Saturday morning started the last meet of the Herndon Swim League’s 2013 summer swim season. Food was brought to concessions and tents were being set-up around Four Seasons Recreation Center in Herndon as the All-league meets were about to begin. Each team was assigned a warm-up time and all of the coaches set up their spots on the chairs that bordered the side of the pool. The computers were set up and timers were trained on how to push the button so that the computer could read an accurate recording of when each swimmer was to touch the wall.
As the swimmers dove into the water for warm-ups parents started trickling into the seating areas which were set up so that they could watch their swimmers during each race that their coaches had put them in for the meets. After each warm-up group there was the unmistakable sound of teams screaming out their cheers trying to out-cheer the other teams that were cheering at the same time. The deafening roar of the cheers mixed with the splashing of the water during warm-ups made for a sound that was quite loud to anyone who was still asleep that lived around the pool. Every year they have heard these sounds and every year the swimmers and parents have to wake up early, some to cheer on the swimmers and some to jump into a cold pool in the wee hours of the morning.
When the swimmers were lined up for their races relief spread across the crowd that was watching because it was not raining and it was not too sunny, the perfect way to start an all-day event. Starting with IM’s just as in a regular meet the boys 10 and under swimmers lined up at the edge of the pool to swim in a race they had been working all season to qualify for, the qualifying time being a 1:53.29. As they dove into the water it seemed to be as close of a race that it could be and by the end it was still as close as at the start. The winner of the race, John Frey from Kingston Chase (KC) out-touched the second place recipient by .60, John Frey touching in a 1:47.14 and David Whomsley from Hunters Creek (HC) touching with a 1:47.74. When the fastest heat for the girls dove into the water it was clear that the race would not be anywhere near as close as the boys’ race. Georgia Cutrell (HC) was able to be far ahead in the lead throughout most of the race, touching in a 1:35.28 which was 6 seconds ahead of the next swimmer.
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The boys’ 11-12 IM race was very close down to the end of the race. The two swimmers who clinched first and second are both from the Herndon Community Center (HCC) and they were only a second apart. Josh Zhang won the race with a time of 1:16.74 while Henry Zhang was close behind with a 1:17.98. When it came to the girls 11-12 race it was a blow-out with Claudia Reverte from Bradley Farm (BF) coming into the wall to touch for a time of 1:15.31 setting a new meet and league record, the old league record was a 1:15.64 held by Cynthia Roller since 1995 and the old meet record was a 1:16.41 held by Andrea Nakazawa since 1998! There were other records set when Christian Ginieczki (KC) finished his 13-14 IM race in a 1:08.52, narrowly beating Jimmy McLaughlin’s league and meet record of a 1:08.73 which he achieved in 2002. In the girls 13-14 race Juhi Sharma (HCC) was able to win the race with a 1:17.86, 4 seconds ahead of the second place swimmer. For the boys 15-18 IM race it was a close race between all of the swimmers in the fastest heat. Conor Cudahy (HC) was able to clinch first place with a 1:05.95. In the girls race Ryan Murphy (KC) came off of her dive with a lead which she held onto for the whole race, during Breaststroke she pulled even farther ahead of the pack to finish 2 seconds ahead of the next competitor.
While everyone was looking forward to a fast meet, as we had previewed during the IM races, we realized with the 13 heats of 6 and under swimmers to start off the Freestyle events that all of the spectators were in for a long day of waiting. Results for the rest of the meet were split into two meets, All-Stars and Championships. If a swimmer was in the Championship meet they had to have a qualifying time before the meet to be slotted into the top heats. With the boys 6 and under Freestyle races underway Ryan Guild from Sterling Park (SP) was able to clinch first place for the All-Stars meet with a time of 34.88, dropping 10 seconds from his seed time. John Patrick O’Donovan (HC) was able to touch for first place in the Championship race with a time of 25.88! Haley Guild (SP) was able to secure her All-Star victory in the 6 and under age-group by dropping almost 7 seconds to finish with a time of 31.00! Sophia Lu (HCC) was ahead of the pack for the Championship race from her dive, she was able to hold her big lead throughout the race and clinched first with a time of 24.95. The 7-8 age group was up next with a stunning 16 heats of Freestyle. The winners for the All-Star division of the meet were Mohammed Hawa from Kingstream (KS) and Katherine Wang (HCC). For the Championships division of the meet Luke Wolfe (SP) was out with the lead at the start of the race until Tommo Buckley (HC) sped up and came back to win the race with a time of 21.00 only .15 ahead of Wolfe. Sophia Lee (HCC) was able to take the lead and win the 7-8 girls’ race.
