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.

After the quick overview of the meet, its time to discuss last night in a little more depth. First topic: MVPs of the meet. With 8 league records broken, choosing an MVP was not an easy decision. There were upsets, come from behind victories, and races won by tenths of a second… but last night, one relay team rewrote the record books in two different events. The Shouse Village 8 & Under girls put on quite a performance en route to two new NVSL records. Two members of their relay, Sinead and Paige, have been coming to All-Star Relays since they were 6 years old.  A third member, Sara , was so small when she first came to the meet that she rode to the meet in a car seat.  Now teaming up with their fourth member, Heather, these four girls have combined to make quite the relay.  Last night, these girls displayed great determination, as well as resilience. These Shouse Village girls earn the MVP of the meet for their two record breaking performances.

Another noteworthy aspect of the meet was Tuckahoe and Fairfax surprising everyone with their 2nd and 4th place finish, respectively. Tuckahoe upset Chesterbrook last night as it snatched up 2nd place by a mere 42 points. Division 4, led by Fairfax, went on to cumulatively outscore Division 3 by 58 points.

Tuckahoe Coach Jesse shares his thoughts on his team’s preformance.

Fairfax Coaches explain how they took 4th.

Not to be ignored, Overlee added another notch to its belt last night with another Relay Carnival win.  Congratulations flying fish… or should we say goats?

Overlee Senior Tyler Gehrs tells all about the goat.

Last night was epic to say the least.  Eight league records were broken, several teams upset the field, and Overlee won it all for the third year in a row.  For those who missed the meet (Jenny York, Breanne Smith), or those who forgot what happened during their indulgence at the post meet meal, here is how the meet broke down:

Event 1.
The meet began with the Fairfax Girls Mixed Age taking down a 27 year old record by 8/10 of a second.

Event 2.

Fox Mill Woods Boys Mixed Age dropped 3 seconds, but missed the record by a heartbreaking 8/100 of a second.

Event 3.
The 8 & Under Girls from Shouse Village shattered a 26 year old record by almost three seconds. This outstanding swim now makes the 8 & Under Girls’ record even faster than the 8 & Under Boys’ record.

Event 4.
Highland’s 8 & Under Boys dropped 4 seconds to come out of nowhere and take 1st.

Event 5.
Returning champion, Overlee, took its first win of the night with their 9-10 Girls dropping 1.5 seconds.

Event 6.
Dunn Loring’s 9-10 Boys dropped 4 seconds to take first and set the stage for their later free relay performance. However, they remain indecisive as to their post meet plans.

Event 7.
Orange Hunt’s 11-12 Girls, led by a strong butterfly leg, upset Overlee’s relay to take the win.

Event 8.
The 11-12 Boys from Mclean set new NVSL record by knocking a second off their previous time.

Event 9.
Overlee seals up a come from behind victory in the 13-14 Girls medley.

Event 10.
No horror story here… Sleepy Hollow 13-14 Boys take first.

Event 11.
Tuckahoe Senior ladies break meet record, although don’t best their time from last Saturday.  None of these ladies graduate this year, so don’t think they’ve had their last shot at going sub 2:00.

Event 12.
Reminiscent of Dunn Loring’s victory from Heat 1 back in 2005, Sean Fletcher leads Hunter Mill to 2nd place from Heat 1. In the end, however, the Highlands Senior boys maintained their medley crown from last summer.

Break: Epic, chance to sit down and fill up a water bottle with water that wasn’t 98 degrees. (although the little cups of water being brought around were awesome!)

Volunteers bag the ribbons during break

Event 13.
Shouse Village 8 & Under Girls do it again, this time breaking the record by a mere 3/100 of a second. Oh, and did we mention that this record was over 20 years old as well?

Event 14.
Highlands 8 & Under Boys go big again with another huge time drop, sneaking in for the upset.

Event 15.
The 9-10 Girls from Overlee didn’t think just one gold medal was enough.

Event 16.
Dunn Loring 9-10 Boys set new NVSL record and finalize post meet plans for Chuckie Cheese.

Event 17.
Orange Hunt claims the Orange crown from Overlee’s 11-12 girls by dropping 6/10 of a second for the win.

Event 18.
No record for the Mclean 11-12 Boys here, but they’ll take the double win.

Event 19.
Mount Vernon Park’s 13-14 Girls bust out a second drop and take home some gold.

Event 20.
Sleepy Hollow wakes up to a new NVSL record in the 13-14 Boys free.

Event 21.
Tuckahoe’s Senior Girls take the win again, but without a record. Katy and Katie get to hold onto their record for yet another year.

Event 22.
Highlands Senior Boys take down VAC’s 2008 record by 3/10 of a second. Touche.

End of Meet. Tuckahoe upsets Chesterbrook for 2nd place overall, and Fairfax from Division 4 takes 4th overall.  Bob York admits to having one too many diet coke’s, and teams depart for ravaging of local pizzerias and burger joints.

