The Virginia Run Riptide sent 12 teams to the Northern Virginia All-Star Relay Carnival held at Little Rocky Run on Wednesday night. Three Riptide Relay pool records were broken at the Divisional Meet to qualify for All Stars:
* 15-18 boys 200-meter medley relay: Andy Richardson, Brian Donohue, Paul Trampert, and Matt Anderson.
* 15-18 boys 200-meter free relay: Andy Richardson, Joey Angello, Matt Anderson, and Paul Trampert.
* 15-18 girls 200-meter free relay: Melissa Bartoletta, Nicole Higinbotham, Stasia Schlatter, and Mo Lace.
The Riptide faced a tough team in the Oakton Otters in their Division 2 dual meet on Saturday. Virginia Run held the lead after the freestyle, backstroke, and breastroke events but fell behind after the butterfly events. The Riptide was unable to regain the lead after the relays and lost the meet with a score of 188-205. The Virginia Run girls had five sweeps throughout the day. First, the Riptide trio of Nicole Higinbotham, Mo Lacy, and Melissa Bartoletta swept the 15-18 girls freestyle. Next, the 9-10 girls swept their backstroke event with the team of Maggie Blondin, Morgan Tweddle, and Meghan Heick. Then, the 13-14 girls swept backstroke as well with Marissa Coughlin, Marie Schlatter, and Erin O’Shaughnessy dominating the event. Also in backstroke, the 15-18 Riptide girls took all the points with Melissa J. Wiles, Stasia Schlatter, and Sarah Bartoletta. Lastly, the 8-and-under Virginia Run girls swept the 25-meter breastroke event with Erin Boyle, Elisabeth Arnold, and Erin Steen grabbing first, second, and third respectively.
Double-first-place winners for the Riptide were: Patrick Kearney, Erin Boyle, Tatiana Duchak, and Mo Lacey. Other first-place Riptide winners included: Kyle McGill, Joey Castro, Matthew Pisarcik, Matthew Glowacki, Paul Trampert, Brian Donohue, Maggie Blondin, Serena Emanuel, Nadia Podo, Marissa Coughlin, Melissa J. Wiles and Nicole Higinbotham.
The double-second-place winner for the Riptide was: Marie Schlatter. Other second-place winners included: Jack Clancy, Kyle McGill, Matthew Pisarcik, Matthew Anderson, Paul Trampert, Erin Steen, Elisabeth Arnold, Julie Ballschneider, Morgan Tweddle, Sierra Higinbotham, Marissa Coughlin, Melissa Bartoletta and Stasia Schlatter.
The double-third-place winner for Virginia Run was: Sarah Bartoletta. Other third-place point grabbers included: Jack Clancy, John Schmank, Brian Deely, Joey Castro, Matthew Glowacki, Timothy Kearney, Alex Boyle, Joey Angello, Matthew Anderson, Erin Steen, Serena Emanuel, Meghan Heick, Katelyn Rennyson, Jessica Sheftel, Erin O'Shaughnessy, Hannah Parcell, Nicole Higinbotham and Stasia Schlatter.
Before the relay events, Virginia Run honored four graduating Riptide swimmers: Stephen Anderson, Brian Donohue, Melissa Munse and Paul Trampert, Jr. Winning Riptide Relays Included:
* 8-and-under boys 100 meter free relay: Jack Clancy, Kyle Tennille, AJ Nieves, and Patrick Kearney.
* 8-and-under Girls 100 meter free relay: Erin Steen, Sarah Horgan, Elisabeth Arnold, and Erin Boyle.
* 15-18 girls 200 meter medley relay: Melissa J. Wiles, Nicole Higinbotham, Mo Lacy, and Stasia Schlatter.
* Mixed-age girls 200 meter free relay: Nadia Podo, Serena Emanuel, Tatiana Duchak, and Mo Lacy.
* This Saturday, the Riptide will travel to Arlington to compete with the Donaldson Run Thunderbolts in their final dual meet of the season.
