MCSL Week 1

By Reach for the Wall Staff.

The MCSL season kicked off with each team in each division sparring with their new competitors. The meets are structured so that in the first week, the top seed swims the 5th seed, 2nd seed swims the 4th, and 3rd seed swims the 6th.  There were only four of the fifteen top-seeded teams that lost their opening meet. Every division had at least one swimmer achieve an All Star nominating time, and in all, there were 1,785 nominating times swum.

The event with the most qualifiers is the Girls 13-14 50 Freestyle, with 66 swimmers making the standard. The event with the least qualifiers is the Boys 8 & Under Backstroke with only 12.   Twenty eight different swimmers occupy the top spot in the 46 individual events, with Kirk Morgan (8), Anabel Sha (8), Ainsley Taylor (10), Adriano Arioto (10), Carly Sebring (12), Brett Feyerick (14), Phoebe Bacon (14),  and Olivia French (17), holding the top position in multiple events.  We’ve broken down the All Star nominating swims among other tidbits by each division.

Division A

• Rockville: 511.5, Country Glen: 279.5
• Stonegate: 487.0, Germantown: 299.0
• Tallyho  482.5, Bethesda:308.5

Notable swims: Rockville swimmers achieved 88 All Star nominating times, with Adriano Arioti (10) swimming the top time in the league in 50 Free, 25 Back, and 25 Fly. Anabel Sha (8) swam top times in the league for the 25 Free and 25 Breast, while sitting 3rd in the 25 Back. Also, Alan Li (15) captured the top time in the 100 IM, 2nd in the 50 Fly and 3rd in the 100 Free. Tallyho swimmers achieved 69 All Star nominating times, with Phoebe Bacon (14) and Brett Feyerick (14) leading the way. Both swimmers achieved top times in in the league for the 50 free, 100 IM, 50 Back and 50 Fly. Matt Hirschberger also placed in the top 10 in three events: 4^th in 100 Free, 3^rd in 100 back, and 7^th in 100 IM.  Phoebe Bacon likely will miss the next two weeks as she heads to Indianapolis for the Phillips 66 National Championships .

Stonegate had the next highest total with 66 qualifying times.  Jason Hernandez-Fuentes (12) has the top times in the league for the 100 IM, and is 2nd in 50 Free, Back and Fly. The dual meet between Bethesda and Stonegate will be a showdown between Jason and Bethesda‘s Kristopher Lawson (12), who has the top times in the league for the 50 free and 50 back.  Rounding out the All Star qualifying swims, Country Glen had 49, Bethesda had 45 and Germantown 38.

Division B

• Woodcliffe  426.0, Cedarbrook 365.0
• Connecticut Belair 374.0, Tilden Woods 417.0
• Regency Estates 331.0, Quince Orchard 448.0

Unlike Division A, there were some ‘upsets’ this weekend with top seeded Cedarbrook and 3rd seeded Regency Estates both losing.  Notable swims: Woodcliffe led the way with 56 All Star nominating times, and Sebastian Chang (16) swam fastest in the league for the 100 backstroke. Not to be outdone, his teammate, Noah Garvey (17), swam fastest in the league for the 100 Breaststroke and 3rd fastest in the league for the 100 IM. The swimmers from Tilden Woods had a strong showing, with 47 All Star nominating times. Celine Nugent (17) led the way with the 2nd best time in the league for the 100 Backstroke and top 10 times in the 100 Free, 100 IM, and 50 Fly. Sienna Karp (12),  Maya Drill (16), Evan Levy (8), and Mikhail Kojanov (10) also posted top 10 times in the league. Connecticut Belair wasn’t far behind with 42 All Star nominating times.  Griffin Alaniz (18) had the top time in the area for the 50 Butterfly and top 10 in the 100 Free. John Frank (10) achieved the top time in the area for the 25 Breaststroke, 2nd in the 50 Free and top 10 time in the 25 Butterfly. Rachel Soubier (12) battled Sienna Karp  in her dual meet and posted three top 10 times. Quince Orchard and Cedarbrook both achieved 36 All Star nominating times. For Quince Orchard, Gabriel Laracuente (15) achieved the 4th best time in the area in the 50 Fly and 9th in the 100 Free. Ariana Katz (8), Anna Bosco (8), Michael Taliano (10) and Madeline Mara (15) all posted top 10 times to propel their team to victory. Cedarbrook‘s Maeve McCarthy (8) has the top time in the 25 Butterfly, 3rd in the 25 Freestyle and 3rd in the 25 Breaststroke. Margaret Wolfson (18) also took the top time in the league in the 100 Breaststroke, and 5th in the 100 IM.   The trio of Maxwell (9), Brady (12), and Henry Bagshaw (14) also made a dent in the leaderboard, with Henry achieving the 4th best time in the 50 Breaststroke. Regency Estates had 26 All Star nominating times, with Noah Rutberg (14) achieving 5th in the 50 Freestyle and Butterfly, 4th in the 100 IM and 2nd in the 50 Backstroke. Kyle Wang was the only other swimmer to crack the top 10 with his 25 Butterfly and 50 Freestyle.

