Individual All-Stars recap

Wheaton Woods had a single swimmer qualify for the individual All-Star meet on Sunday August 1. Sarah Marcolin qualified 13th in 8 & under girls 25 Breaststroke. At the meet, she had an excellent race and ended up 8th place overall.

Congratulations to Sarah.

All-Star Relays recap

Wheaton Woods was well represented at the Section II All-Star Relays on Saturday July 31. The Tigers placed a total of eight relay teams in the All-Star meet, which was one of the largest showings of any team in section II. With entries in eight of the twenty-two events, we were busy from the start of the meet until the end, and our swimmers put on an outstanding performance despite the fact that we were not able to practice at Wheaton Woods for the entire week before the meet.

The first event of the meet was the 14 & under 175m Graduated Free Relay, which is normally the last event in our dual meets. Our relay team of Matthew Ourand, Bruce Barboza, Russell Sangster, and Anthony Hill got us off to a solid start, as we finished 6th overall, which was our seed going into the meet.

The next event was the Mixed 15-18 200m Free Relay. The team of Antonio Deshields, Paul Trigonoplos, Taylor Swift, and Annie Warner posted a time of 1:56.59, which was over a full second faster than their time from Relay Carnival. This strong effort was also good for a 6th place finish.

Our next entry was the Boys Open 200m Medley. Paul Trigonoplos led off swimming Back, Andre Claro followed with the Breaststroke leg, Paul Rowedder handled the Fly, and Antonio Deshields was the Freestyle anchor for the relay. The boys posted their fastest time of the season, clocking in at 2:03.19, and placed fourth overall.

Our 14 & under 100m Graduated Medley was next up. This relay took a mix of ages, using 1 each of an 8 & under, a 9-10, an 11-12, and a 13-14, but otherwise it was a standard medley relay. Matthew Ourand led off with a strong Backstroke leg, followed by Bruce Barboza swimming the Breastroke segment. Bryan Van Gieson swam Fly, and Anthony Hill closed out the race with Freestyle. The relay team posted a time improvement of over four seconds from Relay Carnival, and finished 6th overall.

After a short break, the action resumed with the 8 & under 100m Medley Relay. Our Boys team swam first, and they had the swims of the meet for Wheaton Woods. Mathias Barish led off the relay swimming Backstroke, and split his fastest time of the season to keep us right up near the front of the race. Kevin Ourand followed next swimming Breastroke, and he too split an excellent time to keep us right in the thick of the race. Anthony Hill was next swimming Fly, and his strong effort kept us rolling along. Avery Miller anchored the relay with a fast Freestyle leg, and when the race was over the boys had jumped up from their 7th place seed to capture 3rd place and earn medals. The boys dropped an astounding 27 seconds (yes, twenty-seven!) from Relay Carnival. It really was an amazing effort on their part.

The 8 & under girls were next, and they put up a strong showing of their own. The relay team of Sarah Marcolin in Back, Kaelyn Mashburn in Breast, Julie Kilmer in Fly, and Emma Kuhsman in Free improved their time from Relay Carnival by nearly 10 seconds, and finished in fifth place. Our 8 & unders swam very well and really improved throughout the season, and it was wonderful to see them get this chance to show that improvement in this All-Star meet.

The final Medley relay was the Mixed 15-18 200m Medley. As we had done all day, the relay team improved their time from Relay Carnival, posting an improvement of nearly a full second. The team team of Antonio Deshields swimming Back, Paul Trigonolplos handling the Breaststroke leg, Taylor Swift in Fly, and Annie Warner swimming Free ended up 6th place overall.

The final relay of the day for Wheaton Woods was the Boys 18 & Under 250m Freestyle Crescendo. This relay has five swimmers instead of the typical four, taking one from each age group. Anthony Hill led off as our 8 & under, and was followed by Bruce Barboza representing the 11-12 age group. Antonio Deshields swam the middle leg of the relay as our 15-18, and was followed by Bryan Van Gieson representing the 13-14 age group. Tim Wasel was the relay anchor, swimming a 25 to close out the relay with a strong finish to hold on to our spot. This was another huge time drop, as the boys improved their Relay Carnival time by over 10 seconds, and moved up two spots from their seeded position to finish 4th place.

It was a very successful meet for the team as a whole and for the relay participants in particular. This was the last swim of the season for some, and it was the last swim ever for others. It was a fitting way to end a perfect season with one last bit of fast swimming. Congratulations to all on an outstanding performance.

Practice Friday 7/30

We will practice on Friday at 6 PM at Wheaton Woods IF the pool is open. If the pool is not open, we will not hold practice this afternoon. Practice will run 30-45 minutes, so we will not be overworking anyone prior to the meet tomorrow.

All-Star Relay meet information

Warm-ups for the Section II relay meet (that means us) are from 9:30 AM to 9:55 AM. The meet starts at 10:00 AM. All swimmers should plan to be at the Rockville Swim Center around 9:20 AM so that we can get in the pool on time for warm-up.

Meet Location

Rockville Swim Center
355 Martins Ln.
Rockville, MD

General meet information

• The meet will be held at the Rockville Swim Center. This is the same location where we had our B relay carnival.
• Parking in the Rockville Swim center parking lot will be controlled and if you want to park in that lot that it will cost $1.00.
• Only park in the defined spaces at Rockville, do not make your own parking space.
• If no spaces are available in the Rockville parking lot, you may park on Martens Lane, or at the Rock Terrace School (do not park on their fields or grass), or in the Board of Education parking lot.
• Do not park in the surrounding neighborhoods.
• If you do not heed the above advice you will run about a 99% chance of getting ticketed or towed.
• Lanes 2 & 7 will be open for starts and sprints during the general warm-up.
• Continuous warm-ups will be available during the meet at the far end of the pool.
• No starts will be possible during the continuous warm-ups. Entry to the pool will be feet first.
• No other Rockville pools will be available to meet participants.
• Entry to the pool will be through the main outside entrance.

Practice on Thursday 7/29

The good news is that Wheaton Woods now has partial power. The bad news is that the pumps can't run on partial power, so the pool will not be ready for swimming tomorrow. As a result, we will again be at Twinbrook pool for practice from 6 - 7 PM.

Twinbrook pool is located just off of Veirs Mill Road on Atlantic Avenue.

Twinbrook Pool
13027 Atlantic Avenue
Rockville, MD 20851

Directions: Take Aspen Hill Road to Veirs Mill Rd. Turn right on Veirs Mill Rd, and cross Twinbrook Parkway. Turn left at Atlantic Avenue. The pool entrance is about 1/4 mile on the left.

Practice on Wednesday 7/28

Power has been restored at the Wheaton Woods pool, but we are not yet ready to open. AS a result, we will be at Twinbrook pool for practice again from 6 - 7 PM.

Twinbrook pool is located just off of Veirs Mill Road on Atlantic Avenue.

Twinbrook Pool
13027 Atlantic Avenue
Rockville, MD 20851

Directions: Take Aspen Hill Road to Veirs Mill Rd. Turn right on Veirs Mill Rd, and cross Twinbrook Parkway. Turn left at Atlantic Avenue. The pool entrance is about 1/4 mile on the left.

Practice update for Tuesday 7/27

Practice for All-Star participants will be held at the Twinbrook pool from 6 - 7 PM. They have generously agreed to allow us to use their pool, so let's make sure that we are polite guests during our allotted practice time.



Twinbrook pool is located just off of Veirs Mill Road on Atlantic Avenue.

Twinbrook Pool
13027 Atlantic Avenue
Rockville, MD 20851

Directions: Take Aspen Hill Road to Veirs Mill Rd. Turn right on Veirs Mill Rd, and cross Twinbrook Parkway. Turn left at Atlantic Avenue. The pool entrance is about 1/4 mile on the left.

2011 Division Assignment

The 2011 division assignments have been released. Wheaton Woods, along with Montgomery Square (MS), James Creek (JC), and North Creek (NO), moved up to L divsion, with Norbeck Hills (NH) and Clopper Mill (CLM) rounding out the field.

Practice status for Tuesday 7/27

Power outages are still extensive in the neighborhood, and the pool is still affected as well. The water will not likely be ready for practice this afternoon. I am working on seeing if we can find another venue for practice until our pool is ready for normal use.

All-Star Roster

Note - updated to add two swimmers left off the original post.

Here is our roster of swimmers who will be taking part in one of the All-Star meets:

Boys
Bruce Barboza
Matthias Barish
Andre Claro
Antonio Deshields
Anthony Hill
Avery Miller
Kevin Ourand
Matthew Ourand
Paul Rowedder
Russell Sangster
Paul Trigonoplos
Bryan Van Gieson
Tim Wasel

Girls
Julie Kilmer
Emma Kuhnsman
Sarah Marcolin (Relay and Individual)
Kaelyn Mashburn
Taylor Swift
Annie Warner

No practice Monday 7/26

The afternoon practice for All-Star participants on Monday, July 26, is canceled due to the ongoing power outage in the area. The pool is still without power, which means that the filtration system is not operating, making the pool unsuitable for use.

I will post the status for practice tomorrow as soon as a decision is made. This will obviously depend first and foremost on getting power restored to the pool, and then determining if the pool can be sufficiently ready for practice tomorrow evening.

Practice for All-Star swimmers

We will conduct practice this week for swimmers in All-Star relays or individual All-Stars in the afternoons only. Practice will start at 6:00 PM and run no later than 7:15 PM. Only swimmers participating in one of the All-Star meets should plan on attending.

