Siena Shannon of Lake Newport goes all out in the girls' 13-14, 50- meter butterfly. In one of the biggest surprises of the day, Lake Newport defeated defending co-champion Lake Audubon. Photo/Courtesy RSTA
Reston — The sun shined brightly last Saturday morning as hundred of swimmers gathered for the first meet of the Reston Swim Team Association's (RSTA) fortieth season. And while the first meet brings back old friends and introduces new swimmers to the joy of the ‘summer season,’ for those that have been associated with RSTA for any length of time this season opened with a bitter sweet feeling because an ‘old friend’ wasn't there to share the good times.
Kim Klarman, past president of RSTA, who was involved with the league in some way, shape or form for 18 years, died last February.
"Kim embodied everything that we in the league strive for," said Gail Romansky, close friend of Kim's and current president. "She reveled in the way that the league brought kids together - not just for a good time but for the lifelong lessons that it taught - teamwork, good sportsmanship and compassion. She was truly an inspiration to the board members, team managers of RSTA and to the swimmers as well. She is sorely missed, but I believe she would be proud of the way we have carried on without her."
Against this backdrop, a moment of silence was held for Kim at each of the RSTA meets immediately preceding the playing of the National Anthem. Following that, the season began - with the focus exactly where Kim would have wanted it; on the swimmers.
HIGHLIGHTS from last Saturday's meets included the following records being set. For Glade, Emily Landeryou broke a record that had stood for more than a decade. In the girls 11-12, 50-meter butterfly, her time of 31.55 bested a time of 32.02 that was set by former South Lakes High standout Mei Christensen back in 2001. For Lake Newport, Anna Redican's 50-backstroke time of 39.32 in girls' 9-10 bested the record of 40.00 that was set by Carolyn Kristo back in 1997. For Newbridge, Ryan Ha set two individual records. In the boys 11-12 freestyle, his time of 29.19 easily outpaced the old mark of 30.12 set by Myles O'Keefe in 1999; and in the boys 11-12 breaststroke, his time of 37.92 outpaced the mark of 38.34 set by Kyle Standiford in 2001. Finally, Rachel Swarts of North Hills continued her assault on the record books in the girls' 15-18 butterfly with a time of 31.63, beating her old record of 31.80 set last year.
Scores of Saturday's meets and multiple event winners follow.
North Hills Hurricanes 593, Autumnwood Piranhas 388: For North Hills, triple event winners were Lucas Abousleiman, Courtner Clark, Ryan Luczak, Joseph Sciortino, Rachel Swarts and Miles Yang. Double event winners were Alexander Boelcskevy, Michelle Boone, Ilayda Boucher, Katie Cazenas, Emily Deker, Nicole Flint, Ishan Ganjoo, Lindsey Hill, Benjamin Livaudais and Julian Pardo.
Autumnwood's triple event winner was Diya Murthy. Double event winners were Joanie Belo, Haley Brazier, Michael Hellstern, Anne Kennedy and Kalista Majoros.
Lake Newport Lightning 571, Lake Audubon Barracudas 527: For Lake Newport, triple event winners were Jack Edgemond, Christina George, Alexander Liu, Anna Redican, Emi Redican, Deja Rothschild, Siena Shannon, Meghna Sharma and Avery Wauben. Double event winners were Alina Shannon, Andrew Shedlock, Casey Storch and Omar Zaki.
Lake Audubon's triple event winner was Sabrina Groves. Double event winners were Brian Ball, Madeline Bennett, Elizabeth Crump, Matt Crump, Augusta Durham, Catherine Evans, Winston Evans, Dean Huber, John Hughes, Conor McBride, Bryce Onozuka and Aidan Scanlan.
Ridge Heights Sharks 505, Glade Gators 467: For Ridge Heights, triple event winners were Kati Imel, Emily Sennett and Hailey Wang. Double event winners were Jared Decker, Harrison Hughes, Shannon Murry, Mac Sogandares, Paige Sogandares, Rory Stobie, Aaron Wang and Maggie With.
For Glade, triple event winners were Hunter Ellis, Tyler Ellis, Andrew Huang, Emily Landeryou, Sophia Landeryou and Yangian Xu. Double event winners were Meghan Benedetto, Noah DiLisio, Mackenzie Evans, Aaron Letteri, Joseph Letteri, Webb Nims, Noah Smith and Jack Thomas.
Newbridge Dolphins 553, Hunters Woods Blue Marlins 493: For Newbridge, triple event winners were Stephen Baldwin, Niki Chava, Eric Compton, Ryan Ha and Jocelyn Wulf. Double event winners were Elise Baldwin, Celia Compton, Emma Grossback, Adam Hvitfeldt-Matthews, David Joyner, Ian Meikle and Taylor Panneck.
For Hunters Woods, triple event winners were Kathryn Evans, Philip Pan, Zack Peng, Ashley Thai, Ashley Turner and Isabella Wnek. Double event winners were Greg Blanpied, Nolan Dunkel, Christopher Jiang, Daniel Li, Shine Peng, Eric Tang, Victoria Thai and Joseph Wang.