Division C

• Flower Valley 353.0, Wildwood Manor 437.0
• Woodley Gardens 375.5,  Northwest Branch 416.5
• Mill Creek Towne 332.0,  Potomac Woods 460.0

Wildwood Manor and Northwest Branch held their position at the top of the division while Mill Creek Towne suffered a substantial defeat at the hands of Potomac Woods.   Notable swims: Wildwood led the way with 47 All Star nominating times. Lachlan Bartholomew (7), Alexandra Bishop (7), Eleanor Sun (12), Elise Bajwa (12), Jane Umhofer (14), Tatum Good (14) and  Christopher Emerson (17) all swam times within the top 10 for the league. Potomac Woods had 38 swims, and were led by Erin Gemmell (12) with four top 10 swims, and Ashley Woo (12), Audrey Csokmay (12) and Caroline Howley  (15) each posted one top 10 swim. Northwest Branch got contributions from Alexander Colson (16) and Holly Greenleaf (16), both swimming two top 10 times in their events, while Maximillano Casey-Bolanos (15), achieved one top 10 swim. Griffin Oehler (8) and Alyssa Kwon (10) are the two swimmers from Woodley Gardens that achieved top 10 status.  Flower Valley‘s Toby Barnett (12) and John Pate(17) had two and three top 10 swims respectively. Mill Creek Towne had a total of 16 All Star nominating times, with Riley Powell (14) breaking into the top 10 in the Girls 13-14 50 Breaststroke.

Division D

• Mohican 308.5, Kentlands 481.5
• Glenwood 373.5, Darnestown 416.5
• Stonebridge 408.0, Daleview 380.0

This division had two of the closest meets in the league with a margin of 28 between Daleview and Stonebridge and 43 between Glenwood and Darnestown.  However, there  were no team upsets, as the top 3 teams were victorious. Notable swims: Kentlands had the top number of All Star nominating swims with 32. Olivia French (17) tops the league in all four events she swam: 100 Freestyle, 100 Backstroke, 100 IM, and 50 Fly. Her teammate Ainsley Taylor (10) also occupies the top spot in the league in three events – 50 Freestyle and 25 Backstroke and 25 Butterfly. Glenwood had 25 All Star nominating swims: Molly Benson (14) was 6^th in 50 Free, 9^th in 100 IM, and 7^th in 50 Fly.  Tom McGovern (18) was 8^th in 100 Freestyle, Bridget Laas (16) was 8^th in 100 Backstroke, and Max Bowman (12) was 10^th in 50 Breaststroke. Darnestown also had 25 All Star swims – Mac Adelman (17) was 7^th in 100 Backstroke, Alexandra Edwing (15) was 9^th in 100 Backstroke, Ben Kaplan (18) was 5^th  in 100 Breaststroke, Jaycee Yegher (18) was 7^th in 100 Breaststroke, and Esther Quackenbush (16) was 10^th in 50 Butterfly. Showing the parity in this division, Daleview also had 25 All Star nominating swims. Sammie Grant (16) has two events – 4th in 100 Freestyle and 8th in 100 IM. Cameron House (10) also garnered two swims in the top 10 – 6th in 50 Freestyle and 4th in 25 Breaststroke. On the Boys side, Michio Morizono is 8th in the 50 Breaststroke. Mohican, not far behind Daleview and Darnestown, achieved 22 All Star swims and have three notable swimmers: Danny Calder (16) was 3rd in the 50 Butterfly, Klara Young (10) was 8th in the 25 Butterfly, and Cate Navarrette (12) was 7th in the 50 Breaststroke.