Quick Stats:

Teams with double wins: Shouse Village 8 & Under Girls, Highlands 8 & Under Boys, Overlee 9-10 Girls, Dunn Loring 9-10 Boys, Orange Hunt 11-12 Girls, Mclean 11-12 Boys, Sleepy Hollow 13-14 Boys, Tuckahoe 15-18 Girls, Highlands 15-18 Boys

Most events in between record breaking swims: 4 events

A special thank you goes out to all the NVSL officials who were especially accommodating to the NVSL News team today.  Especially Liz Murphy, Jack Schaeffer, Betsy Stevenson, and Dave Dinardo.

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.

This Saturday, Sean Fletcher of Hunter Mill went an absurd 24.56 in his 50 fly. NVSL News prevsiously stated that Sean going a 24.7 would put his record in the realm of Ed Moses’s 50 breast record.  Now with a 24.56, Sean Fletcher may have the fastest NVSL senior boys record.  Only three other swimmers have ever broken 26 seconds in the 50 fly, Jeff Somensatto (25.90), Greg Landrum (25.92), and Robbie Parker (25.97).  Going 24 seconds in the 50 free for a senior boy is an impressive career achievement, and Sean has eclipsed that mark in the 5o fly.  If Sean had swum butterfly during the freestyle event, he would currently be seeded 4th overall in the NVSL.  Sean’s record breaking swim this weekend is coming off a U.S. Nationals taper, where he went 54.39 in the 100m fly, and 24.10 in the 50m free, a U.S. Nationals cut and a U.S. Open cut respectively.  It should also be noted that Sean swam his fly at Mclean pool, which was described by another Divsion 2 senior swimmer as a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of a pool’s speed.  Maybe Sean should consider swimming fly against the freestylers for some extra competition…

The senior girls from Tuckahoe also had a great NVSL record breaking swim this weekend.  Check out their splits and their coach’s take on the race here in the comments section.

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

NVSL News has broken down the seed sheet for All-Star Relays and is presenting you with the top races to watch this Wednesday.    It appears that for the 2009 All-Star Relay Carnival the old adage is true… records are made to be broken… You don’t want to take a bathroom break for these events!

(Listed in chronological meet order)

Event 1. Girls Mixed Age
The team from Fairfax is seeded with a time of 1:59.45, 6/10 of a second off the 27 year old NVSL record, and is seeded with the perfect age for each leg with a 10, 12, 14, and 18 year old.

Event 3. 8 and Under Girls Modified Medley
Shouse Village’s 8 and under girls are seeded 6 seconds ahead of the field and only a second off the 26 year old NVSL record. Also, the backstroke leg is swam by Sinead Eksteen who goes an 18.61 (only 2/10 of a second off Janet Hu’s record).

Event 8. 11-12 Boys Medley
The top seed Overlee is only 6/10 of a second off the NVSL record, with the relay from Mclean seeded 1/3 of a second behind them. Look for this to be a tight finish as well as a record breaking race.

Event 11. 15-18 Girls Medley
The team from Tuckahoe is seeded with a 2:04.79, just a second off the NVSL record set in 2008. However, on Saturday the girls went a 2:01.34 which shattered the NVSL dual meet record. These girls will blow everyone out of the pool on Wednesday.

Event 12. 15-18 Boys Medley
Highlands returns to defend their title as top seed. With a former NVSL record holder in the 13-14 back leading off (Charlie Putnam), and a 23 split anchoring (Brian Murphy) the only question that remains is the middle 100. Both legs (Steven Richards and Chuck Katis) are 30 point splits in the breast, so the problem to solve will be  who will swim the breast and who will swim the fly. Look for the team from Highlands to defend their title and lower their record.

Event 13. 8 and Under Girls Freestyle
Shouse Village returns with the same lineup for their freestyle relay and a seed time less than a second off the NVSL record.

Event 17. 11-12 Girls Freestyle
The teams from Overlee and Orange Hunt are seeded 8/100 of a second apart. Both teams consist of three 12 year olds and one 11 year old. With both teams boasting the color orange as their team color the plot is thickened even more.

Event 18. 11-12 Boys freestyle
7 teams are seeded within a second of each other. Not much else needs to be said.

Event 20. 13-14 Boys Freestyle
Sleepy Hollow Bath is less than a second off the NVSL record held by Sean Fletcher’s Hunter Mill relay from 2006.

Event 21. 15-18 Girls Freestyle
The medley record breaking Tuckahoe girls showdown against the Overlee girls in one of the final events of the night.  Overlee may not have any big time NVSL names like Eva Greene and Megan Howard, but seeded only 2/10 of a second behind, they are sure to give the Tigers some trouble.

Event 22.  15-18 Boys Freestyle
Seeded over 2 seconds off the NVSL record it may seem like a stretch to predict either the Highlands boys or the Chesterbrook boys breaking the NVSL record, but with a slow swim last Wednesday, look for both teams to kick it up a notch as they race each other.  Also, both Steven Lee-Kramer and Brian Murphy are seasoned veterans of the NVSL as well as clutch performers, neither one will be wanting to let their teams down.