Dolphin Times

Issue 3, Season 2016

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Amazing 175 Boys Relay Highlight of Daleview Meet

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

Now that is what summer swimming is all about.

In one of the most exciting races of the 2016 season, the boys A relay team on Saturday topped Daleview in an event in which Daleview went out with a big lead, lost it, and then nearly regained it in the last few meters.

The pool was ringed with swimmers already when Charlie Conroy dived in. Daleview is very strong in 9/10, but Charlie kept close enough so that Andrew O’Brien in the second leg was able to pull even before hitting the wall.

That unleashed Gideon Helf, who powered to a lead to give Rowan Conroy some breathing room in the final 25. Rowan powered through that 25 but Daleview has a very fast under 8 who really shrunk that lead.

Rowan, however, never slowed and was able to out touch Daleview to give Bannockburn the win.

The pool was alive during this swim with both team screaming and cheering their swimmers on. It was quite a spectacle and a reminder of what makes summer swimming so great.

The final score of the meet, however, was not as exciting for the Dolphins. The team lost 367 to 422.

The meet looked close early on. Andrew O’Brien and Eskin Meyer took second and fourth in the 100 IM while Sophie Duncan and Valerie Mello went first and second for the girls. 

Then the relay of Jake Winter, Owen Wassiliew, Jeffrey Su and Ray Crist won the 200 Medley relay by more than five seconds.

It was in the girls 200 medley relay where the strength of the Daleview team was on display. The Feet took first and second despite strong swims from Jessy Kline, Danielle Lair-Ferrari, Katya Damskey and Bryna Steele in team A and Gabby Helf, Alexa Crist, Maya Lall and Ella Scott for Team B.

And that was the story for much of the rest of the meet. There were some very strong Dolphin swims but the Daleview team just had more kids in each event scoring points. That difference was even clearer in the second half of the meet.

Some top swims for the Dolphins included Rowan Conroy winning in the under 8 25 free, Nadia Lall and Alisha Mink taking second and third in the under 25 free for girls. Darby LeFaivre won for 9/10 girls in the 50 free while Gideon Helf took first, Lucca Scott third and Duncan Ryan fourth in the 13/14 boys 50 free. 

Shifra Eskin took third in the 13/14 girls 50 free while Andrew O’Brien took first in the boys 11/12 50 free.

Those strong 11/12 girls powered to first and second in 50 free with Valerie Mello taking first and Sophie Duncan getting second. 

In 15/18 boys, Jeffrey Su just keeps winning in the 100 free with Ray Crist in second and Jack MacIsaac in fourth and Owen Wassiliew in fifth and Jonathan Rufino in sixth. Alex Butman was ninth. This continues to be the strongest and deepest age group for the Dolphins.

The 13/14 100 IM is clearly a strong event for the Dolphins. Gideon Helf won for the boys and Shifra Eskin took first for the girls. Rowan Conroy continued his winning ways in the under 8 25 back while Charlie Conroy took first in the boys 9/10 50 back. Both dropped time.

Darby LeFaivre also shows no signs of slowing. She won the girls 9/10 25 back and dropped time. 

Andrew O’Brien won the 11/12 50 back in 34.0 seconds. He has crept within 0.37 second of the team and pool records, which are held by Jeffrey Su. 

Some records did fall. Sophie Duncan set the team and pool record for girls 11/12 50 back with a 33.45, which was good enough for the win. Then just a few events later she came back with a 32.40 in the girls 11/12 50 fly to win and set both a team and pool record. 

Lucca Scott continues to show he is a point getter with first in the boys 13/14 50 back. Liam Gilbert-Lawrence took fourth.

There was a nice one-two-three finish for Bannockburn in the boys 15/18 100 IM with Jeffrey Su, Jake Winter and Jonathan Rufino all finishing comfortably ahead of their Daleview rivals.

Yet at the end of the day, there were simply too many events where Daleview had three really strong swimmers. For instance, Andrew O’Brien won in boys 11/12 50 fly. But Cole Wassiliew and Jacob Seiberg were fifth and sixth simply because Daleview had three fast kids in the event.

The same thing was true with the girls where Darby LeFaivre won the girls 9/10 25 fly in 17.6 seconds. Yet Daleview had three girls who would swim it in between 22 and 23 seconds, which is still very fast. That left fifth and sixth to Celia Noya and Caroline Moeller.