Division E

• Old Georgetown 394.5, Franklin Knolls   393.5
• Potomac Glen 281.0, Damascus 500.0
• River Falls 372.0, King Farm 418.0

Old Georgetown and Franklin Knolls had a great battle this weekend with 1 point separating the two. This is also one of the four top-seeded teams to lose their opener (Cedarbrook  (B), Clopper Mill Kingsview (G), and Potomac (J) are the other top seeds that lost in Week 1). Coming out of the gate, Old Georgetown had 31 All Star nominating swims, which accounts for how close the meet was with Franklin Knolls. King Farm has the second highest tally with 27, followed by Franklin Knolls with 24, River Falls had 21, Damascus 15 and Potomac Glen 12. Notable swims: Old Georgetown: Parker Koenig (12) had 4 Top 10 events: 7th in 100 IM, 10th in 50 Freestyle, 9th in 50 Breaststroke and 4th in 50 Butterfly.  James Collishaw (14) had 3 Top 10 events: 7th in 50 Freestyle, 9th in 100 IM, and 6th in the 50 Butterfly. Addison Pollitt (10) has two 2 Top 10 events – 3rd in the 25 Backstroke and 5th in the 25 Breaststroke. Zachary Fayed (10), Luc Dionne (8) and Zoe Westrick (17) each have one event in the Top 10. King Farm: Matthew Nguyen (17) has two events: 6th in the 100 Backstroke and 10th in the 100 Breaststroke. William Mason (12), Joyce Wu (12),  Grace Wu (16), Audrey Lee  (7), and Ashton Sun (11) each have one event in the Top 10.  Franklin Knolls: Quinn Marchionini (10) has three events in the Top 10: 7th in the 50 Freestyle, 4th in the 25 Backstroke and 5th in the 25 Butterfly. Liam Rooney is the only other Gator making the Top 10 with 10th in the 50 Butterfly.  River Falls: Sofia Harms (8) was 4th in the 25 Backstroke and 5th in the 25 Butterfly. Robert Shively (12), and Erin Dougherty (13) each had one Top 10 swim. While Damascus only had 15 nominating times, 4 of them belong to Carly Sebring. Carly is poised to conquer the league with #1 times in the 100 IM, 50 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly, and 2nd best in the 50 Breaststroke. Her times in Free and Fly are just off the county records and more than a second ahead of the rest of the field. Caleb Davis (8) is the other Top 10 qualifier with the top time in the 25 Breaststroke. Potomac Glen: Giulia Baroldi (13) is the lone representative in the Top 10, and is 2nd in three events, 50 Freestyle, 50 Backstroke and 50 Butterfly and 4th in the 100 IM.

Division F

• Hallowell 358.5, Robin Hood 429.5
• Clarksburg Village 463.5, Westleigh 327.5
• Rock Creek 363.0, Lake Marion 409.0