Brookfield Breakers Win Relay Carnival & Remain Undefeated
The Brookfield Breakers finished first in the NVSL Division 9 Relay Carnival which was held on Wednesday, July 12. The Breakers edged out host team, Walden Glen, by 4 points in an exciting rain-delayed meet. The Brookfield 13-14 boys medley and freestyle teams of Nicholas Tremols, Christopher Shifflett, Jared Whitaker and Patrick Kenna won their events, as well as qualified for the NVSL All-Star Relay Carnival. Also the 15-18 boys medley team of William Tippie, Andy Tippie, Andy Whitman and Evan Nelson also qualified for All Stars. The 15-18 boys freestyle team of EJ Tremols, Evan Nelson, Andy Whitman and William Tippie finished first and earned All Star qualifying in their event as well. Both 15-18 boys relays broke Brookfield Swim Club records!
On Saturday, July 15th, the Breakers finished their final home meet of the season with a win over Walden Glen by a score of 210 to 192. Prior to the meet, Brookfield and Walden Glen shared first place in Division 9 as they were the only unbeaten teams. But the Breakers put an end to the Wahoos undefeated season when they pulled out the win. The Breakers had strong double first-place wins by Christopher Shifflett, Nina Tremols, Megan Silsby, Shannon Silsby, Nick Tremols, Evan Nelson and William Schulte. Breakers with single first-place wins were Christopher Laing, Monica Labine, Joe Miller, Andy Whitman, MaryKate Kenna, Claire Gardill, Stephanie Proctor, and in his final home meet as a Breaker, William Tippie. The strong Brookfield win was helped by several "sweeps". The boys 15-18 freestyle was won by William Tippie, followed by Andrew Whitman and EJ Tremols. In the 15-18 boys backstroke, Evan Nelson finishes first followed by Andy Tippie and John Parrell. The 9-10 girls breaststroke was won by Kelly Guerrero, followed by Kimberly Shifflett and Ava Saylor. The 11-12 boys butterfly was won by William Schulte, followed by Kieran Nelson and Vincent Ludden. The Breakers finish off their regular season on Saturday as they visit the Mantua Marlins in Fairfax. With one more win, the Brookfield Breakers can end the 2006 season undefeated and with another championship.
Aqua-Jets Edge Bluefins
The Chantilly National Bluefins, in their closest dual meet of the year, fell to the Ashburn Village Aqua-Jets 223 to 214 on Saturday at the Aqua Jets’ pool in Ashburn. The Bluefins fell to 0-4 for the season, while Ashburn Village improved their record to 1-3 in the Colonial Swimming League’s Red Division.
Three Bluefins scored first-place wins for Coach Nancy Monaghan’s Chantilly National team. Two of the three had record-setting swims — Carolina Ratcliff and Meghan Thompson. Ratcliff won first place in the 9-10 girls freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly, and broke the Chantilly breaststroke record with a winning time of 43.13. Thompson took first place in the same events in the 15-18 girls age group, and tied the Bluefin freestyle record with a 28.18 winning time. Julia Spinnenweber was the third Bluefin swimmer with three first-place swims, winning the 13-14 girls backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.
Georgia Ratcliff took home two first-place ribbons for the Bluefins, as she won the 11-12 girls freestyle and backstroke. Other Bluefins swimmers that won their races were Kathleen Monaghan, Kelly Botten, Stephanie Malm, and Kurtis Ratcliff.
Chantilly National won seven of the 12 team relay events, but could not overcome the scoring margin that the Aqua-Jets built in the individual races. The Bluefin teams of 8-and-under boys (Hayden Dux, Robert Sallberg, Brock Nelson, and Christopher Leo), 9-10 girls (Madeline Mason, Alexandra Sallberg, Carolina Ratcliff, and Delaney Elliott), 11-12 girls (Kelly Botten, Georgia Ratcliff, Whitney Symons, and Christine Rooney), 13-14 boys (Alex Botten, Charlie Keith, Kurtis Ratcliff, and Brian Keith), 13-14 girls(Virginia Ratcliff, Kristen Havrilla, Julia Spinnenweber, and Kathleen Monaghan), 15-18 girls (Caroline Burgess, Meghan Thompson, Stephanie Malm, and Hilary Sofastaii), and the girls mixed-age team (Georgia Ratcliff, Carolina Ratcliff, Kathleen Monaghan, and Meghan Thompson) all took home first-place ribbons.