Despite the loss, Head Coach Malena was heard at the end of the meet expressing satisfaction at how well Bannockburn swam and over the number of kids who managed to drop time despite the strong competition.

BBQ Speeds Up Dolphins at Carderock B Meet

By Walter Tu Kold

Dolphin Correspondent

Apparently all that BBQ didn’t slow down Dolphin swimmers at the B meet on June 22 against Carderock.

Dolphin swimmers were seen devouring tons of beef, chicken and pork as well as mac and cheese, potato salad, corn bread and baked beans before, during and after the swim meet.

Now in this reporter’s experience, this is great food for watching swim meets. But we never realized it was also just what Dolphin swimmers need to post some impressive time improvements.

There were at least 20 swimmers who posted at least a 5% time improvement in at least one stroke.

Our highlight swimmer of the meet goes to Colleen Zeugin who impressively managed to improve her 13/14 50 back and 50 breast by an identical 6.11% This is a daily double that is almost impossible to achieve.

Gabriel Alvarez improved his under 8 back by 8.02%, Martin Alvarez boosted his under 8 breast by 8.85%, and Graham Boison bested his under 8 25 free by 6.96%. Then there was Willow Boison who beat her under 8 25 free by 5.3%, Caroline Conroy topped her under 8 25 free by 9.98% and Kiichi Funatsu beat his under 8 25 free by 17.55%.

The big improvements did not stop there.

Zachary Kraus topped his 9/10 50 free time by 10.76% while Max Kroloff beat his 25 back time by 10.99% and Sawyer Makl improved his 9/10 50 free by 7.23%. Caroline Moeller bettered her 9/10 fly by 10.07%, Antonia Molineus bested her under 8 free by 12.14%, and Anthony Noya by improved his 12 and under 100 IM by 5.53%.

Gabriela Noya boosted her under 8 25 back by 11.09%, Charles Penn improved his under 8 25 fly by 13.92%, Samuel Penn bested his 9/10 breast stroke by 6.36% and Tobias Saberi improved his under 25 free by 8.01%.

Then there was Zakariya Saberi who improved his under 8 25 breast by 16.41%. Ali Shafii bested his 13/14 50 breast stroke 6.28%, Samuel Smith topped his 9/10 fly by 6.72% and Colleen Zeugin bettered her 13/14 50 back by 6.11% and her 50 breast by 6.11%.

One point from the meet. There were some substantial corrections to the list of swimmers who disqualified, especially related to breast stroke. Check the updated results on the Bannockburn Swim Team website.

Editorial

Dolphin Gear Fits All Sizes, Including Dogs 

By Tucker the Dog

Editor in Chief

There is nothing like Dolphin spirit to motivate the team to victory. That is why this dog is urging swimmer and parents to stock up on the latest Dolphin gear. There are shirts, sweats, pants, shorts, hats and swim caps. Come look at the options at home meets and at some of the social activities. This dog can attest that the swim caps are great for all occasions. They are not just for swimming anymore.

Pictures from the A meet against Daleview.......

Dolphin Times

Issue 2, Season 2016

Please share with your swimmer!

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Bannockburn Looks Good Despite Little Falls Loss

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins fell Saturday to Little Falls in the first A meet of the 2016 season.

The loss was the first for the Dolphins since the 2014 season and is reflective of the tougher competition the team is likely to face now that it has moved up to Division G.

By way of background, MCSL reseeds the division at the end of each season based on the performance of the top three swimmers from each team in each event. It does not account for swimmers who may age up to a new age group or who may leave the team. The goal is to create competitive equality in each division though it doesn’t always work out that way.

As this correspondent views the results, there are some performances worth flagging that suggest this team will become stronger and more competitive as the season advances.

It seems clear that the boys 15/18 will be a strength of the team. Jake Winter, Owen Wassiliew, Jeffrey Su and Ray Crist cruised to victory in the 200 Medley relay by nearly five seconds ahead of the Little Falls team.

The boys 9/10 also will be a source of points. In 50 free, a Little Falls swimmer took first. But Dolphin’s James LeFaivre, Max Kroloff, Aaron Kraus and Sam Smith were second to fifth with Aidan O’Brien in seventh.