Practice will be held tonight if the pool is open. I know that many of us in the neighborhood were affected by the storm yesterday, and that many people are without power. If there is no power at the pool or the pool is not open, we will just take this afternoon off and try to pick things up on Tuesday.

Tigers complete perfect season with win at Divisional meet

The magical season of 2010 concluded with another outstanding performance by the team as
Wheaton Woods took first place at the Divisional meet. Congratulations to all!

Divisionals Dinner - Friday July 23rd

Divisionals Dinner - Friday July 23rd at the Barboza's house

When: 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Where: The Barboza's House
13004 Disney Lane
Silver Spring

The dinner will follow a Luau theme and the announcement with all of the important information has been posted on the swim team bulletin board.

Please bring the following dish according to your age group:

8 & Under Girls - Desserts
8 & Under Boys - Salad or veggies
9-10 Girls - Mac 'n' Cheese
9-10 Boys - Fruit
11-12s - Chicken
13-14 Girls - Sprite/Lemonade (12-24 cans)
13-14 Boys - Bottled water (small or large)
15-18s - Pizza

The sign-up sheet has been posted on the bulletin board as well.

The dinner is open to all team members.

Directions to the Barboza's

1. Exit the Wheaton Woods parking lot and turn right onto Marianna Drive
2. Turn left onto Aspen Hill Road
3. Turn right onto Georgia Avenue
4. Turn left onto Layhill Road
5. Turn left onto Briggs Road
6. Turn right onto Disney Lane

All Star Relay particpants

Just a reminder that anyone who was part of a winning relay at the Relay Carnival will be expected to swim at the All-Star Relay meet on July 31. If you will not be available for the meet, I need to know as soon as possible so that we can find someone to fill in that relay spot.

This is the list of all relay teams for Wheaton Woods that are scheduled to swim at the All-Star relays:

Boys

Bruce Barboza - Boys 14 & Under 100m Graduated Medley, Boys 18 & Under 250m Free Crescendo

Matthias Barish - Boys 8 & Under 100m Medley

Antonio Deshields - Mixed 15-18 200 Free, Mixed 15-18 200 Medley, Boys 18 & Under 250m Free Crescendo

Anthony Hill - Boys 8 & Under 100m Medley, Boys 14 & Under 100m Graduated Medley, Boys 18 & Under 250m Free Crescendo

Avery Miller - Boys 8 & Under 100m Medley

Kevin Ourand - Boys 8 & Under 100m Medley

Matthew Ourand - Boys 14 & Under 100m Graduated Medley

Paul Trigonoplos - Mixed 15-18 200 Free, Mixed 15-18 200 Medley

Bryan Van Gieson - Boys 14 & Under 100m Graduated Medley, Boys 18 & Under 250m Free Crescendo

Tim Wasel - Boys 18 & Under 250m Free Crescendo

Girls

Julie Kilmer - Girls 8 & Under 100m Medley

Emma Kuhnsman - Girls 8 & Under 100m Medley

Sarah Marcolin - Girls 8 & Under 100m Medley

Kaelyn Mashburn - Girls 8 & Under 100m Medley

Taylor Swift - Mixed 15-18 200 Free, Mixed 15-18 200 Medley

Annie Warner - Mixed 15-18 200 Free, Mixed 15-18 200 Medley


If we have the fastest time in the Division for the Open Medley relay or the Graduated Free relay, then those swimmers would be invited to All-Stars as well. So far each of our relay teams for the boys have the fastest time.

Divisional meet theme - Rockstar

The theme for the Divisional meet is Rockstar. As usual, we're going to be making shirts for all the swimmers. If you or your swimmer could drop off a plain t-shirt sometime today, the coaches will start working on decorating them. Shirts of any color are fine. Swimmers are also welcome to stay and help decorate. All swimmers are welcome to make shirts, so this is not limited to the Divisional swimmers.

Feel free to drop off the t-shirts at any time during the day. Since the shirts will be double-sided, we need time for the paint to dry so the sooner we get them, the better. Caroline and Kaitlin are working on them as they come in. PLEASE make sure that your child's name is on the shirt somewhere (tape inside, sharpie on tag, etc) so we don't switch the shirts around. There is also some puffy paint from past years, but any extra would be much appreciated.

B Meet vs Tanterra

The final B meet of the season is at Tanterra on Weddnesday July 21. The meet will start at 6:15 PM. Please arrive by 5:30 PM so that we can be in the water on time for our warm-ups.

We will not caravan to Tanterra from Wheaton Woods. Please go directly to Tanterra for the meet.

Directions to Tanterra

Tanterra Way, Brookville (301) 774-9712

1. Exit the Wheaton Woods parking lot and turn left onto Marianna Drive
2. Turn left onto Parkland Drive
3. Turn right onto Chesterfield Road
4. Turn right onto Bel Pre Road
5. Turn left onto Georgia Avenue
6. At the light at Queen Elizabeth Drive and Prince Philip Drive, turn left onto Queen Elizabeth Drive
7. Turn right onto Shady View Lane
8. Turn right onto Tanterra Way
9. Proceed around the circle and into the entrance of Tanterra Pool

Lineup for final B meet vs Tanterra - updated

Wednesday July 21 we have our final B meet of the season, an away meet at Tanterra. The revised lineup is complete and can be viewed using one of the links below:

Meet entries by name
Meet entries by event

The original entry had many cases where people were entered in the meet but did not show up in the report that was posted. This has been corrected, and the other changes that were requested have been made as well.

Practice for Divisional swimmers

There will be some changes to the practice schedule for Thursday July 22 and Friday July 23. We will have a single practice in the morning and a single practice in the afternoon.

These practices are limited to swimmers entered in the Divisional meet and to swimmers who are part of a relay that qualified for All-Stars. For all other swimmers, the last practice will be the morning of July 21 prior to our final B meet.

All swimmers, regardless of age group, should attend practice on this modified schedule.

Morning practice: 8:30 - 9:45 AM

Afternoon practice: 6:00 - 7:15 PM

A separate announcement for the practice schedule for those swimming in All-Star relays or individual All-Stars will be posted after Divisionals.

Meet Recap: Saturday A meet vs Montgomery Square

The final dual meet of the season matched up the top two seeded teams in the division: Wheaton Woods and Montgomery Square. Montgomery Square had the preseason top ranking for M division, and was only a relay DQ away from having a perfect record in dual meets. This would be the closest meet of the season for Wheaton Woods, and the pre-meet scoring showed Montgomery Square looking at about a 20 point win if all went as seeded. However, as the coaching staff likes to say, that's why we actually swim the meets.

The meet got off a good start as Bruce Barboza raced to a first place finish in the 100 IM. Johnny English followed in third place, jumping up a spot from his seeded position. This would be a sign of things to come for Wheaton Woods, as we worked throughout the meet to pick up points everywhere that we could. James Hill followed up with a sixth place finish, again demonstrating how we came to the meet ready to race. James dropped over 4 seconds from his time, and put the pressure on a swimmer seeded with a time over ten seconds faster than him as we battled for every point. Each of the boys posted their best time of the season for 100 IM. The 11-12 girls showed their resolve with a 2-3-5 finish, as Lena Bossler, Mary Kate Wasel, and Chrissy Wasel each raced to best times. Chrissy dropped an impressive three seconds, and Mary Kate had an amazing time drop of over 5 seconds as she jumped up from her sixth place seed to finish third. With that strong start, we turned what had been projected to be a deficit into a tie as we started the medley relays.

The Boys 'A' medley of Paul Trigonoplos, Andre Claro, Paul Rowedder, and Antonio Deshields continued to roll along undefeated for the season, easily capturing first place, while our 'B' relay of Oliver Sangster, Paul Wasel, Denis English, and Joe Malusky raced to a strong third place finish to chip in points to the team effort. The Girls posted their fastest time of the season, but came up just short of victory in a close race, so the team of Caroline Argyros, Monica Claro, Taylor Swift, and Annie Warner had to settle for second place. Our 'B' relay raced to third place, featuring strong efforts from Alex Wasel, Anna Barboza, Lauren Malusky, and Katie English.

Our 8 & under boys opened the Freestyle events with a 1-2-3 finish by Anthony Hill. Kevin Ourand, and Avery Miller in 25 Free. Anthony swam our first sub-20-second time of the year, and just missed making the All-Star time. All six of our swimmers in the event went best times, including a huge 4.5 second drop by Matthias Barish. Joseph Moynihan and Tom Kilmer also swam their fastest races of the season as we took six of the top nine positions. The 8 & under girls followed that fast swimming with a 1-2-3-5 finish of their own, as nearly all of the girls swam their best times of the season. Maddy Marvel grabbed first, followed by Julie Kilmer, Emma Kuhnsman, and Kaelyn Mashburn. Rebecca Welton and Therese McGovern each improved their times by over two seconds, so it was a very exciting start to the Freestyle events.

As we moved to the next age group, the pattern for the meet emerged. We were seeded to sweep events in certain age groups, and the opposition was seeded to sweep in others. The team that could race and break the sweeps would be able to decide the meet. In the 9-10 boys 50 Free, strong swimming from Tim Wasel prevented a sweep, as he raced to third place. Marcello Beatley also posted a very fast time from the first heat and grabbed fifth place, and was followed by Matthew Ourand with a solid effort for sixth. Annie Marcolin raced to third place for the 9-10 girls, holding her seed, while Brigid English improved her time by nearly two seconds in a sixth-place effort.