The Bluefins will conclude the dual meet portion of the season on Saturday as they travel to Ashburn to take on the Ashburn Farm Barracudas.
***
Two Chantilly National Bluefin relay teams took first place honors in the Colonial Swimming League’s Relay Carnival on Sunday at the Sugarland Run pool in Sterling. The Burke Centre Penguins took team honors for the third straight year, edging the Franklin Farm Froggers.
The Bluefins finished in sixth place in the carnival, following teams from South Riding, Broadlands, and Chantilly Highlands.
The Chantilly National girls mixed age 200-yard freestyle team of Georgia Ratcliff, Carolina Ratcliff, Kathleen Monaghan, and Stephanie Malm won first place, edging second place Franklin Glen and third place Chantilly Highlands in a tightly contested heat.
The Bluefins' other win in the carnival came in the 9-10 girls 200-yard medley race. The team of Madeline Mason, Alexandra Sallberg, Carolina Ratcliff, and Delaney Elliott edged the South Riding team with a winning time of 1:09.13.
Chantilly National scored a second-place finish in the mixed sex 13-14 200-yard freestyle race. The Bluefins team of Alex Botten, Kristen Havrilla, Kathleen Monaghan, and Charlie Keith finished second to the Burke Centre Penguins. The Bluefins mixed-age, mixed sex 200-yard medley relay team of Kurtis Ratcliff, Georgia Ratcliff, Matt Horton, and Carolina Ratcliff took third place, finishing behind Broadlands and the Burke Centre Penguins. The Bluefins time of 2:04.51 established a team record.The Bluefins 13-14 boys 200-yard medley team of Will Greene, Charlie Keith, Kurtis Ratcliff, and Alex Botten took third place in their race, finishing behind Chase Club and the Burke Centre Penguins. Chantilly’s time of 1:59.64 was good enough to break their team record by nearly 10 seconds.
Sully Station edged out by Highland Swim
The Sully Station SST’s were edged out by the Highland Whomping Turtles this past Saturday in a tight NVSL Division Three Swim Meet. The morning air was thick with humidity and excitement as the SST’s fought hard but came up a bit short in the end. The final score was Highland Swim —208, Sully Station 194.
* Freestyle — The SST’s served notice early that they were there to compete. The 8-and-under boys made up of Matthew McPherson (1st Place), Collin Fiala (2nd Place) and Jared Bowen (3rd Place) swept the opening event. Holly Edwards took a third in the 8-and-under girls category and Craig Edwards took third in the 9-10 boys event. Sully Station then got a first and second place from Megan Hickey and Grace McKnight respectively. Bo Hartman contributed a first-place finish in the 11-12 boys freestyle and not to be outdone, Lexi Scoville, also took a first in the 11-12 girls freestyle event. Ali Hahn followed suit with a second place finish in the same event. Other notable contributions in the freestyle included a second-place finish by Jacob Humphrey, a second-place finish by Arianna Ahmadi (13-14 boys and girls) a third-place finish from Olivia McKnight, and a second-place finish by Tommy Calhoun. Sully Station also got a first-place finish by Kerry Hartman and a third-place finish from Samantha Woodell (15-18 girls). At the conclusion of the freestyle events, Highland led Sully Station 48 to 42.
* Backstroke — The SST’s got off on a positive note with a first place from Collin Fiala in the 8-and-under boys backstroke event. This was followed by a second-place finishes by Heather Herbstrit and Michael McPherson. For the fourth meet in a row, Zoe Hemmer took a first place but she was not alone as her teammate, Megan Humphrey took a second place in the 9-10 girls backstroke event. Bo Hartman has been consistent all season and executed his second first place finish of the day. The SST’s also got a lift from Megan McPherson, 2nd place, (11-12 girls), Allie Humphrey, 3rd place (11-12 girls), Jacob Humphrey, 2nd place (13-14 boys) and Cameron Blake, 2nd place (15-18 boys). With a strong first and second place finishes by Parisa Ahmadi and Melissa Witt in the 15-18 girls backstroke event, Sully Station had now squared the score at 90 all.
