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.......