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In the 9-10 year old age group there were 19 heats of swimmers for the 50 Freestyle. In the All-Stars races Daniel Silvestri (HC) just out-swam Eric Zou (BF), with only .82 separating the boy’s times. For the girls All-Star races Richa Khedkar (HCC) shaved 5 seconds off of her time to clinch first place. During the Championship races Scott Musgrave (BF) stayed close to his best time winning the race with a 39.83 and Susanna Adams from Four Seasons (FS) was far ahead of the pack when she won the race with a 37.34. As the amount of heats became smaller, the swimmers became faster in the 11-12 races. For the All-Stars division Matthew Chesnutt (SP) won with a time of 41.91, four seconds faster than his seed time, and Magan Kim (FS) won the girls All-Star division with a time of 41.69, taking off 3 seconds from her seed time. In the Championships division Josh Zhang (HCC) took the lead and held it throughout the 50, achieving a time of 29.70 which beat the meet record, the last meet record was held by Edward Roberts with a time of 30.30 in 1998. For the girls’ race Claudia Reverte (BF) again set a meet and League record with a 30.13, the League record had been held since 1997 by Thresa Rutoti and the meet record had been held since 2008 by Ryan Murphy. In the 13-14 races Ian Larson (BF) and Juliana Yerovi (KC) were able to clinch first place in the All-Star division. In the Championships division it was a photo finish touch for the boys with Alan Zhai (BF) just out-touching Kevin Salassi (HC) to take the win, Zhai ended with a 28.37 and Salassi with a 28.43. Meg Calhoun (HC) pulled away during the second lap of the girls’ 13-14 race securing first with a time of 30.82. From the start of the boys 15-18 race Conor Cudahy gained the lead and then held it through the race to finish with a time of 26.65. For the girls 15-18 race there was a team rivalry from the moment that Karly Ginieczki (KC) and Ryan Murphy (KC) stepped up to the edge of the pool. The race was close all the way down to the touch with Murphy just barely out-touching Ginieczki 30.43 to 30.87.
Next up for the swimmers were their Butterfly races. For the 8 and under Butterfly races Luke Wolfe (SP) won the Championships division with a time of 27.42, Heidi Gilman (HCC) won the All-Stars with a time of 40.94 which was 4 seconds faster than her seed time, and Chloe Thompson (HCC) took home the gold in the Championships division with a time of 25.01. During the 9-10 boys 25 meter Butterfly races it was a winning time for Kingston Chase with Jackson Buley winning the All-Stars division with a best time of 28.99, and Will McClain out-touching David Jorgensen in the Championship division, also from Kingston Chase, with a time of 20.55. In the girls 25 meter Butterfly Shivani Viswanathan (HCC) won the All-Stars division with a time of 26.46 and Georgia Cutrell (HC) starting from her dive with a lead she held onto for the remainder of the race, clinching first with a 18.03. For the 11-12 age group All-Stars division Jason Yu (FS) won for the boys with a time of 56.17 and Lauren Lynch from Fox Field (FF) won with a time of 46.97. In the Championships division the races were much closer with Ignat Miagkov touching with a best time of 35.67 to win for the boys and Grace Cutrell (HC) just out-touching Allison Pritz (BF) to win the race with a time of 36.01. Eric Walter (HCC) took home the gold in the All-Stars division for the 13-14 boys finishing with a best time of 39.70 while Theresa Vierow won the girls All-Star division with a time of 48.83. Christian Ginieczki clinched another win as well as another meet and league record with a time of 29.42 beating the 1992 League record of a 30.15 held by Reinaldo Faberlle and the 1997 Meet record of a 20.2 held by Doug Wharm. The 13-14 girls race was a close one between Gillian Cutrell (HC) and Natalie Pritz (BF) with Pritz out-touching Cutrell to clinch first with a 34.58. For the 15-18 boys race it was a close call for the start of the race with Christopher Fronczak (KS) and Jack Van Camp (KC) staying close to each other for most of the race, in the end Van Camp would win by 2 strokes with a time of 29.91. The girls’ 15-18 race was close from the start between Samantha Kenis (HC), Elizabeth McNulty (KC) and Katie Degutis (BF), Degutis was able to pull slightly ahead of the other girls to win with a time of 32.92.