The 13-14 Boys found themselves facing their strongest competition, and in this event they were racing to prevent a sweep. This was opposite of how meets had gone all year, and they responded well as Bryan Van Gieson dropped over a second to grab third place, followed by Danny Ferreira in fifth. Cristian Beatley improved by a second in his swim., and the 13-14 boys showed that they were ready for the challenge that the morning with bring. The 13-14 girls raced well, with Katie English and Deena Mayer-Whittington swimming their fastest times of the summer, but had a small setback with a false start DQ on Tricia Rowedder, who would otherwise have posted her best time of the season in 50 Free. However, the team moved on undeterred from that hiccup as the 11-12s got their chance to race.

Bruce Barboza put the Tigers back in the winning column, capturing first place with a season-best time, followed by Johnny English in third and Mickey Van Gieson in fourth, each of whom also swam their fastest times of the summer. James Hill and Thomas Moynihan also posted best times, so it was clear from these early events that we came to the meet ready to race. The 11-12 girls raced well, as our top four finishers all posted best times, but they met strong competition and captured only third and fifth despite the time drops.

The 15-18s closed out the Freestyle events with the 100 Free. The Boys continued to dominate, posting a 1-2-3-4 finish. While Antonio Deshields and Paul Rowedder claimed the top two spots, it was the swims by Denis English and Joe Malusky that got the attention,as Denis dropped nearly four seconds from his time, while Joe ran away from the rest of the first heat as he shaved over two seconds from his time. Both Denis and Joe improved from their seeded positions and beat the fastest swimmer from the other team. The 15-18 Girls followed suit, as they went 1-2-5-6 to improve their seeds, and Taylor Swift, Monica Claro, Anna Barboza, and Caroline Argyros all went their fastest times of the summer, featuring a one second improvement by Caroline and a nearly three second improvement by Monica.

With the conclusion of the Freestyle events, 13-14 IM was next. Facing a tough race, Bryan Van Gieson broke up the projected sweep with a big time drop to grab third place, while Danny Ferreira and Francis Rowedder posted best times as they finished fifth and sixth respectively. For the girls, Tricia Rowedder matched that effort, grabbing a third place finish to break another projected sweep, and dropping her time by nearly three seconds in the process. These changes in place, while seemingly small, were significant in a meet this close. Each spot moved up was a two point swing, and we had already made up a lot of the projected point deficit because we were able to race and move up in the finishing order.

As the Backstroke events got underway, it was clear that we needed to excel in these races, and we did so, starting with the 8 & under boys. Anthony Hill raced to his second win of the meet, and was followed in second by Matthias Barish. Both Anthony and Matthias improved their times by over three seconds, and Joseph Moynihan chipped in a point with his fifth place finish. The 8 & under girls matched that effort and more, as Sara Marcolin, Maddy Marvel, and Julie Kilmer went 1-2-4 to keep the pressure on the opposing team. It was a great effort from our 8 & unders, but it was what we expected to see. The 9-10s did some things that were not expected.

The 9-10 boys improved from their seeded positions as they posted a 2-3-4 finish, led by Tim Wasel and his big two second time drop. Matthew Ourand and Michael Hill rounded out our finishers. The girls were not only able to avoid a sweep, but Annie Marcolin raced wonderfully and with a strong finish grabbed first place. This unexpected win was a big boost for the team. Keely Mashburn dropped nearly a full second from her time as well as she swam to a sixth place finish.

The 15-18s took control of their events, as the boys swam to a 1-2-4 finish, featuring a trio of our graduating seniors - Antonio Deshields, Paul Trigonoplos, and Oliver Sangster. The girls finished 2-3-4 on the efforts of Caroline Argyros, Anna Barboza, and Annie Warner. Caroline continued to improve her time for the season, while Anna had a nice time drop of over one second.

After the completion of 100 Back, it was on to the 50 Back events. Up first were the 11-12 boys, and Johnny English paced Wheaton Woods with a second place finish, followed by Mickey Van Gieson in fourth and James Hill in fifth. The 11-12 girls had a 3-4-6 finish, as Chrissy Wasel dropped nearly two seconds in her third place effort. The 13-14 boys took advantage of their opportunity and powered to a 1-2-4 finish by Bryan Van Gieson, Francis Rowedder, and Matthew Hill, as both Bryan and Matthew posted best times. The 13-14 girls raced well, as both Haley O'Brien and Alex Wasel dropped time by two seconds, but had to settle for a 4-5-6 finish as we made it to halftime.

Based on the pre-meet projections, we expected to be trailing by about 15 points at halftime. When the score was announced, it was Wheaton Woods 208, Montgomery Square 204. We had raced and improved our finishes, and had erased the deficit. However, the job was not yet done, as a lot of races remained and we needed to stay sharp and continue to put forth our best efforts.

Coming out of halftime, the 15-18 100 IM opened the second half of the meet. As had been the case in the first half of the meet, there was some magic in lane 1 as Paul Rowedder dropped an amazing six seconds from his time as he raced to second place, part of 1-2-3 finish by Wheaton Woods. Paul Trigonoplos took first place, and Antonio Deshields finished in third. The girls finished 1-2-5 with three season-best times from Taylor Swift, Monica Claro, and Caroline Argyros. We had just taken our four point lead and extended it to 20 points entering the Breaststroke events.

Kevin Ourand bounced back from being sick earlier in the week as he swam his best time of the season on the way to first place in the 8 & under boys 25 Breast. Tom Kilmer grabbed fourth place as he too swam his best time. The 8 & under girls went 1-3 as Sarah Marcolin posted an All-Star nominating time, and Kaelyn Mashburn improved her time by three seconds. Matthew Ourand continued the strong swimming a one-second time drop in the 9-10 25 Breast as he took third place, and Michael Hill has an even bigger improvement as he took fifth place. The 9-10 girls had another example of the "lane 1 magic" as Keely Mashburn took two and half seconds off her time to capture third place and break a potential sweep, and Michelle Kilmer had a strong swim for fourth place.

Moving to the 50 Breast, the 11-12 boys went 1-2 on the efforts of Bruce Barboza and Johnny English. Bruce swam an All-Star nominating time, while Johnny dropped over two seconds as he jumped up a spot to take second place. For the girls, Lena Bossler won a close race, and Mary Kate Wasel and Ashley Jeffers dropped over two and four seconds respectively as they finished fifth and sixth. The 13-14 boys, despite a best time from Danny Ferreira and Matthew Hill, could not break the sweep and had to settle for a 4-5-6 finish. The 13-14 girls all raced very well, and all swam best times by over a second as both Tricia Rowedder and Katie English made a strong push for second to move up from their seeded order, but along with Deena Mayer-Whittington settled for a solid 3-4-6 finish with their fast swims.

The 15-18 100 Breast featured a 1-2-5 finish for the boys and a 1-2-4 finish for the girls. Paul Trigonoplos and Andre Claro grabbed the top two spots for the boys, but it was the race by Paul Wasel, another of the lane 1 stars, that was the most exciting. Paul dropped over four seconds from his time and nearly caught the swimmer next to him to move up a spot. The girls were paced by the season-best efforts from Taylor Swift, Monica Claro, and Anna Barboza. Each of the girls improved time by over a second, and Monica had a big three second drop.

Entering the Butterfly events, everyone was excited knowing how close the meet was, and the fast swimming continued. The 8 & unders did their part in 25 Fly, as the boys finished 1-2-4. Anthony Hill completed his sweep of races with another best time, and Avery Miller jumped into second place with a huge six second time drop. The girls finished 1-2 as both Sara Marcolin and Maddy Marvel swam their best times. Sara's swim was also her third win of the meet, and the 8 & under girls took the top spot in every event of the meet.

The 9-10 boys kept things rolling with a 2-3-4 finish in 25 Fly, highlighted by Marcello Beatley's second place effort as he dropped nearly two seconds from his time. Tim Wasel had more of the lane 1 magic as he dropped over two seconds, and Michael Hill improved his time by nearly one second. The 9-10 girls matched this effort as they all posted best times and broke up a potential sweep. Annie Marcolin continued her outstanding day with another big time drop of nearly four seconds as she grabbed second place. Brigid English dropped over two seconds as she got fifth, and Theresa Moynihan had nearly a full second of improvement as well.

The 11-12 boys raced well and manged to hold on for a 3-4-5 finish, highlighted by the nearly three second time drop by Thomas Moynihan. The 11-12 girls improved on this with a 2-3-4 finish by Lena Bossler, Chrissy Wasel, and Mary Kate Wasel. The effort by Mary Kate, dropping a stunning six seconds, added a few points to our lead as she jumped up a few spots in this race from her seeded position.

The 13-14 boys were facing a possible sweep in their race, but Bryan Van Gieson stunned the opposing team with his magnificent race, jumping out to an early lead and grabbing the victory in the 50 Fly, dropping over two seconds from his time along the way. Danny Ferreira and Cristian Beatley rounded out the swims in fifth and sixth place respectively. The 13-14 girls were paced by Haley O'Brien as she swam her best time of the summer in 50 Fly, but she had to settle for a 4-5-6 finish along with Katie English and Maggie Naccarato.

The 15-18s closed out the individual events in style, as the boys went for a clean 1-2-3 sweep by Paul Trigonoplos, Antonio Deshields, and Paul Rowedder. Each of the boys recorded their fastest times of the summer in the process. The girls went 1-3-4 on the strength of the efforts by Taylor Swift, Monica Claro, and Caroline Argyros.

