. We pull this report off of Team Unify, which is where all the meet information is stored. But there can be hiccups…..

Griffin Beronio dropped 6.69 second in 50 free while Luke Beronio took off 11.52 second in 25 back. Jack Burke improved by 8.25 seconds in 50 fly while Aaron Kraus dropped 2.42 seconds in 25 free. Kenneth Pender dropped 4.79 seconds in 25 free.

This was a slow pool with many swimmers having trouble making their seed times. This could be because of the heavy rain that fell as warm ups were starting or because many kids were still tired from camp.

In either case, we also wanted to highlight a few swimmers who got close to a 10% improvement. Daphne Abrams dropped 6.41 seconds in 50 free, Charles Conroy took off 2.57 seconds in 25 fly, Tessa Furlow dropped 6.31 seconds in 50 free, Anthony Noya dropped 4.56 seconds in 50 free, and Erin Pollack took off 2.79 seconds in 25 breast.

It was a great overall performance in the third B meet of the season. This reporter predicts the list of big improvers will be even bigger after next week’s Mohican B Meet, which is being held in the friendly confines of Bannockburn Swim Club.