In the middle of the meet, after the Herndon Swim League Scholarship winners were announced and after the second round of warm-ups ended, the fastest group of mixed-age boys and girls from each team raced in the mixed-age relays. For the boys it was a close race between the relay teams from Kingston Chase and Hunters Creek with the Kingston Chase team (Hugh McNulty, John Frey, Christian Ginieczki and Jack Van Camp) clinching the win 3 seconds ahead of Hunters Creek with a time of 2:08.52. In the girls race the Bradley Farm relay team was out to a good start with Claudia Reverte beating out Grace Cutrell in their head-to-head 50 meters of the relay. After that the Hunters Creek relay team (Grace Cutrell, Georgia Cutrell, Meg Calhoun and Carey Rice) took the lead and held it until the end when they finished with a time of 2:09.86 beating the meet record which had also been set and held by Hunters Creek since 2007 (2:10.83).
After the relays were over and the younger swimmers were lined up for their races we found ourselves at the start of the Breaststroke events. Starting off the Breaststroke races Peter Hinckley (HC) won the All-Stars division for 8 and under boys 25 meter Breaststroke with a time of 31.25 and Vivek Pothineni (HCC) the only 8 and under boy in the Championships division had a time of 28.38! For the girls Snehsa Seshadri (HCC) won the All-Stars division with a best time of 31.73 while Riya Ghate (FS) won the Championships division by shaving 3 seconds off of her seed time to achieve a 26.81 in her race. In the 9-10 age-group Rory Agana (RR) won the All-Stars division for the boys with a time of 1:03.44 and David Whomsley (HC) held the lead throughout his race to clinch first with a time of 54.37. For the girls’ races Isabel Yi (HCC) won in the All-Stars division with a best time by 5 seconds of 59.54 and Theresa McNulty (KC) won in the Championships division with a time of 49.28. For the boys 11-12 races Nick Vierow (KC) won the All-Star division with a best time of 1:00.08 and Josh Zhang led throughout his Championship race to win with a time of 38.49. Caitlin Thompson (FS) was able to clinch the win for the All-Star division for the girls 11-12 with a best time of 56.55. Claudia Reverte (BF) dominated her race finishing 11 seconds ahead of the next swimmer with a best time of 39.52. In the 13-14 boys group Elijah Green (HCC) clinched first in the All-Star division with a personal best of 45.06. When it came down to the Championship race it was very close between Matthew Malito (HC) and TJ Alvy (FS), the race came down to the final glide and touch by the swimmers and Malito was able to get a fingertip on the wall before Alvy finishing with a 41.79 while Alvy finished with a 42. For the girls’ races Juliana Yerovi was able to get the win in the All-Stars division with a personal best of 51.49, while Meg Calhoun came out of her dive with the lead in the Championship race and held it to win with a time of 41.73. Mitchell Pleasure (HC) was able to just out-touch Ryan McNulty (KC) in the 15-18 boys race, Pleasure ended with a time of 36.12 and McNulty ended with a time of 36.27. Elizabeth McNulty (KC) was able to get the lead from the pull-out of her 15-18 race and she was able to hold the lead through the race to finish with a time of 39.37, 2 seconds ahead of anyone else in the race.