The relays to close out the meet really captured our efforts for the day. In the Boys 175m Graduated Free relay, despite the opposition's faster seed times, Tim Wasle kept us very close at the start of the relay, and Bruce Barboza got us out to a small lead. Bryan Van Gieson kept us close in his leg so that Anthony Hill could power us home to victory. The girls followed a similar pattern as Annie Marcolin swam a strong lead-off that kept us close. Lena Bossler had a great relay exchange and put us out to a small lead. Tricia Rowedder kept us in the race with her effort, and gave Sara Marcolin the chance to run down the other team and capture the relay victory. The boys and girls followed the same blueprint for victory in two very exciting relays to end the meet.

In the end, it came down to how well we had raced for every spot all day, and the final tally was Wheaton Woods 407, Montgomery Square 384. A perfect dual meet season was now complete as the Tigers took a 20 point deficit and turned it into a 20 point win.

All-Star Times
For the first time this season, we had swimmers achieve All-Star nominating times.

• Bruce Barboza - 50 Breast (43.04)
• Sarah Marcolin - 25 Breast (25.81) , 25 Fly (23.28)
  

Clean Sweepers [a swimmer who won 3 individual events and the Individual Medley]

• Anthony Hill - 8 & Under Boys (no IM)
• Sarah Marcolin - 8 & Under Girls (no IM)
• Taylor Swift - 15-18 Girls

First-place finishers

• Bruce Barboza - 50 Free, 50 Breast, 100 IM
• Lena Bossler - 50 Breast
• Antonio Deshields - 100 Free, 100 Back
• Annie Marcolin - 25 Back
• Maddy Marvel - 25 Free
• Kevin Ourand - 25 Breast
• Paul Trigonoplos - 100 IM, 100 Breast, 50 Fly
• Bryan Van Gieson - 50 Back, 50 Fly
  

Swims of note
After the rain last week, we were overdue for some best times, and there was no shortage of fast swimming at this exciting meet. We had so many best times that we could list just about everyone here, but there are some swims that really merit some extra attention.

• Matthias Barish had a great set of swims, dropping nearly 5 seconds in 25 Free and amlost 4 more in 25 Back.
• Denis English, in his final meet, hammered out a big 4 second drop in 100 Free to grab third place and help the 15-18 boys grab the top 4 spots
• Johnny English stepped up in all of his events and raced well, but particularly in posting best times in 100 IM and 50 Breast
• James Hill opened the meet with a great effort in 100 IM, improving his time by over 4 seconds
• Ashley Jeffers showed the results of her hard work in practice with a four second improvement in 50 Breast
• Annie Marcolin shone in 25 Fly, dropping nearly 4 seconds as she raced to a second place finish
• Therese McGovern closed out her season in a grand manner with a 3 second improvement in 25 Free
• Avery Miller capped his dual meet season with an enormous drop of nearly seven seconds in 25 Fly.
• Paul Rowedder threw down some outside smoke as part of our lane one parade of fast swims, dropping nearly seven seconds to grab second place in 15-18 100 IM and secure the sweep
• Bryan Van Gieson had a bunch of great races against tough competition, but his victory in the 50 Fly was an amazing swim as he rose to the challenge and dropped over 2.5 seconds
• Mary Kate Wasel in 100 IM, swimming her way to a third place finish and cutting over five seconds off her time, a feat that she surpassed in 50 Fly where she cut almost six seconds from her time. Overall, in her 4 events, she dropped a total of nearly 14 seconds from her previous times.
• Rebecca Welton saved her fastest swim of the season for the last A meet, posting a big 2.5 second drop in 25 Free

As I mentioned before, I could list just about every single person who swam at the meet for at least one race. It was a phenomenal effort by everyone. In trying to highlight these swims I saw so many one or two second improvements that I just can't list them all.

Swim of the meet
This week I am going to recognize two swims, as it was hard for me to decide between the two. Both of the swims were early in the meet, but made a big difference in momentum and helped us to make it to the half with a lead instead of the expected deficit

• The first swim I want to recognize embodied a great many of the things that we really emphasized throughout the season - working through adversity, competing, racing to the finish. Coming off a false start in 50 Free, it would have been easy to get down and have that carry over for the rest of the meet, but Tricia Rowedder stepped up in the next event, the 13-14 100 IM, and had a tremendous race. She improved her time by over two seconds, and moving up a spot from her seeded position to take third place. This broke a potential sweep, and really showed the kind of effort that we needed to win the meet.
• The second swim came shortly after Tricia's effort and was similar in nature. Facing strong competition in her age group, Annie Marcolin not only stopped what could potentially have been a sweep, she jumped up and grabbed a win in the 9-10 25 Back. This was a huge lift that meant an 8 point swing in meet, and stood as a big reason that we had the lead at the half. Following that swim by Annie, the 9-10 girls raced well the rest of the meet, finishing well and holding their own against strong opposition.

It was a close meet, and it was a lot of fun - a very exciting meet where a total team effort determined the outcome, and the races for fourth or fifth were just as important as the races for the top spot. It was a fitting way to close out a perfect dual meet season.

Great effort Tigers. I could not be prouder of how you swam. The work that you put in really showed at the meet, and that was the difference.

Lineup for Divisional meet Saturday 7/24

The lineup for the Divisional meet on Saturday July 24 at Flower Hill is posted below..

Meet entries by name

Meet entries by event

Please let me know of any conflicts as soon as possible. The entry was due very early for this meet, but we can still make changes if needed.

Six Flags information

Please assemble in the parking lot at Wheaton Woods no later than 9:00 AM. Six Flags tickets for those who purchased them will be distributed at that time. If you have any questions regarding tickets, please call Patty Argyros at 301-570-1950.

Practice schedule change for Monday July 19

Due to the large participation in the MCSL swim spectacular day at Six Flags, morning practice is canceled on Monday, July 19. Practice will be held on the normal schedule on Monday afternoon.

B Relay Carnival

The B Relay Carnival is tomorrow morning, July 18 at the Rockville Swim Center. The meet starts at 9:00 AM. Swimmers need to arrive around 8:15 AM, and our warm-up period begins at 8:30 AM. You should park in the lot for the outdoor pool if space is available, and enter through the outdoor entrance. The gate next to the bath house is normally open for meets and should be the point of entry to the meet. Do NOT go to the indoor pool entrance, as they will not let you go through the swim center to get to the outdoor pool.

We are still in need of some parent volunteers to assist with the meet. Please contact Mike Trigonoplos if you can help out, as we cannot run the meet without your help.

Tigers pull out close win

In a tightly contested meet, the Wheaton Woods Tigers pulled out a close win. Congratulations to all swimmers on a spectacular effort today and on a perfect dual meet record. It was another total team effort with lots of great swims all around.

Final score was 407-384.

Meet warm-up/Caravan information for Saturday meet

Our warm-up starts at 8:20, so we need to be at Montgomery Square no later than 8:10 AM.. If you are going to caravan over, please assemble at Wheaton Woods at 7:35 AM. We will leave for Montgomery Square no later than 7:45 AM, and will arrive at Montgomery Square by 8:10 AM. This should give us plenty of time to be ready to get in the pool for our warm-up session. The meet starts at 9:00 AM.

Directions to Montgomery Square
12300 Falls Road, Potomac, MD (301) 424-8961

1. Exit the Wheaton Woods parking lot and turn right onto Marianna Drive
2. Turn right onto Aspen Hill Road
3. Turn right onto Viers Mill Road
4. Turn left onto Edmonston Drive
5. Cross over Rockville Pike and continue onto Wooton Parkway
6. Turn left onto Falls Road (Rt. 189)
7. The pool is on the right

Lineup for Saturday A meet vs Montgomery Square

The lineup for our fifth and final Saturday dual meet is posted below.

Meet entries by name

Meet entries by event


This meet will be closer than any of our other meets, so it will be a challenge for us. Let's be ready to race and see if we can complete a perfect dual meet season. We have already enjoyed a very successful season, and it would be a wonderful way to finish things out by pulling out the victory in our biggest challenge of the season.

Please let me know as soon as possible if you know that you will not be available for the meet.

Pep rally Friday night 7/16

The pep rally for our last Saturday dual meet of the season is this Friday July 16th
at 6:30 PM at Wheaton Woods.

This Friday night's pep rally theme is "Make Your Own Sundae". Vanilla ice cream and toppings will be provided. The cost is $1 per person. Anyone who can come a few minutes early and help serve will be very much appreciated!

Also, if you have paint to decorate your car windows and streamers in Wheaton Woods colors, please bring them along so we can decorate our cars for the caravan!

Lineup for Wednesday B meet at Manor Woods

Wednesday night we have an away meet at Manor Woods. The lineup is complete and can be viewed using one of the links below:

Meet entries by name
Meet entries by event

Please let me know if you will not be available for the meet.

Roster for the B relay carnival - updated

The roster for the B relay carnival is listed below. The B relay carnival is Sunday, July 18 at Rockville. If you swam more than one relay at the A relay carnival, you will NOT swim at the B relay carnival. If you swam only one relay at the A relay carnival, you may have another chance to swim at the B relays, especially if you are in one of the age groups where we are not very large. The goal is to make sure that every swimmer has the chance to swim in one of the two relay carnivals.

If you will not be available for the B relay carnival, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can make sure that we can fill all of our events. The specific events for each swimmer will not be finalized until we get confirmation of participation from all swimmers listed on the meet roster.