The first individual win in an A meet for the 2016 season goes to Darby LeFaivre, who took first in 9/10 free by almost seven seconds. Sarah Selfridge was fourth, Lauren Faulkender was sixth and Madeline Mello was seventh. Caroline Moeller and Shelby Carter were 10^th and 11^th.

Gideon Helf was the first boy to win an individual event with a 0.28 second win in the 13/14 50 free. Lucca Scott took third, Hisham Shami was fourth and Duncan Ryan was fifth. Ali Shafi took 9^th and Liam Gilbert-Lawrence was 10^th.

In the 8 and unders, Cole Wrege and Jackson Mello were second and third in 25 back. For the girls, Eva Peterson took second with Willow Boison in fourth and Alisha Mink in fifth.

Sticking with the under 8 girls, breast stroke is another source of points for the team. Nadia Lall took first while Willow Boison was second and Catherine Faulkender was third. That all three girls swam legal is notable as the judging was tough as all three Little Fall swimmers were disqualified.

Dolphins Better Times at Mars v. Venus

By Flip Turn,

Junior Dolphin Correspondent

The annual Mars v. Venus meet lived up to expectation with some intense races and some impressive time improvements from the time trials meet just four days earlier.

The biggest time improvements go to Anthony Noya and Magnus Jensen. Anthony bested his 50 free time by 30.15% while Magnus beat her under 8 25 free by 20.13%.  That meant her new time was 8.29 second faster than her time trial time.

Magnus wasn’t alone in improvements. Those who beat their time trail time by at least 5% include Carter Shelby in 9/10 free, Caroline Conroy in under 8 25 free, Alex Genereux under 8 25 back and 25 free and Danielle Lair Ferrari in 15/18 100 IM.

Dennis Leary bested his under 8 25 free time by 8.84% while Henry McCarthy beat his under 8 25 back by 12.27%. John McCarthy was 10.37% better in under 8 25 back.

Madeline Mello improved 6.7% in her 9/10 25 back while Gabriela Noya bested her under 8 25 free time by 9.33%. Charlie Penn was 9.41% better in his under 8 25 back stroke and 9.41% better in 25 breast.  Samuel Penn improved 9.32% in 9/10 50 free, Jonathan Rufino bested 50 fly time for 15/18 by 6.77%, and Zakariya Saberi was 14.42% better in 25 back.

Lucca Scott was 10.7% better in 13/14 50 breast stroke and 5.02% in 50 fly.  Samuel Smith dropped 5.11% in 9/10 25 back, Margaret Southworth took  11.81% off in 9/10 50 free, Cole Wrege dropped 14.26% off his under 8 25 back and 5.22% off his 25 free,  and Elizabeth Wrege dropped 6.42% off her under 8 25 free.

First President Comes in First

By Flip Turn,

Junior Dolphin Correspondent

George Washington wasn’t just the first president and the key general during the Revolutionary War.

He also won Cake Wars: the Second Edition.

While Dolphin Times accidentally went to Georgetown Cupcake rather than the pool, we did get reports directly from our top secret source who goes by the code name Cead Hoach Alenam.

This is from our source:

“George Washington won best over all. Ella Scott's — which was a dolphin diving out of the ocean — won best use of the secret ingredient. And pizza won most creative.”

Pictures are either below if you read this on the blog or are at https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1300036524628175829#allposts/postNum=0.

Dolphin Times

Issue 1, Season 2016

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Bring on the Points!

Dolphins Likely to Field Swimmers in All Lanes

By Tucker the Dog

Editor in Chief

Things are looking good for the Bannockburn Dolphins.

Massive turnout for time trials shows that the 2016 team has not just some really fast swimmers, but also more than enough teammates to fill all the lanes at each Saturday’s A meet. That is important as the easiest way to lose a swim meet is for a team to lack enough kids to fill all the lanes at the A meets.

Every single age group had at least three swimmers in it, including the 15 to 18 year old category which is often the toughest to fill. And it appears there will be at least six kids available in each age group for free style as well. Free is the only event where six kids — rather than three from each team — compete.

On the boys side for 15 to 18, there was Jeffrey Su slicing through the water with Ray Crist and Owen Wassiliew on his heels. Jack MacIsaac, Jonathan Rufino and Alex Butman were close behind.