Robin Hood is leading the charge for this division with 40 All Star nominating swims, and close behind is Clarksburg Village with 34, Hallowell with 26, Westleigh 21, Rock Creek with 20, and Lake Marion with 15.  The 2-5 seeded teams should provide some close meets as they battle each other the next few weeks. Notable swims: Robin Hood: Hannah Owings  (14) and Zach Bayler (15) each have 3 Top 10 swims, followed by  Mollie Bauer (16), Ian Hidalgo (16), Marissa Kleckner (14), Riley Langan (12), Christian Kennard (9), Patrick Fry(8), and Gabrielle Day (8), who each have one swim in the Top 10’s.  Clarksburg Village: Michael Truong (12) has 3 Top 10 swims, Josiah Lim has two and Jillian Loftis (8), Anson Ye (8), and Jaden Li (10) each have one swim. Hallowell: Cheyenne Chen (13) has three top 10 swims, Sean Santos (13) has two, and Katy Wade (13) and Allison Wade (16) each have one.  Westleigh: Tyler Coapstick (10),  and Calvin Banaszewski (7) achieved 3 and 2 Top 10 times respectively. Rock Creek:  Alice Caiazza-Blum (10),  Tatum Zupnik (15), and Caroline Karson (16) each have one Top 10 swim. Lake Marion: Colton Mettler (8) has two Top 10 swims, while Samantha Arias (9) registered one.

Division G

• Palisades 440.0  Clopper Mill Kingsview  351.0
• Olney Mill 334.5 Little Falls 449.5
• Merrimack Park 419.0  Garrett Park 371.0

While Clopper Mill Kingsview was the top seed going into the Division G season, Palisades is the leader in the first week with 26 All Star nominating times. Little Falls has 22, Merrimack 21, Olney Mill 15, Clopper Mill 14 and Garrett Park 10. Notable swims:  Palisades:  Claire Yoder (8) captured the top time in the league in the 25 Backstroke, then along with her sister Anna Yoder (8) proceeded to post Top 10 times in  their other events – 6 Top 10 times between the two of them! Charles Penn (8) Nate Sullivan (10) and Alec Cooper (14) followed suit and posted two Top 10 times each, and Sophie Reilly (16) posted one. Little Falls: Jillian Berger (13) has three top 10 times, while Hailey Hammond (9), and James Marder (13) posted one each. Impressive as each swimmer is at the bottom of their age group. Merrimack Park: Nadia Thomas (10) has two Top 10, Sofia Thomas (12) has one and William Mudlaff (18) has one. Olney Mill: Emma Dorsey (13) had a strong first week with two Top 10 times, her teammates Austin Maready (8) and Grace Giddings (16) both got in with one event. Clopper Mill Kingsview had two swimmers break into the Top 10: Jake Paul-Steven Lowrey (12) and Megan Nonato (14). Garrett Park: Maren Conze (12) is tops in the league for the 50 Backstroke, 3rd in 50 Freestyle and 4th in the 100 IM.

Division H

• North Chevy Chase 371.0  Manchester Farm  417.0
• Inverness Recreation Club  325.0  Bannockburn  459.0
• Old Farm  410.5 Kenmont  376.5

All three top seeded teams in H held off their opponents the first week, but Bannockburn posted the most All Star times with 27.  North Chevy Chase and Old Farm both posted 22, Manchester Farms 20, Kenmont 16 and Inverness Forest 13. Notable swims: Bannockburn: Sophie Duncan (13) two Top 10 swims. North Chevy Chase: Andre Brooks two Top 10 swims. Zach Meisel (10) and Gabi Meisel (16) both posted one swim, and Rena Drakakis (12) achieved the 2nd fastest swim in the 50 Backstroke. Old Farm: No Top 10 swims, but Ann Linkie (8) is sitting 11th in the 25 Freestyle. Manchester Farm: Ruqayyah Abouraya (10) achieved two top 10 swims, followed by her teammates, Riley Gorman (8), Audrey Tirrell  (16) and Sydney Knapp (18), who each achieved one Top 10. Kenmont: Emma Lantry (10) holds the top spot in the 25 Breaststroke, 5th in the 50 Freestyle and 5th in the 25 Butterfly. Also achieving a Top 10 time is her teammate, Lucien Johnson (10), in the 25 Breaststroke. Inverness Forest: The Groft family has two swims in the top 10 – Ryley Groft (8) in the 25 Breaststroke and Colin Groft (10) in the 25 Butterfly.