* Breast stroke — The strong showing by the girls in the final backstroke event cascaded into the opening breast stroke event as Ezikiel Bevan and Jared Bowen took first and second place for the 8-and-under boys. Strong finishes by the following swimmers kept the SST’s within 10 points at the end of the breast stroke event: Skyler White, 2nd place (9-10 boys), Zachary Tauscher, 3rd place (9-10 boys), Megan Hickey, 3rd place (9-10 girls), Brandon Fiala, 1st place (11-12 boys), Lexi Scoville, 2nd place (13-14 girls), CJ Fiala, 3rd place (13-14 boys), Arianna Ahmadi, 2nd place (13-14 girls), Tommy Calhoun, 2nd place (15-18 boys). Sisters Melissa and Stephanie Witt patted each other on the back as they gave their Sully Station team a first and third place finish in the 15-18 girls event.
* Butterfly — You could almost hear the Highland Swim fans mumbling ‘these SST’s just keep hanging around’ as the meet entered the Butterfly event. Second- and third-place finishes by Michael McPherson and Nick Grecco in the opening event confirmed that Sully Station was not going home without a concerted effort. The 9-10 girls followed suit with a first-place finish by Zoe Hemmer and a second-place finish by Grace McKnight. Brandon Fiala then contributed a key first-place finish in the 11-12 boys category and his counterparts in the girls category helped out as well with a 2nd place finish by Reagan Warrington and a third-place finish by Ali Hahn. CJ Fiala fought hard and took a first-place finish in the 13-14 boys event and Breanna Bartos helped out with a second-place contribution in the corresponding girl’s event. Samantha Wooddell and Parisa Ahmadi got the final points for the SST’s in the individual events with a first- and third-place finish respectively in the 15-18 girls butterfly event. The Sully Station swim team found themselves down by 14 going into the relays.
* Relays — The SST’s would need to take eight relays in order to put one in the win category for the week but in the end came up two short. However, the following relay teams did win their respective events:
* 8-and-under boys freestyle relay team formed by Ezekiel Bevan, Jarid Bowen, Matthew McPherson and Collin Fiala.
* 9-10 girls medley relay team consisting of Zoe Hemmer, Megan Hickey, Grace McKnight and Amanda Holt.
* 11-12 boys medley relay team comprised of Bo Hartman, Brandon Fiala, Michael Smith and Matt Wilson.
* 11-12 girls medley relay team represented by Megan McPherson, Ali Hahn, Reagan Warrington and Lexi Scoville.
* 15-18 girls medley relay team of Parisa Ahmadi, Melissa Witt, Samantha Woodell and Kerry Hartman.
* Mixed-age girls freestyle relay team made up of Lexi Scoville, Zoe Hemmer, Arianna Ahmadi and Kerry Hartman.
Sully Station hosts Wakefield Chapel in the final meet of the season. All Sully Station residents are encouraged to come out and support their community swim team this coming Saturday, July 22 at 9 a.m.
