RSTA Cares: Swimming and Service at the Pools

A cool, rainy morning didn’t dampen the spirit of the RSTA teams Saturday, June 21, as swimmers all across Reston demonstrated their concern for others along with their swimming skills. A towel collection for the homeless and a display of support for a grieving family showed that Reston swimmers have big hearts not only for speed and endurance but also for caring and compassion.

All nine RSTA teams participated in the Reston Aquatics Challenge to see which team could collect the most towels for donation to the Embry Rucker Shelter in Reston.  The shelter opens its doors once a week for homeless people to take showers, but it doesn't always have towels for them. Organized as an Eagle Scout project by Robby Cordts of Troop 1313 in Reston, the challenge garnered 365 towels for the shelter.

Winning the challenge with a collection of 98 towels was the Lake Anne Stingrays. Trailing Lake Anne were the Lake Audubon Barracudas with 61 towels; Ridge Heights Sharks with 48; Lake Newport Lightning with 47; Hunters Woods Blue Marlins with 22; North Hills Hurricanes with 20; Newbridge Dolphins with 18; Autumnwood Piranhas with 17; and Glade Gators with 4.  Troop 1313 also contributed 30 towels to the effort.

“As swimmers we take towels for granted, however there are people in Reston to whom towels are a luxury,” said Cordts. “I’m happy with the participation of all the teams and that people in Reston still care about those less fortunate.”

Compassion also was on display as several teams selected orange as their spirit theme to honor Newbridge team parent and avid volunteer David Tremaine and his family. “David Tremaine very recently passed away due to colon cancer. He was Hayfield Secondary’s principal in Alexandria—school colors were orange, and a significant part of his wardrobe and persona—and his loss was significant to many in the Reston and Hayfield communities,” said Kimberly Berry of Glade swim team.  A fund for the Tremaine family has been established at http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/village-orange-support-/192883/

Hunters Woods Blue Marlins 544, Glade Gators 484

For Hunters Woods, Nolan Dunkel set a new team record in the Boys 8 & under 25-meter butterfly, breaking a record set in 1999 with a new time of 18.99. Triple event winners were Nolan Dunkel, Gwyneth Wagner, Eric Tang, and Ashley Turner. Double event winners were Katie Wang, Phillip Pan, Roger Zeng, Gloria Wang, Jack Ham, Ashley Thai, Melissa Le, Spencer Line, Megan Le, William Yao, and Thomas Evans.

For Glade, triple event winners were Clara Landeryou, Sophia Landeryou, Andrew DeLillio, and Reagan Tobias. Double event winners were Rachel Smith, Emily Landeryou, Kellie McCrea, David Clark, Joseph Letteri, Olivia Cochis, and Lindsey Hirshfeld.

Lake Newport Lightning 699, Autumnwood Piranhas 372

For Lake Newport triple event winners were Anna Redican, Jack Edgemond, Dan Ni, Emi Redican, Lindsey Jacobson, Casey Storch, Vincent Kahng, Siena Shannon, Alan Yu, and Vania Zeledon. Double event winners were Bridget Brennan, Maggie Karim, Joseph Redican, Jeffrey George, Nathan Ho, Mara Redican, Polina Eskin, and Andrew Shedlock.

For Autumnwood triple event winners were Luke McDermott, Jair Valenzuela,and  Kalista Majoros, Double event winners were Manda Xie, Bailey Copeland, Caden Southworth, Natalie Bolster, Benjamin Thompson, Valerie Kovacs, Andrew Freeman, and Natalie Metz.

Ridge Heights Sharks 547, Newbridge Dolphins 505

For Ridge Heights triple winners were Anna Gillespie, Ryan Vanderhoof, Paige Sogandares, and Dylan Hawley. Double event winners were Aidan Coughlin, Derek Liu, Diego White, Ryan Ferzoco, Grace Qian, Maya Becker, Connor Pierce, Shilai Li, Tara Thomas, Mika Ernst, Elli Imel, and Kati Imel.

For Newbridge triple winners were Sam Joyner, Emma Grossback, Jean-Louis Guill, and Taelor Oey. Double winners were Maggie Novak, Daevin Oey, Ian Meikle, Lucy Vogt, Elijah Bishop, Joseph Sgambati, and Keya Chava.

North Hills Hurricanes 561, Lake Anne Stingrays 494

For North Hills triple event winners were Samantha Sciortino and Miles Yang. Double event winners were Jeb Barker, Michelle Boone, Marlee Czarny, Olivia Miller, Emily Ren, Sarah Sciortino, Amy Wang, Caroline Xu, and Evan Zhang.

For Lake Anne triple event winners were Ben Dealey, Francisco Espinoza, Jason Fu Emily Meilus, Tope Oladimeji, and Fred Zhang. Double event winners were Sophie Barkhordari, Noah Carvet, Joseph Dealey, Patrick Fouse, Madeleine Freeman, Jonathon Kent, George Keusenkithen, Neil Kumar, Matthew Rodakowski, Max Schultz, Emmalina Siapeki, Jocelyn Wulf, and Hannah Ziaii.