NVSL News

The Chesterbrook-Overlee ”duel” meet on Saturday is going to be a clash of the Titans. Saturday will be the best dual meet of the season as the top two teams in the league face off. To break down the meet, NVSL News has used Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior format.

Chesterbrook: Ninja, a disciplined warrior that uses both agility and strength.  When facing their most common enemy, the Samurai, a Ninja must rely on intellect and strength.  A Ninja always has countless tricks up their sleeve (putting 13 year old Alston Offutt in the Senior Breast) and knows how to create illusions and diversions that distract the enemy (Chesterbrook Seniors always have an awesome cheering section as well as pre-meet skit). A Ninja also knows what it means to be the underdog in a fight (Joe Viola has coached countless Gonzaga teams to WMPSSDL Championship victories despite being predicted to lose by 30 points or more).  As seasoned warriors, Ninjas rely on their plethora of weapons (age group swimmers). Look for Chesterbrook to be both nimble and stealthy.

Overlee:  Spartan, another disciplined warrior with a long culture and history of dominance (Overlee has competed in Division 1 since the beginning of the NVSL).  Spartans wear their integrity on their shields and rely on their comrades when going into battle (Overlee will need to rely on all their swimmers tomorrow in order to take the triple crown). Spartan weapons are simple, yet effective (see the Overlee “WALL” that 8 & Unders must start from).  Spartans are also known for their resilience when in battle (0-5 season in 2003; followed 3 years later by a 5-0 season in 2006).  Look for Overlee to rely on its culture of winning and simple strengths tomorrow against Chesterbrook.

The Ninja vs. Spartan match up on Saturday will be intense, with the winner taking home the Division 1 Crown.  May the best warrior win.

Overlee Head Coach Joan Mountain and Chesterbrook Head Coach Joe Viola seen canoodling on Wednesday.

Arlington Forest Head Coach and former NVSL record holder, Alex Leach, lets us know what him and his team are up to in Division 11. As well as what to watch for in the Chesterbrook Overlee meet.

Correction: Stephen Lee-Kramer and Tyler Gehrs swam the 10 and under leg of the mixed age relay for Chesterbrook and Overlee respectively. There is no 8 and under leg.

Swimmer Greg Crosswell of Donaldson Run talks to us about the 33 year old team record he broke, while Katie Radloff compares NCAAs to All Star Relays, and Katy Hinkle gives us some information about DRRA and her awesome colored shirt.

Note: The Donaldson Run 15-18 girls 200m freestyle record is a NVSL record held by Katie Radloff, Katy Hinkle, Ellen Boryan, and Kristin Beales with a time of 1:51.22

Special thanks goes out to Jack Storrs and Jack Brown for helping us set up the interviews.

NVSL swimming… a family affair. Yesterday we caught up with the 11-12 boys relay from Sideburn Run at Springoard’s pool familiarization. Note: Their freestyle race is one of our “Top 11 Races to Watch at All-Star Relays”.

Then we ventured over to Dunn Loring, a strong up and coming team in Vienna, and talked to some swimmers and their assistant coach.

We caught up with NVSL Alumna Breanne Smith at Highlands on Saturday. She shares some memories, as well as some predictions.

After dropping down to Division 2 in 2006 and falling off the upper echelon of NVSL swimming, the Tuckahoe Tigers are clawing their way back to the top.  Led by head coach Jesse Nielsen, Tuckahoe has dominated its dual meet season thus far and recently took home the Division 2 Relay Carnival Crown (the D2RCC) on Wednesday night.  Heading into All Star Relays, Tuckahoe should feel confident about its upcoming performance considering that 14 out of its 22 relays made the meet and 10 are top 6 seeds. With its oustanding performance so far, look for Tuckahoe to score in the top 4 at All-Star Relays and make a jump to Division 1 next season.  

A quick tip for 8 & Unders on Tuckahoe’s opposing teams: don’t be fooled by Coach Jesse’s free donut stand!

We hunted down Tuckahoe swimmer and recent Olympic Trials qualifier Eva Greene after lunch yesterday for a quick interview.

The second Saturday of the 2009 NVSL season brought about another NVSL record by Janet Hu, as well as a few exciting meets.  Janet Hu went a 29.77 in the 13-14 girls 50 meter backstroke, crushing Eva Greene’s record of 30.59.   After her NAG records, seriously, how much faster can Janet Hu get!?  Her going 29.77 is almost as awesome as watching Lebron do a back two and a half with one and a half twist off the 10 meter!  Breaking 30 seconds in the 50 back is a decent benchmark for a 15-18 guy, and Hu is breaking 30 seconds as a 13 year old girl while teetering on the senior boys backstroke All-Star cut.  Not to mention, Hu also bested the senior girls 50 backstroke record (29.87).  Janet Hu’s performance last Saturday earned her “On The Top’s MVP of the Week”.  Following in Hu’s footsteps is Sinead Eksteen.  Eksteen dropped two tenths in her 25 back to put her .14 seconds off of Hu’s 8 & Under girls 25 meter NVSL backstroke record.

Along with individual performances, there were a few close meets on Saturday.  For starters, all three of Division 5’s meets were within 20 points of each other.  However, the closest meet of the weekend took place in Division II between Oakton and Donaldson Run.  Oakton won the meet with a final score of 204.5 to 197.5.  In order to win an NVSL meet, a team must exceed a minimum of 201 points.  The Oakton senior boys medley won the meet and pushed Oakton from a score of 199.5 to 204.5 (5 points for a relay win).  For his gutsy swimming in the anchor leg of Oakton’s senior boys medley, Kenny Newcomer is “On The Top’s Clutch Swimmer of the Week”.

Despite the loss on Saturday to Overlee, Hamlet should walk away with their heads held high for the rest of the season.  

Hamlet’s success over the past 5 years began with former Head Coach Breanne Smith as Hamlet made a surge towards the top of the NVSL, highlighted by a win over Chesterbrook during the 2007 season (which also allowed them to showcase their creative spirit as they later crafted a life-size paper mache tiger shark to emphasize their victory).

The new era of competing at the top level appears to be continuing under new Head Coach Scott Tsuchitani.  Scott was the coach of the district champion Oakton High School girls team, and has also served as a Machine Aquatics coach.  Said to be a stickler for kids showing up on time, as well as running practices “harder than your usual summer league practice”, Tsuchitani is running a tight ship over at Hamlet.

Despite the strong coaching, Hamlet lacks the depth that Chesterbrook, VAC, and Overlee have.  Hamlet does have some top level swimmers, but in division 1, “some” is not enough.