For the 15 to 18 girls, Jessy Kline took first with Bryna Steele close behind. Danielle Lair-Ferrari was third, Gabby Helf was fourth and Katya Damskey was fifth. While only five swam, the Dolphin Times has heard from sources that Alexa Crist and Urban Seiberg may be available to fill that lane.

Speaking of the 15 to 18 year olds, it is impressive how so many them either are coaches or life guards at the pool. In fact, the odds will always be on your side if you see a 15 to 18 year old swim teamer that they coach or life guard.

Now this editor in chief is only two years old — but please don’t call me a puppy as I am a mature two year old dog — but we have heard from others that this group has pretty much been together since starting as under 8s. 

It is really impressive to see so many of these kids stick with swimming and with the team. These older kids seem to know how to enjoy swim team and the pool-based friendships that are created.

Okay, this dog got distracted from his story. Again, what do you expect when you turn over control of the Dolphin Times to a dog? Be thankful a rabbit doesn’t run by or this issue might never get published.

So as I was writing before the tangent, points are awarded for every spot but last in the A meets. That means if a team sweeps the top three spots, then they get 6 points for first, four for second and three for third. That makes for 13 points.

Yet what really matters is how many points the team nets off the event because fourth is worth 2 points and fifth is worth 1 point.

As a result, the team that can fill all the lanes can reduce the value of the other team sweeping that event by 23%. 

Of course, the real key to success is finishing in the top 3 spots in as many events as possible. Unfortunately, that is also the goal for the other team and it does appear that there will be many strong swimmers in those other lanes.

That said, a quick Dolphin analysis of the results suggests Bannockburn might be more competitive this season than the Las Vegas casinos are suggesting. While we understand that some prop bets will pay out five to one if the Dolphins repeat as Divisional champs, we see the data as more promising. The Dolphins have three home A meets this season, which means we are seeded at the top of the division. And we know how well Bannockburn Dolphins can do in their home waters.

This is one reason why a team tradition is to dump a bottle of Bannockburn pool water into the opposing team’s pool to bring us some of the Bannockburn Swim Club good fortune in that day’s competition.

All this will be put to the test on June 18. The list of A meet swimmers for the event should appear on the pool bulletin board on Thursday, June 16. 

As a public service announcement, it is incumbent on swimmers and their families to let the coaches know if you cannot participate in the A meet. There are rules which severely limit last minute substitutes for A meets. So the failure to let the coach know likely means that lane will be empty, which means the team will lose points.

Strong Under 8 Dolphin Showing at Time Trials

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

Scores of Dolphin swimmers returned to the Bannockburn Swim Club on Saturday for time trials, which is the official start of the 2016 swim season.

This correspondent was overwhelmed by the turnout, which featured a heavy response from the under 8 crowd with 18 boys and 13 girls swimming the 25 free. Even more impressively, nine boys and 6 girls braved the 25 fly, which is a challenging stroke for that age group so early in the season.

There were several legal swims by the under 8s in the tough strokes. Nadia Lall finished first in the 25 free, 25 breast stroke, 25 back and 25 back and 25 free. She appears to be the leader of the under 8 girls heading into Mars. v. Venus on Wednesday.

She wasn’t alone with legal swims. Eva Peterson finished second in back while Willow Boison finished third and Alisha Mink was fourth. Amelia Claud took fifth fastest with Leila Ackil in sixth, Caroline Conroy in seventh, Alex Generux in eighth, and Gabriela Noya in 9th. Eleanor Synder also braved the 25 back.

For the under 8s in breast stroke, Amelia took second with a legal time. What is even more important is that most of the other girls got to practice the stroke even if they were not legal for the meet. This includes Eva, Eleanor, Kyla, Alisha, Alex and Caroline.

On the boys side for under 8, there was a close race for fastest time with Rowan Conroy topping Charlie Penn by just over half a second. The race for third was even closer as Martin Alvarez had a 24.63 while Jackson Mello clocked at 24.80. We are pretty sure head coach Malena cannot even blink that fast.