Preliminary roster:
Aldrete, Cristina
Barish, Nathaniel
Beatley, Cristian
Beatley, Marcello
Beatley, Patricio
Borman, Griffin
D'Avella, Gianna
English, Brigid
Ferreira, Danny
Hill, Michael
Hill, Matthew
Jeffers, Ashley
Kilmer, Christina
Kilmer, Joseph
Kilmer, Michelle
Kilmer, Steven
Kilmer, Tom
Kociol, Ashley
Kociol, Jonathan
Kuhnsman, Mitchell
Marcolin, George
Marcolin, John Francis
Martin, Molly
Marvel, Madelyn
Mashburn, Kaelyn
Mashburn, Keely
Mashburn, Shawn
Mayer-Whittington, Deena
McGovern, Therese
Miller, Maxwell
Morales, Gabriel
Naccarato, Laura
Naccarato, Maggie
O'Brien, Andrew
Radich, Benedict
Radich, Gabriel
Radich, Sophia
Ramsey, Brion
Rowedder, Francis
Wasel, Alexandra
Wasel, Mary Kate
Wasel, Paul
Welton, Christine
Welton, Rebecca
Wilson, Gabriel
Zambrano, Michael
Zambrano, Tali

For the 15-18 age group, I will keep the lineup open for discussion, and also will work around issues of availability and interest.
Argyros, Caroline
Barboza, Anna
Beam, Jason
Beatley, Emilio
Campbell, Billy
Claro, Andre
Claro, Monica
English, Denis
Kuhnsman, Lillian
Kuhnsman, Spencer
Malusky, David
Malusky, Joseph
Malusky, Lauren
Morales, Bianca
Robb-McGrath, Wes
Rowedder, Paul
Sangster, Oliver

Meet Recap: Saturday A meet vs James Creek

Waking up to the downpour on Saturday morning, it was clear that the challenges that we would face extended beyond the swims in the pool. We would be battling the elements in addition to a team that had proven that they could be a formidable opponent, as James Creek had previously beaten the top seed in M division.

James Creek jumped out to an early lead in the first event, as we got off a a bit of a slow start with a 2-5-6 finish in the 11-12 boys 100 IM, highlighted by Johnny English posting a season-best time despite the conditions. The 11-12 girls closed the gap with their solid 2-3-4 finish featuring strong races by Lena Bossler, Chrissy Wasel, and Mary Kate Wasel. Entering the open medley relays, we trailed by a few points, but our relays demonstrated that we would handle the weather and the competition.

The boys 200m medley relay, featuring 3 graduating seniors in Paul Trigonoplos, Antonio Deshields, and Denis English, jumped out to a big win, outpacing the James Creek effort by over 10 seconds. This put Wheaton Woods back in the lead, and we would never trail again. The girls medley relay matched the boys with a 1-3 finish of their own, with the B relay making a strong bid for second place.

As we started the Freestyle events, the rain came down harder. Despite the rain and tough conditions, spirits were high, and everyone stayed focused on racing and ignored the elements. The 8 & unders proved that they were up to the task, with the boys posting a 1-3-4 finish, and the girls making a claim to the top three spots with their 1-2-3 finish. The boys were led by Anthony Hill, followed by Kevin Ourand and Avery Miller, while Emma Kuhnsman grabbed the top spot for the girls followed closely by Julie Kilmer and Maddy Marvel.

The 9-10 boys and girls both faced what looked to be the toughest lineup of the season, but they each rose to the challenge in their races. While times generally were off for both teams, the racing element of the meet was paramount and we performed very well in that aspect of the meet. Tim Wasel held off a tough challenge to grab second place, while Matthew Ourand jumped up from his seeded position to grab fifth place and score points for the team. Marcello Beatley and Joseph Kilmer each posted season-best times by over a second, an outstanding effort given the conditions. Annie Marcolin paced the girls with a solid third place finish, and Theresa Moynihan also had a season-best time, improving by over a second.

Moving to the 13-14 50 Free, we faced the first test. The boys were missing several swimmers due to sickness and other commitments, so the pressure was on them to perform and pick up the slack for their teammates. Led by Bryan Van Gieson, the boys performed that task admirably throughout the meet, and started off with a 1-3-5 finish, as Bryan took first place along with Francis Rowedder and Cristian Beatley rounding out the scoring. The 13-14 girls, facing a tough lineup, battled to a 3-4-5-6 finish with solid efforts from Tricia Rowedder, Katie English, Maggie Nacarrato, and Alex Wasel. The 11-12 boys took advantage of their opportunities to score, and posted a 2-3-4 finish, with Mickey Van Gieson and Johnny English swimming right on their best times, and Thomas Moynihan posting an impressive time drop as he swam to a seventh place finish. The 11-12 girls also had a strong showing in the 50 Free, with Lena Bossler rolling to a second place finish, followed by Chrissy Wasel in third and Ashley Jeffers in fifth. Laura Nacarrato also raced well in the first heat, and Christina Kilmer posted a big improvement of two seconds in her time.

Closing out the Freestyle were the 15-18s, and as usual they took control of their events. The boys finished 1-4-5, led by Antonio Deshields, and Denis English recorded a strong fourth place effort as he swam in his last home A meet. Oliver Sangster, another of our accomplished graduating seniors, rounded out the scoring with his fifth place effort. Jason Beam posted a best time in his first A meet of the season, and David Malusky showed a time improvement as well. The girls had a more exciting race. Taylor Swift cruised to a first place finish, and Monica Claro battled and made a late charge to touch out the James Creek swimmer for second place. Anna Barboza and Caroline Argyros rounded out our 1-2-4-5 finish.

Starting the 13-14 100 IM, the rain continued to fall. Wheaton Woods continued to stay focused and concentrate on each race, not allowing the conditions to disrupt our efforts at the meet. Bryan Van Gieson, seeded a half-second behind the top swimmer from James Creek, took out his race fast in Fly and opened up a huge lead, cruising to a big win by over a second. This swim really embodied our efforts throughout the meet - focusing on each race, and not accepting the seed times as the destined outcome, and really putting forth the effort to compete even if the conditions were not ideal to post best times. The 13-14 girls posted a solid 3-4-5 finish against the strongest age group from the other team.

Moving to Backstroke, the 8 & unders again dominated the top spots, as Anthony Hill grabbed another first place as part of our 1-4-5 finish, with Joseph Moynihan and Matthias Barish each helping to increase out lead. The girls matched that and more, with a 1-2-4 finish by Sarah Marcolin, Maddy Marvel, and Julie Kilmer. Maddy swam her best time of the year, and Sarah was able to recover from feeling sick prior to the start of the meet. The 9-10 boys and girls each held their seeded positions, and then the 15-18s went to work again. The boys posted a 1-2 finish in the 100m Backstroke by Antonio Deshields and Paul Trigonoplos, while Carlone Argyros posted her season-best time as she powered her way to first. She was followed by Anna Barboza, who has a big time drop and a great finish to touch out for second place. Annie Warner posted a strong fourth place, and we continued to build our lead on the strength of these performances.

The 11-12 boys kept racing, posting a 2-4 finish by Johnny English and Mickey Van Gieson, while the 11-12 girls took advantage of their opportunity and completed a 1-2-3 sweep. Chrissy Wasel led the way, and was joined by Mary Kate Wasel and Ashely Jeffers. Closing out the first half of the meet were the 13-14s, and the boys matched the 11-12 girls with a 1-2-3 sweep of their own by Bryan Van Gieson, Francis Rowedder, and Matthew Hill. The 13-14 girls also swam well, outscoring the opposition with a 2-3-4 finish by Tricia Rowedder, Alex Wasel, and Maggie Nacarrato. This strong finish to the first half propelled Wheaton Woods to a comfortable 231-181 at halftime, which was a much bigger lead than expected.

During halftime, our graduating seniors were recognized - Caroline Argyros, Antonio Deshields, Andy Eisenhaur, Denis English, Lauren Malusky, Oliver Sangster, and Paul Trigonoplos. Wheaton Woods has been very fortunate to have such outstanding swimmers and people be a part of the team.

After halftime, the rain subsided to intermittent showers, but our efforts in the pool remained consistent. The 15-18 100 IM restarted the meet after halftime, and the boys continued their mastery of the event with a 1-2 finish by two our halftime honorees, Paul Trigonoplos and Antonio Deshields. Andre Claro also chipped in a point with his fifth place finish. The girls placed 1-3-5 to further extend our lead, as Taylor Swift captured first, followed by Monica Claro and Caroline Argyros.

Breaststroke was a challenge for us, as they featured a very strong lineup in those events. They had posted quite a few All-Star times in previous meets in the Breaststroke events. However, we met the challenge and manage to increase our lead further. The 8 & unders started things in fine form, with Kevin Ourand and Tom Kilmer racing to a 1-3 finish for the boys, while the girls matched that with a 1-3-4 finish by Sarah Marcolin, Kaelyn Mashburn, and Emma Kuhnsman. The 9-10s continued their strong efforts with a 3-4-5 finish by Matthew Ourand, Joseph Kilmer, and Michael Hill, while the 9-10 girls got strong performances from Sophia Radich and Michelle Kilmer as they swam to a 2-3 finish. Johnny English and Michael Moynihan helped the 11-12 boys match that finish in the 50 Breast, while the 11-12 girls worked their way to a 2-3-5 finish by Lena Bossler, Mary Kate Wasel ,and Ashley Jeffers.

