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
- 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.
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