Theo Zobrist took fifth with Cole Wrege in sixth, Zaki Saberi in seventh, Tate Flowers in eighth, Keller Oneil in ninth, Charlie McCarthy in 10th, Mark Leary in 11th, Hamilton Baker in 12th and Kenneth Pender in 13th. Hamilton edges out Kenneth by 19/100th of a second. Magnus Jenson took 14th, Tobi Saberi was 15th, Faris Afas was 16th, Henry McCarthy took 17th and Dennis Leary was 18th. All were legal swims.

We even had 11 under 8 boys with legal backstrokes, which is very promising for the season. These include Rowan, Charlie Penn, Jackson, Theo, Cole, Charlie McCarthy, Zaki, Keller, Hamilton, Henry and Magnus.

Charlie M, Charlie P and Zaki all swam legal 25 breast strokes with Charlie M. taking first. Charlie Penn swam a legal fly.

While we will have much more coverage of the 9/10, 11/12 and 13/14 age groups in future editions, we wanted to highlight some strong performances. 

Valerie Mello established herself as a strong Dolphin right off the bat, finishing first in the100 IM. Darby LeFaivre, Maya Lall and Sam Macisaac were second, third and fourth. This looks to be a strong group of swimmers.

For the boys in 100 IM, Meyer Eskin got the first official time of the 2016 season by winning the event. Charlie Conroy and Jacob Seiberg were second and third with Andrew Selfridge taking fourth.

In the 9/10 free, Aaron Kraus, Charlie Conroy and Max Kroloff are going to be pushing each other hard all season as they finished within 0.35 seconds of each other. On the girls side, it was not as close with Darby taking first Sarah Selfridge was second, Madeline Mello was third and Shelby Carter took fourth.

In 11/12 50 free, Meyer Eskin easily took first with Jacob Seiberg edging out Constantine Molineus for third.

Valerie Mello was first for the girls with a strong win. Ella Scott and Maya Lall battled for second with Ella winning by 0.13 seconds. Sam MacIsaac was fourth and Anahi Tinel was fifth.

Gideon Helf took first in 13/14 boys 50 free with Lucca Scott in a strong second and Duncan Ryan not too far behind in third. Liam Gilbert-Lawrence was fourth and Damian Molineus was fifth. This appears to be a speedy bunch of boys.

Shifra Eskin won for the girls in 13/14 with Katie MacIsaac in second and Colleen Zeugin in third. From the swim, it looks like these girls will have another great season.

With such an impressive turnout by all the swimmers, we are sure this is going to be a very bright season.

Mars v. Venus on Wednesday Chance for More Times

By Walter Tu Kold

Dolphin Correspondent

For those swimmers who could not make time trials, all hope is not lost.

Mars v. Venus provides another opportunity for swimmers to get a qualifying time for coaches to look at when putting the line up together for the June 18 A meet v. Little Falls. 

And who doesn’t like swimming at Little Falls? Last time we competed there they had fresh baked cookies. We also seem to recall the sale of coffee, which is always coveted by this grizzled reporter veteran of many swim meets.

Dolphin Times Correction and Publication Policy

By Tucker the Dog

Editor in Chief 

As a dog edits the Dolphin Times, there are bound to be mistakes. Our paws will occasionally transpose letters or make other mistakes with names. We also rely on the Team Unify data base for spellings and the data. 

We recognize that many kids have nicknames, but we typically will use the formal spelling that is in Team Unify as there are nearly 150 kids on the team and this dog cannot recall that many nicknames.

We will fix any error as quickly as possible for the online version that is kept at http://bannockburnswimteam.blogspot.com. 

Our goal is to get the names of as many swimmers as possible in each issue. That said, we don’t guarantee anything. This is a volunteer newspaper and sometimes we just lack the resources to give everything wall to wall coverage. Or we decide to take midday naps instead.

This is why the Dolphin Times always welcomes special contributors who would like to write occasional — or very frequent — articles for each edition. Just email Tucker the Dog at tuckerthedogseiberg@yahoo.com.

Our typical publication schedule is to go to print on the Monday after each A meet. This will include coverage as well from the prior week’s B meet. Occasionally we will print more than one issue in a week. And we try to include photos, especially for the version kept on line.

Please share the email with your swimmers as only parents are listed on the official email system for the swim team. We also do post this on the pool bulletin board. 

As always, Go Dolphins!