The 13-14 boys kept up the 2-3 theme with a best time from Cristian Beatley, followed by Matthew Hill. The 13-14 girls improved on that with a 2-3-4 finish by Tricia Rowedder, Katie English, and Deena Mayer-Whittington to outscore the opposition again. After five consecutive events with a 2-3 finish, the 15-18s broke through to grab the top spots. The boys swept to a 1-2-3 finish, as Andre Claro, Paul Trigonoplos, and Paul Wasel overwhelmed the opposition. The girls again had the more exciting race, as Taylor Swift jumped out to the lead early to set the pace, but at the end it was Monica Claro making another late charge to jump in and secure the win. Anna Barboza swam well in her fourth place effort, but it was the Claro show as brother and sister captured consecutive events.

The 8 & unders started off the Fly events with some notable swims, as Anthony Hill posted his best time of the season in 25 Fly as he raced to second place, followed closely by Kevin Ourand. Sarah Marcolin dropped a full second from her 25 fly time as she rolled to a win, leading our 1-2-3 sweep along with Julie Kilmer and Maddy Marvel. Marcello Beatley powered to a second place finish for the 9-10 boys, followed by Tim Wasel in fourth, with Griffin Borman posting a best time to grab fifth place. The 9-10 girls raced well, as did the 11-12 boys, but each faced a strong competition from our visitors. The 11-12 girls closed out their individual events with another strong effort from Lena Bossler, as she posted an impressive two second drop in her time on the way to second place. Chrissy and Mary Kate Wasel followed in third and fourth.

The 13-14 boys brought us back to the top spot, as Bryan Van Gieson completed his perfect day with a big margin of victory in the 50 Fly, followed by another strong effort from Cristian Beatley in third place. Patricio Beatley, swimming up in age to help out the team, amazingly dropped nearly five seconds from his time to grab fifth place and score points. The 13-14 girls turned in another solid effort to close out the meet, finishing 3-4-5. Despite facing an opposing age group that had previously posted many All-Star times, the girls held their own and scored better than expected.

The 15-18 50 Fly closed out the individual events, and the boys were paced by a trio of graduating seniors - Antonio Deshields, Paul Trigonoplos, and Denis English, as they raced to a 1-2-4 finish. The girls closed with a 2-3-4 effort, with Taylor Swift, Monica Claro, and another graduating senior - Caroline Argyros - rounding out the scoring.

There was a bit of excitement to close out the meet in the form of the 175m Graduated Free relays. The boys held off the visitors to win on a very close touch to cap off the meet, and the girls posted a solid third place, as we went 1-3 and 3-4 in the relay events.

Despite the visitors winning more events than we did, we still won the meet by a good margin, due in no small part to our depth. We raced very well under tough conditions, and didn't allow the distractions to get in the way of success. We didn't allow fast seed times from the opposition to dictate the outcome of any race. We made them earn their victories, and when they let up we jumped up and took spots from them. It was another day of great swimming as a team.

Clean Sweepers [a swimmer who won 3 individual events and the Individual Medley]

• Sarah Marcolin - 8 & Under Girls (no IM)
• Bryan Van Gieson - 13-14 Boys
  

First-place finishers

• Caroline Argyros - 100 Back
• Andre Claro - 100 Breast
• Monica Claro - 100 Breast
  
• Antonio Deshields - 100 Free, 100 Back, 50 Fly
• Anthony Hill - 25 Free, 25 Back
• Emma Kuhnsman - 25 Free
  
• Kevin Ourand - 25 Breast
• Taylor Swift - 100 Free, 100 IM
  
• Paul Trigonoplos - 100 IM
• Chrissy Wasel - 50 Back
  

Swims of note

• On a day where best times were hard to come by, the swimmers below managed to come up with some fantastic swims to record season-best times
• Johnny English posting an improvement of nearly 1 second in the 11-12 100 IM
• Theresa Moynihan recording a 1.5 second drop in 50 Free
• Lena Bossler dropping her time by another half-second in 50 Free
• Thomas Moynihan with a big 1.5 second time drop in 50 Free
• Caroline Argyros improving by 1.5 seconds in 100 Back
• Anna Barboza shaving over two full seconds of her time in 100 Back
• Sophia Radich racing well and dropping over a second in 25 Breast
• Cristian Beatley showing an improvement of nearly a full second in 50 Breast
  
• Katie English improving by a second in 50 Breast
• Andre Claro with a half-second drop in 100 Breast
• Monica Claro dropping a half-second in 100 Breast
• Thomas Moynihan with a nearly two second improvement in 50 Fly
• Benedict Radich posting a best time by nearly two seconds in 50 Fly
• Lena Bossler improving her 50 Fly time by over two seconds
• Patricio Beatley with the biggest drop of the week, chopping nearly five seconds off his 50 Fly
  

Swim of the meet

• In this case, we are really looking at swims of the meet, as this swimmer really led by example, racing well and putting forth a great effort, and really providing leadership for an age group that was swimming short-handed. Bryan Van Gieson swept his events and was part of the winning Graduated Free relay. Of the swims, the 100 IM really put the opposition on notice as blasted out to a huge lead and cruised to the win, setting the tone early in the meet.
  

One more week to go. A perfect season is one the line, so let's work hard and be ready to race on Saturday to cap off a wonderful season of swimming.

Tigers win 431-354

Facing both strong competition and foul weather, the Tigers closed out the last home meet of the season in style with 431-354 win over James Creek. Congratulations to all, and many thanks to all of the parents and volunteers who worked in the rain to make the meet run smoothly.

With one meet to go, the Tigers are 4-0 and aiming for a perfect dual meet record.

Saturday A Meet

The meet is a home meet, so please be at Wheaton Woods pool no later than 7:50 AM. We will be starting warm-ups for the meet promptly at 8:00 AM. Please be on time in the morning, as this allows us to make sure that we have everyone present and ready to swim.

See you at the pool. Let's swim fast tomorrow.

Lineup for Saturday A meet vs James Creek

The lineup for our fourth Saturday dual meet is complete. This is also the final home meet of the season, and we will be honoring our graduating seniors. You can use the links below to check the your events.

Meet entries by name
Meet entries by event

There are a few changes from previous meets in terms of events that you may be swimming. We are trying to match up as best possible for this meet, which we expect to be very close. Let's be ready to race on Saturday.

As always, if you see that you are entered in the meet and will not be available for the meet, please let me know as soon as possible.

Pep Rally Friday 7/9 - Pizza and Posters

The pep rally this Friday from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM night is pizza and posters. The sign up sheet is posted at the pool. Please sign up in and pay in advance to Caroline or Patty Arygros. This will ensure that we have enough pizza for everyone. You can order as many whole pizzas as you may need or by the slice. A whole cheese pizza is $8 and a whole pepperoni pizza is $9.50. Check the message board at the pool for the per slice prices.

We are facing a very tough meet against James Creek. Let's have a great pep rally and get ready to swim fast on Saturday morning. Hope to see everyone there.

Home meet Saturday vs James Creek

The meet this Saturday morning will be our closest and toughest meet of the season to this point. I have looked through the results, and we will have our hands full against this team that beat us last year. Let's make sure that we are focused and working hard in practice so that we can swim as fast as possible on Saturday.

As always, please let me know as soon as possible if you will not be available to swim in the meet on Saturday. Thanks to those who have already let me know about this weekend, and thanks to all of you for helping us to keep the scratches to a minimum.

Home B meet vs Strathmore Bel Pre

The final entry for the B meet tomorrow night has been completed. You can review your events below:

Meet entries by name
Meet entries by event

Any changes after this point will be made on the deck at the clerk of course during the meet.

This is a home meet. Please arrive at Wheaton Woods pool by 5:00 PM. Warm-ups will start at 5:15 PM. See you there!

Wednesday night meet vs Strathmore Bel Pre

We have another home meet this Wednesday night against Strathmore Bel Pre. If you have any specific requests for events that you would like to swim, please let one of the coaches know at practice this afternoon. We will be preparing the entry this evening, and a copy of the entry should be posted sometime this evening.

Meet recap: Saturday A meet vs Flower Hill

Our meet Saturday was the first home A meet of the season. With the holiday weekend, we were faced with missing a few swimmers who normally would be swimming multiple events at the meet. The meet projection showed that it could be a close meet if the other team came ready to race, so this meet was expected to be a challenge. However, our early success seemed to build momentum to the point where we were on an unstoppable roll, jumping up spots from our seeds to open a huge lead early in the meet. Once we got going, the other team could not seem to get on track, and we cruised to an easy victory with our largest point total and margin of victory this season.

The opening event of the meet, the 11-12 100 IM, was notable in one regard, as Bruce Barboza had his season-long winning streak broken. This was the first time this season that he had not won an event, and Wheaton Woods actually was behind after the event despite the solid swims from Bruce Barboza and Johnny English, and the strong effort from James Hill as he posted a two second drop in his swim. The 11-12 girls trio of Lena Bossler, Chrissy Wasel, and Mary Kate Wasel each posted season-best times on the way to a 2-3-4 finish in the 11-12 Girls 100 IM. This brought us back to even in the score, and we never again trailed after this event.

The Open 200m Medley Relay has been a source of strength for us all year, and this meet was no exception. The team of Paul Trigonoplos, Andre Claro, Paul Rowedder, and Antonio Deshields cruised to a big win, and the second relay team of Oliver Sangster, Paul Wasel, Denis English, and Joseph Malusky challenged for second, but settled for a strong third place to tack on some additional points. The girls also had a strong showing with the team of Caroline Argyros, Monica Claro, Taylor Swift, and Anna Barboza rolling to a big win. Our second relay of Alex Wasel, Katie English, Lauren Malusky, and Maggie Nacarrato worked hard but had to settle for fourth place.