Division I

• Rockshire 333.0, Lakelands 450.0
• Forest Knolls 410.5,  Tanterra 377.5
• Glenmont 423.5, North Creek 350.5

North Creek is the week 1 leader for All Star nominating times with 21, followed by Lakelands with 20, Tanterra 19, Rockshire 13, and Glenmont and Forest Knolls both had 12.  Notable swims: North Creek: Catherine Belyakov (14) snatched the top time in the 50 Breaststroke, and the 2nd fastest in the 100 IM and 8th fastest in the 50 Butterfly. Sam Tarter nabbed the top time in the 100 Freestyle, 2nd in the 100 IM, and 2nd in the 100 Breaststroke. Anastasia Belyakov (14) was fast enough for 9th in the 50 Breaststroke and Helena Narisu (15) is 10th in the 100 Breaststroke. Lakelands: Maddy Zarchin (18) achieved 4 Top 10 swims – 2nd in both the 50 Butterfly and 100 IM.  Wesley Lee (10) has two top 10 times and Jacob Lindner (15) has one. Forest Knolls: Jack Ossi (12) achieved 4 Top 10 times: Alisa Daniel (10) had three Top 10’s, Andrea Dworak (10) had two top 10’s, Ryan Franck (9) and Amaya Daniel (13) each with one. Rockshire: Jingjing Wu (10), achieved 3 Top 10 swims. Tanterra: Amanda Wenhold (15) and Theodore Kaneko (8) each achieved one. Glenmont: Isabella Grijalba (10) achieved two Top 10 swims: 2nd in the 25 Breaststroke and 5th in the 25 Backstroke.

Division J

• Manor Woods   427.0, Potomac 363.0
• Chevy Chase Recreation Association  449.0, Clarksburg Town Center 334.0
• Somerset 404.0, Carderock Springs 381.0

Somerset leads Division J with 15 All Star nominating times, Carderock Springs and Manor Woods both have 14, Potomac has 12, Clarksburg 10, and Chevy Chase Recreation Association has 9. Notable swims: Somerset didn’t have anyone crack the Top 10, but Samantha Smith (14) has three swims in the Top 20. Carderock Springs: Noah Aronoff (8) has two top 10 swims. Manor Woods: Jackson Tovornik (7) has two top 10 swims, Haley Marino (8), Gavin Hintz (8), and Nikolai Kalinin (10) each have one swim in the top 10. Potomac: David Fitch (13) achieved 3 Top 10 swims, and Jonathan Mitchum (8) has two. Clarksburg Town Center: No Top 10 swims, but Lauren Chin (10), Manisha Kapoor (15) and Sophie Elliott (13) each have swims in the Top 20. Chevy Chase Recreation Association: No Top 10 swims, but Addison Mostofi (10) and Cole Mitchell (14) are in the Top 20.

Division K

• Montgomery Square 318.0,   Calverton 446.0
• Seven Locks 396.0, Poolesville  387.0
• Whetstone 401.5, Twin Farms 370.5

9 points separated Seven Locks and Poolesville, and as indicated below, there were some really fast swims to give Seven Locks the edge. Whetstone is leading the way for this division with 15 All star nominating times, Twin Farms is close behind with 13, followed by Seven Locks with 12, Montgomery Square with 11, Poolesville has 9 and Calverton 6. Notable Swims: Whetstone:  Erin O’Donnell (10) has two Top 10 times and Abby Graminski (14) has one.  Twin Farms: Alexander Rudin (10) and Adriana Caponiti (10) both tallied two swims in the Top 10. Seven Locks: Kirk Morgan (8) has an astounding 3 league leading swims – 25 Freestyle, 25 Backstroke and 25 Butterfly. Neo Matsuyama (12) also achieved one top 10 swim. Montgomery Square: Campbell Scofield (10) has two Top 10 swims, Emory Scofield (8) has one and Cameron Murk (10) also has one. Poolesville: Theodore Jagodits (17) achieved one Top 10.  Calverton: Taylor Bowen-Longino (10) and Haley Grant (8) both have one Top 10 time.