As the sun started to break through the clouds swimmers and spectators could feel the rays beating down on them as swimmers were lining up and getting ready for the last events of the day, Backstroke. Backstroke, similar to Freestyle, had many heats of the events in each age-group so bear with me for this one. In the 6 and under age group the winners for the All-Star division were Jack Keifer (KS), who came into the meet with a time of 1:05.33 and finished his race with a time of 42.40 (a stunning 23 second improvement) and Emilia Vintamilla who came to the meet with a seed time of a 1:03.66 and finished with a 47 (a 16 second improvement)! The swimmers who won for the Championship division were Brady Nicholas (HC) who caught up to Rishabh Malkani (HCC) to clinch the win with a time of 33.37, and Sophia Lu (HCC) who had a big win with a time of 28.87, 4 seconds faster than her runner-up. In the 7-8 year old age group the All-Star division winners were Nicholas Yohey (FS) with a time of 36.32 and Maya Dearson (KS) with a time of 35.20. The winners for the Championship division of the 7-8 age group were Tommo Buckley (HC) who had a huge lead over his competitors in the race finishing with a time of 24.99, which was 5 seconds faster than the second place winner, and Sophia Lee (HCC) with a time of 24.28, only a few tenths of a second faster than her competitors. After the 7-8 girls finished their Backstroke races there was a “dip-in” where swimmers, spectators, and the staff working the meet (Coaches, Guards and Volunteers) were able to get into the pool to cool-off before the end of the meet.
The meet picked back up again with the 9-10 age group, swimming 50 meter Backstroke races. In the 9-10 age group the winners of the All-Star division were Riley Burch (FS), who took off 4 seconds to achieve a time of 55.14, and Kate Distefano (FS), who took off 5 seconds to finish with a time of 57.46. The 9-10 Championship winners were Forrest Hitchcock (BF) with a best time of 47.89, just out-touching David Whomsley (HC) who finished in second with a 48.10, and Georgia Cutrell (HC) with a time of 42.31, 5 seconds ahead of the next competitor. In the 11-12 age group for the All-Stars division Carter Allain (RR) won for the boys with a best time of 49.37 and Ella Hinckley (HC) with a personal best time of 52.36. In the Championship division the boys race was too close to call between Ignat Miagkov (KS) and Henry Zhang (HCC), when the times came out Miagkov had just out-touched Zhang, Miagkov with a time of 36.35 and Zhang with a time of 36.55. Through the girls 11-12 Championship race Julia Salassi (HC) held the lead throughout the race with Allison Pritz (BF) close behind, Salassi finished with a time of 37.67 while Pritz finished in 29.65. For the 13-14 age group in the All-Star division Brandon Tran (KS) won the boys race with a personal best time of 45.72 while Theresa Vierow won for the girls with a 48.06. In the Championship division of the 13-14 age group Christian Ginieczki (KC) had a huge lead from the start and held it through the race finishing with a time of 32.37 and Natalie Pritz (BF) led as soon as she emerged from kicking and won with a time of 35.40, 5 seconds ahead of her competitors. For the girls 15-18 race it was another rivalry between Karly Ginieczki and Ryan Murphy both from Kingston Chase, Murphy leading for the whole race finishing with a 33.08 with Giniecski close behind finishing with a time of 34.22.
The 15-18 boys Backstroke race was a sentimental one with three of the swimmers in the top heat swimming their last race in the swim league as they would be too old to compete next year. The swimmers stepped up and jumped into the water as their heat was being announced, very well knowing they might not swim each other again in a competitive meet such as this one. Sean McCrone (BF), Conor Cudahy (HC) and Ryan McNulty (KC), all seniors, all great swimmers, and all ready to leave their last and final mark in the pool during this 50 meter Backstroke race. As soon as the race started you could see just how close the race was going to be when it was over, and in 29.74 (Cudahy) 30.92 (McCrone) and 32.66 (McNulty) they did leave their mark, especially McNulty out-touching Jack Van Camp (KC time of 32.75) to clinch 3rd in his final race of his Herndon Swim League career.
As soon as the races were over clean-ups started, undoing the concessions tables, timers dispersed, taking down all of the tents, taking down the flags, rolling in the lane lines, and saying goodbye to the Herndon Summer Swim League…until next season rolls around again.