The Freestyle events opened up with the 8 & unders, and they took care of business, with Anthony Hill, Kevin Ourand, and Avery Miller finishing 2-3-4, while the girls were paced by the victory in 25 Free by Maddy Marvel swimming in a Saturday for the first time this year. Other swimmers posting best times in 25 Free were Gabriel Radich and George Marcolin. After this fast swimming by the 8 & unders, the 9-10 boys really got us rolling in the 50 Free.

Tim Wasel, Matthew Ourand, and Griffin Borman jumped out to a 1-2-3 finish, beating the swimmer seeded first in the event. This was a huge time drop for Tim and Griffin, and they were joined by Marcello Beatley and Michael Hill to capture 5 of the top 6 places in the event. This finish really seemed to change the momentum of the meet. The 9-10 girls kept it rolling with a solid 2nd place finish from Annie Marcolin and a best time from Brigid English as she captured 4th place.

The 13-14 boys kept up the pressure with a 1-3-4-5-7 finish in 50 Free, paced by Russell Sangster. Bryan Van Gieson continued his strong season of swimming in posting a 3rd place finish, and he was joined by Danny Ferreira and Cristian Beatley in adding to our point totals. The 13-14 girls continued the charge with Tricia Rowedder jumping up a spot from her seed to capture second place as she posted her season-best time. Despite only a short break from the medley relay, Maggie Nacarrato and Katie English both posted solid swims to grab 4th and 5th place respectively.

Bruce Barboza started a new winning streak in the 11-12 boys 50 free, grabbing the top spot as we rolled to another strong finish, going 1-3-4-5. Johnny English, James Hill, and John Franscis Marcolin each posted season-best times as Wheaton Woods continued to hammer away in the Freestyle events. The 11-12 girls, not wishing to be outdone by the boys, posted a 1-2-4-5-6-7 finish, scoring even more points that the boys did. Lena Bossler led the way with her first-place finish, and was joined by Chrissy Wasel in second and Ashley Jeffers in third. Mary Kate Wasel, Gianna D'Avella, and Laura Nacarrato rounded out the strong showing in this event.

The 15-18 boys and girls got in on the act by posting identical 1-2-3-4-7 finishes, closing out the rout in the Freestyle events. For the boys, Antonio Deshields cruised to the win, followed by Paul Rowedder. They were joined by Joseph Malusky, jumping up to grab third place from the first heat, and Oliver Sangster closed out the scoring with his 4th place finish. The girls were led by Taylor Swift, followed by Monica Claro. Caroline Argyros posted her season-best time on the way to third place, and Anna Barboza and Lauren Malusky rounded out the finishes for Wheaton Woods.

The Freestyle events were some of the best racing that we have done all year. While not all of the swims were best times, people raced and finished well, which is the key to success in the dual meets. Our great races did not stop with the end of the Freestyle events, but carried over into the 13-14 100 IM.

Russell Sangster continued to shine with his victory in the 100 IM, but the compelling part of the race was Bryan Van Gieson making a big comeback in the final freestyle leg to catch and pass the swimmer from Flower Hill and capture second place. Danny Ferreira posted a solid swim and a season-best time on the way to fourth place, and again we scored big points to keep pushing the lead to a bigger and bigger margin. The 13-14 girls raced to a 3-5-6 finish in the face of strong competition.

After the completion of the 13-14 IM, it was on to the Backstroke events. Starting off with the 8 & unders, the Tigers swam to a 2-3-4 finish for the boys, while the girls raced to a 1-2 finish. Anthony Hill paced the boys, joined by Avery Miller and Justin Davis, while Sarah Marcolin grabbed first place in her first event of the morning and was joined by Maddy Marvel who had another impressive swim. Sarah's victory was the first of four consecutive wins in the Backstroke events. The 9-10 boys took charge of their event with a 1-2-3 sweep. Michael Hill led the way, and was joined by Matthew Ourand and Tim Wasel. The 9-10 girls posted a 1-3-5 finish, with Annie Marcolin capturing the with her season-best time. Brigid English and Keely Mashburn each improved their times by over a second as they contributed to the point total.

The 15-18 100 Back was the next event, and the boys cruised to a 1-2-4 finish, while the girls faced a bit more competition and had to settle for a 3-4-6 finish. Flower Hill continued to try rally as we headed into the 11-12 50 Back, where we could only get another 3-4-6 finish despite a season-best time from Johnny English and an impressive 2 second time drop for James Hill. The 11-12 girls got us back on track with a 2-3-4 finish featuring season-best times by Chrissy Wasel, Ashley Jeffers, and Gianna D'Avella. The 13-14 Boys grabbed one last first place before the halftime break, with Bryan Van Gieson posting his fastest time of the season as he cruised to a big win. Matthew Hill and Danny Ferreira captured 4th and 5th respectively as we continued to boost our point total. The 13-14 girls closed out the first half of the meet with a 3-4-5 finished, highlighted by a nice time drop for Maggie Nacarrato.

When the halftime score was announced, we had amassed our largest halftime lead of the season with a 248-164 margin. However,we didn't stop swimming fast or racing, but instead went on to post a very strong second half of the meet, scoring almost as many points in the second half of the meet despite there being fewer events to swim.

The 15-18 10o IM ended any doubts about the outcome of the meet as both the boys and girls posted a 1-2-3 finish to tack another 20 points on to our already large lead. Caroline Argyros swam a strong last 25 to catch and pass the lead swimmer from Flower hill to complete the sweep for the girls. Entering the Breaststroke events, Wheaton Woods now enjoyed a 100 point lead.

Moving through the Breastroke events, Kevin Ourand captured first place for the 8 & under boys, while Sarah Marcolin equaled that with her own victory for the 8 & under girls. Kaeyln Mashburn and Therese McGovern also posted strong swims for the 8 & under girls. The 9-10 boys and girls followed with solid efforts, and then Bruce Barboza grabbed the top spot for the 11-12 boys. Lena Bossler, Mary Kate Wasel,and Ashley Jeffers followed that up with a 2-3-4 finish for the girls. The 13-14 boys continued their dominance, posting a 1-3-4 finish, with Russell Sangster capturing the top spot and Danny Ferreira nearly taking second but settling for third. the 13-14 girls continued their battle with the tough competition, and posted a nice 2-3-5 finish led by Tricia Rowedder along with Katie English and Deena Mayer-Whittington. The 15-18 age group continued to dominate, with the boys recording a 1-2 finish by Paul Trigonpolos and Andre Claro. Not to be outdone, the girls went 1-2-3 on the strength of the efforts by Taylor Swift, Monica Claro, and Anna Barboza.

Entering the Fly events, the heat seemed to be wearing on everyone, but we still maintained our focus to swim fast and race well. Kevin Ourand started off by taking 2nd place for the 8 & under boys, followed by Anthony Hill in 3rd. Sarah Marcolin completed her perfect morning with a victory in the 8 & under 25 Fly, and the 9-10 boys contiued to hammer away with a 1-2-4 finish. Marcello Beatley continued to shine as he took the top spot, and Tim Wasel and Griffin Borman both posted big time drops. All of the 9-10 girls posted best times in their 25 Fly swims, led by Brigid English who took 2nd place and Mary Rowedder who posted a giant 6 second drop on her way to fourth place. The 11-12 boys posted a 2-4-5 finish, while the 11-12 girls continued to show thier depth by going 2-3-4 in the 50 Fly. Russel Sangster and Bryan Van Gieson continued their strong showing for the 13-14 boys with another 1-2 finish, and Cristian Beatley posted his best time of the season as well. The 13-14 girls closed out with a 2-3-5 finish, as Maggie Nacarrato posted her best time of the season by over 2 seconds as she took second place in the event. Our 15-18 swimmers closed out the meet with another set of sweeps, as both the boys and girls posted 1-2-3 finishes in their respective events. It was a fitting close to the individual events, but the most impressive swim of the meet was still to come.

The meet clsoed with the 175m Graduated Free relays. The boys relay cruised to a big victory, and both relay entries swam well as they posted a 1-3 finish. Our girls were working hard, but our A relay was trailing going in to the last leg of the race, which is the 25m Free by the 8 & under. Sarah Marcolin started about 10m behind the swimmer from Flower Hill, but she never gave up, and powered her way past the other swimmer to touch her out for the victory. It was a very exciting end to the meet, and put the exclamation point on our effort in the big win.