Little Rocky Run Swims at Vienna Aquatics
The Little Rocky Run Stingrays faced Vienna Aquatics on Saturday, July 15, but were disappointed in the end with a 224-178 loss. However there were lots of bright moments for the Stingrays, with many swimmers turning in personal best times. James Murphy (8-and-under boys freestyle) did not disappoint, taking first place and turning in a new record time of 15.72. In the 8-and-under boys backstroke he also took first place with a time of 19.92. He and teammates Alex Simmons and Billy Yost swept that event taking second and third places respectively. Patrick Goldammer had a first-place finish of 26.00 in the 8-and-under boys breaststroke, and Kevin Hagan swam to a first-place finish in the 9-10 boys freestyle. Ally Bedell claimed first place in the 8-and-under girls breaststroke (29.44), as did Shannon O’Donnell in the 9-10 girls breaststroke (44.53). Susie Lesniewski was the top finisher in the 13-14 girls freestyle (29.71), and Mo Hummel flew to the top in the 15 -18 girls butterfly (33.51). Several Stingrays turned in first place wins in double events. They include Kyle Marshall, 9 -10 boys backstroke (45.00) and butterfly (18.96); James Kintzing, 13-14 boys backstroke (34.32) and breaststroke (38.47), which, along with team mates John Alba (2nd) and Chris Fallon (3rd) was a sweep; Pat Stevens,15-18 boys freestyle (25.18) and butterfly (28.00); and Taylor Avery, 13-14 girls backstroke (34.82) and butterfly (32.93). The Stingrays won three of their relays: 8-and-under girls free relay – McCranie, Kurowski, Yost and Murphy (1:16.90); 9-10 boys medley relay – Hagan, Marshall, Guthrie and Danisewicz (1:19.79): and 11-12 girls medley relay – Marshall, Sykes, Hessler and McCranie (1:10.63). Earning second place points for the team were Alex Simmons, Kevin Hagan, Danny Meador, Jack Danisewicz, Michael Helme, Luke Paradis, Monica Lawrence, Elizabeth Murphy, Logan Ross, Rachel Avery, Susie Lesniewski, Stephanie Kelly and Dorin Methfessel. Third-place finishers included Billy Yost, Cole McCranie, Luke Guthrie, Clarke Pietruska, Ben Mason, John Alba, Bobby Kelly, Tyler Fisher, Brett Merker, Matthew Dietz, Kameron Daily, Logan Ross, Shannon O’Donnell, Collen Marshall, Katie Yost, Lauren Knoble, Celia Fuhrer, Mallie Lesniewski and Elyse Dietz.
Sequoia Falls One Relay Short
The lead went back and forth the entire morning, but at the end of the Colonial League meet between the Barrington Blue Fins and the Sequoia Farms Stingrays, the Stingrays couldn’t pull off the upset win. Unlike last week, the Sequoia team more than held its own during the individual events and went into the medley relays just slightly behind their opponents.
As the relays progressed the pattern continued, as the two teams traded event wins and losses, splitting the medleys 5-5. Finally, it came down to the last two events, the mixed-age freestyle relays. Sequoia pulled out a clutch win in the opening free relay to tie the meet, meaning that the very last event would decide the meet winner. This time the Sequoia Farms team came out on the short end of a 7-point loss, as the Stingrays were overpowered in the final event.
The girls’ winners in the medley relays were 13-14’s Rachel Berry, Gina Eberhart, Brooke Feichtl and Paige Swientisky. The Sequoia Farms boys came through with the following medley relay wins:
* 9-10 age team: Sean Bartro, Brian Chapman, Blake Feichtl, Conner Murphy.
* 11-12 team: Patrick Deegan, Brian Murphy, Carlo Paraggio, Will Steinhilber.
* 13-14 team: John Bounds, Chase Johnson, Alex Kuznetsov, Michael Martin.
* 15-18 team: Philip Eberhart, Chris Martin, Ivan Perilla, Mark Vaz.
* mixed-age freestyle team: Brian Chapman, Alex Kuznetsov, Chris Martin and Will Steinhilber.
Despite the heart-breaking result of this meet for the Stingrays, there was still much to cheer about. A long-standing backstroke record was broken by 8-and-under girls swimmer, Emma Lark. Emma is now a record holder in several 8-and-under events for the Stingrays. All of the swimmers continued to improve their strokes and their times, as the most experienced swimmers placed first in their events. Among the Sequoia Farms individual event winners:
* First-place finishers: Tara Cassens, Brooke Feichtl, Michael Martin and Will Steinhilber.
* Double-winners: Laura Bounds, Brian Chapman, Patrick Deegan and Chris Martin.
* Triple-winners: Alex Kuznetsov and Emma Lark.
Sequoia Farms swimmers also showed their speed and skill at the Colonial Swim League’s Sunday Relay Carnival. At this annual event, the Stingrays went up against the best in the entire league and turned in Top-10 showings in three relay events, with the teams of:
* Brian Chapman, Alex Kuznetsov, Chris Martin, Brian Murphy.
* Marissa Cassens, Tara Cassens, Alex Kuznetsov, Chris Martin.
* Philip Eberhart, Ivan Perilla, Chris Martin, Mark Vaz.
Sequoia’s Top-5 honor went to the mixed 9-10 freestyle relay team: Sean Bartro, Marissa Cassens, Brian Chapman, Hayley Seal.