Ryan Windus (Right) swims the 15-18 boys 50 meter breaststroke on Sunday. Windus won the race by over five seconds.
Sunday, July 26 at Westwood Country Club was not a usual swim meet. It was the All-Star meet, where the best of the best competed in a total of 48 individual events. The River Bend Golf and Country Club Swim Team had a great season already, remaining undefeated and winning their sixth Dominion Country Club League championship in a row in the process. River Bend had also won the League Relay Carnival earlier on Sunday, July 12, making it seven in row in that category for the team. Coach Mat Campet said that winning is not the team’s primary motivation, though. “The main thing we focus on is how much fun we have. We try not to focus on what’s a win and what’s a loss.” Campet also preached the importance of teamwork, as “we are only as great as our weakest link.”
River Bend had a great preliminary showing at the All-Star Qualifier meet the day before the All-Stars, on Saturday, setting two new league records. Eight-year-old Alyssa Webb broke a record that had stood for 13 years, swimming the 8U girls 25 meter freestyle in 16.46 seconds. Rising Langley High School senior Carter Bennett broke his own record of last year, swimming the 15-18 boys 50 meter freestyle in 23.86 seconds.
Alyssa Webb continued her dominance on Sunday, winning all three races she participated in: The 25 meter freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly. Sophia Ambrose and Haley Smith also took home first place victories at the meet.
On the boys’ side, Aiden Bond and Connor Smith each finished in first place in two events, while Will Koeppen and Ryan Windus each won a race, also. Suzanne Youngkin, whose son Thomas swam in the meet, commented on the thrill of all the day’s races, explaining that “by the time they’ve narrowed the field down to six [swimmers], every single race is very exciting and close.”
Ryan Windus’s mom, Jennifer, whose husband Robert was the meet referee, said that swimming is such a wonderful sport because “they’re all a big family,” and “they can be arch rivals when they’re swimming against each other, but at the end of the meet, they’re all friends again.”