Clean Sweepers [a swimmer who won 3 individual events and the Individual Medley]

• Sarah Marcolin - 8 & Under Girls (no IM)
• Russell Sangster - 13-14 Boys
• Taylor Swift - 15-18 Girls

First-place finishers

• Bruce Barboza - 50 Free, 50 Breast
• Marcello Beatley - 25 Fly
• Lena Bossler - 50 Free
• Antonio Deshields - 100 Free, 100 Back, 50 Fly
• Michael Hill - 25 Back
• Annie Marcolin - 25 Back
• Maddy Marvel - 25 Free
• Kevin Ourand - 25 Breast
• Paul Trigonoplos - 100 IM, 100 Breast
• Tim Wasel - 50 Free
  

Swims of note

• Griffin Borman with a 3 second drop in 50 Free, and another drop of 2 seconds in 25 Fly
• John Francis Marcolin with an impressive drop in the 50 Free in his first A meet of the year
• Ashley Jeffers posting best times by over 3 seconds in the 50 Free and 50 Breast, and over 2 seconds in the 50 back. Ashley had an outstanding meet.
• Mary Rowedder with a huge 6 second drop in 25 Fly
• Kaelyn Mashburn with an impresssive 2.5 second improvement in 25 Breast
• Tim Wasel with a nearly 3 second improvement in 25 Fly
• Laura Nacarrato with a big 3 second improvement in 50 Free
• Maggie Nacarrato with a 2.5 second drop in 50 Fly
• Maxwell Miller with another big time drop of over 5 seconds in the 50 Free
  

Swim of the meet

• The final event of the meet featured a stunning come from behind win on the strength of the last 25 charge by Sarah Marcolin. She caught the swimmer from the other team despite the nearly 10 meter lead and touched her out for the victory. This was a great way to close the meet, and demonstrated that it is important to never give up on a race even when seemingly far behind.

Great swimming Tigers. Keep up the good work in practice, as the meets will get much closer for our final two Saturday A meets.

Practice schedule this week

After the schedule changes last week and taking this morning off,we are finally back on our normal schedule for the remainder of this week. Mornings will resume at the normal 8:30 AM start time on Tuesday morning.

No morning practice on July 5

We will be taking the morning off on July 5. We will have normal practice in the afternoon.

Enjoy your 4th of July celebrations.

Tigers roll to big win at home

The Tigers got an early start to the Independence Day weekend with fireworks of their own at the first home A meet of the season. A lot of fast swimming in the freestyle events got the team on an early roll, and it led to a big win over Flower Hill by the score of 481-305 as the team improved to 3-0 on the season.

Congratulations on a lot of great swimming today.

Lineup for Saturday A meet vs Flower Hill

The lineup for our third Saturday dual meet is complete. You can use the links below to check the your events.

Meet entries by name
Meet entries by event

One note - I intentionally entered a few people in the freestyle events even though I know they will not be present. This allows me to scratch someone into the meet, which is not the case if we do not make an entry at all. If you told me that you would not be at the meet, I am aware and I am just trying to leave some room to make substitutions if the opportunity presents itself.

Theme for Saturday A meet vs Flower Hill

We are going to keep it simple this weekend, and in honor of our Independence Day, we will have a patriotic theme. Let's get decked out in our red, white, and blue and show our pride.

Reminder on Saturday meet availability

With the holiday weekend coming up, I'd like to remind anyone who has not already let me know to please make it clear if you will not be available for the meet this Saturday. Since almost everyone has swum or likely will swim in a Saturday 'A' meet this season, please let me know even if you have yet to swim in an A meet.

Thanks to those of you who have been so diligent in keeping me in the loop. We have done a great job so far of keeping our lanes filled and posting a strong lineup each week. I want to make sure that we keep the momentum going, especially as our remaining meets promise to be much closer than our first two dual meets.

The lineup for Saturday should be posted sometime late this evening.

B meet vs Rockville last night

The meet last night was a great success. While it was by far our largets and longest meet on a Wednesday night, that didn't stop the swims from being fast from start to finish. I'm still checking through the results, so I will post some of the notable swims later tonight after practice.

M Division Relay Carnival recap

The M Division Relay Carnival was at North Creek on a Sunday morning, the day after we had visited North Creek for our dual meet. Given that the relay meet was very early in the season, we really didn't know what to expect from the other teams, as we had only seen one week's worth of results for the division. However, we went out and took care of business, swimming very fast again at the Relay Carnival after a strong effort the day before. At the end of the meet, the Tigers stood alone in first place with 200 points, 28 points ahead of second place North Creek. We had swum so well that we had clinched the victory prior to the last relay even being swum.

We started off the relay carnival in grand style, with our boys 175m Graduated Free relay team taking the top spot. The relay of Tim Wasel, Bruce Barboza, Bryan Van Gieson, and Anthony Hill posted their best time of the season so far with a 2:06.87. Our girls followed up in their 175m Graduated Free relay with a solid effort as they swam to a sixth place finish. After the Graduated Relays, we moved into the Mixed Freestyle relays for each age group.

Our 15-18 Mixed Free relay posted a top finish, as Antonio Deshields, Paul Trigonoplos, Taylor Swift, and Annie Warner raced to victory by nearly 4 seconds. The team grabbed an early lead and never let the other teams get close. The 13-14 Mixed Free relay posted a solid 5th place finish, and featured tough swimming from Tricia Rowedder and Bryan Van Gison, each of whom had just finished swimming in the Graduated Free relay only a few minutes before. The mixed 8 & under free relay had an exciting finish, with Sarah Marcolin chasing down the swimmer from North Creek on the last 25 of the race but not quite able to catch them, so the Tigers settled for a strong second place finish. The 8 & under relay team of Anthony Hill, Kevin Ourand, and Emma Kuhnsman along with Sarah Marcolin all swam well and gave great effort.

Our 9-10 Mixed Free relay team of tim Wasel, Matthew Ourand, Annie Marcolin, and Mary Rowedder all posted solid splits on the way to a fourth place finish, while our 11-12 Mixed Free relay of Bruce Barboza, Mickey Van Gieson, Lena Bossler, and Chrissy Wasel matched that effort with a fourth place finish as well. Each of the relays swam well against strong competition in their respective age groups.

After the Mixed Free relays, we moved to the Open Medley relays. Our boys continued their dominance of the event with a big win by Paul Trigonoplos, Andre Claro, Paul Rowedder, and Antonio Deshields. The relay had a victory margin of almost 10 seconds over the second place team. Our girls team of Caroline Argyros, Monica Claro, Taylor Swift, and Annie Warner followed with a strong effort on the way to a second place finish.

Next up were the Graduated 100m Medley relays, where each one swimmer from the 8 & under, 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 age groups swims a 25. Our boys team of Matthew Ourand swimming backstroke, Bruce Barboza swimming breaststroke, Bryan Van Gieson swimming fly, and Anthony Hill swimming free jumped out to an early lead and ran away to victory by nearly three seconds. The girls also posted strong swims, featuring Annie Marcolin in backstroke, Lena Bossler in breaststroke, Haley O'Brien in fly, and Sarah Marcolin in free. The girls placed fifth against strong competition, and this led us to the first break.

Of the 11 events swum before the first break, we had won four, and placed second twice. It was a very strong showing, and the trend would continue after the first break as we moved into the medley relays. Unlike the earlier mixed freestyle events, these relays would be swum in single age groups, with boys and girls competing separately.

The 8 & under boys 100m Medley relay was the first event after the break, and in the same manner that we started the meet, we kicked off the next part of the meet with a win. The relay team of Mathias Barish in backstroke, Kevin Ourand in breast, Anthony Hill in fly, and Avery Miller in free swam a strong race to capture the top spot. The 8 & under girls followed suit with a win of their own in the 100m Medley relay. Sarah Marcolin swam backstroke, Kaelyn Mashburn swam breaststroke, Julie Kilmer swam the Fly leg, and Emma Kuhnsman swam a strong freestyle anchor.

The 9-10s put forth strong efforts as the boys raced to a fourth place finish, while the girls would have placed fifth but unfortunately had our only DQ of the meet in their race. That hiccup was followed by another strong effort by the 15-18s, who raced to another victory in the Mixed Medley relay. Antonio Deshields led off in backstroke, followed by Paul Trigonolplos in breaststroke. Taylor Swift swam fly, and Annie Warner anchored in Freestyle. It was another big win of nearly 5 seconds for the same relay team that won the Mixed Free event.

The 11-12 Medley relays were next up, and the boys posted a strong finish to grab second overall. Johnny English led off in backstroke, James Hill swam the breaststroke leg, Bruce Barboza swam the fly leg, and Mickey Van Gieson raced the freestyle to secure our position. The girls, swimming against very strong competition, finished in third place after an excellent effort by the relay team of Mary Kate Wasel, Lena Bossler, Chrissy Wasel, and Gianna D'Avella. The 13-14 Boys matched that third place finish after a solid effort from the team of Matthew Hill, Cristian Beatley, Bryan Van Gieson, and Patricio Beatley, who swam up to fill out the relay and did an outstanding job. The last event before the second break was the Medley for the 13-14 girls, and they closed out this portion of the meet with a fifth place finish by the team of Alex Wasel, Tricia Rowedder, Haley O'Brien, and Katie English.

The final two events of the meet were the 250m Crescendo Freestyle relays. In the same way that we restarted after the first break, the boys swam to an impressive win. With a margin of nearly five seconds over second place, it was an impressive victory for the relay team of Anthony Hill, Bruce Barboza, Antonio Deshields, Bryan van Gieson, and Tim Wasel. This first-place finish also clinched the overall meet win for Wheaton Woods. The girls relay of Sarah Marcolin, Lena Bossler, Taylor Swift, Tricia Rowedder, and Annie Marcolin closed out the meet with a strong third place finish.

One thing that stood out the entire meet was that we did not beat ourselves with DQs. We swam legal strokes and had only a single DQ for the entire meet. Other teams had as many as four DQs, and we were able to field competitive relays in every event.

The final scores:

Wheaton Woods 200
North Creek 172
Montgomery Square 150
Twin Farms 142
Flower Hill 114
James Creek 112

It was a great performance, capping an outstanding weekend of swimming. Congratulations Tigers!