Division L

• Norbeck Grove 332.0, Eldwick 455.0
• Quail Valley 385.0, Norbeck Hills 381.0
• Ashton 397.0  Wheaton Woods 376.0

Quail Valley and Norbeck Hills battled out the second closest meet of the week, with Quail Valley prevailing.  Quail Valley also leads the way with 18 All Star nominating swims. Eldwick has 13, Norbeck Hills 5, Norbeck Grove 3, and Wheaton Woods 2. Ashton didn’t have any qualifiers in week 1, but still managed to get the team win. Notable swims: Quail Valley: Niko Siaden (8) posted two 2nd ranked times in Freestyle and Breaststroke and 4th in Butterfly. Aleah Lacson, (8) and Isabella Balderrama (9) both garnered a Top 10 time. Eldwick: Evelyn Kertajaya (8) has two Top 10 swims and Jacob Wahl (8) has one. Norbeck Hills: Audrey Richter (18) has one Top 10 swim. Norbeck Grove: No Top 10 swims, but Justin Lakso (9) has one Top 20 along with Mia Fecko (8). Wheaton Woods: Gemma Barish (8) and Lorelai Reiffer (8)  both have one swim in the Top 20. Ashton: No All Star qualifiers, but Sarah Levendusky (18) is very close in each of her events.

Division M

• Hillandale 360.0,  Washingtonian Woods   407.0
• East Gate 372.0, Diamond Farm  362.0
• Waters Landing 404.0, New Mark Commons      359.0

Waters Landing leads the division with 5 All Star nominating times, New Mark Commons is second with 4, EastGate has 3, Diamond Farm 2, and Hillandale 1. Despite not achieving any All Star nominating times, Washingtonian Woods came away with the team victory. Notable swims:  Waters Landing: Badger, Lauren (14) Vilbig, Kai (17) both with one Top 10 swims. New Mark Commons: Baker, Korelle (13) has one top 20 swim. East Gate: Fischer, Maya (15) has one Top 20 time, and two others on the doorstep. Diamond Farm: Harris, Angela (12) on the cusp of the Top 20. Hillandale: Isaac Blinkoff (8) one top 20 swim. Washingtonian Woods: did not have any nominating times, however Sophia Marks (12) and Emily Miller (14) are likely to achieve at least one or more times before seasons end.

Division N

• Fallsmead            295.0     Plantations         474.0
• James Creek       362.0     Flower Hill           399.0
• Long Branch       377.0     Willows Of Potomac 345

Plantations leads the division with 7 All Star nominating times, Willows of Potomac has 6, Fallsmead and James Creek both have 4, Flower Hill has 3 and Long Branch 1. Notable swims: Plantations: Angelo Navaleza (14) has 3 top 20 swims.  Willows of Potomac: Sophie Zhang (12) has two times within striking distance of the Top 20. Fallsmead: Nicole Szabo (13) achieved three nominating times, but has some additional time to drop to get into the Top 20. James Creek: Allison Wong (14) achieved 3 nominating times, one in the Top 20 and another just outside. Flower Hill: Each of the three nominating times were earned by different swimmers – Diego Ramirez (10), Juancarlos Ramirez (17) and Sayaka Vaules (18). Long Branch: Ethan Phan (14) achieved one nominating time in 50 Backstroke and is close in a few other events.

Division O

• Middlebridge 314.0     Twinbrook (Non-Conforming Pool) 404.0
• Upper County 322.5     Tanglewood 307.5
• West Hillandale 406.0     Kemp Mill 275.0

Upper County has the most All Star nominating times with 10, Middlebridge achieved 5, and Tanglewood 1. Kemp Mill, West Hillandale and Twinbrook swimmers did not meet the mark in week 1. Notable swims: Upper County: Abigail Tan (7) was 2nd in both the 25 Freestyle and 25 Breaststroke and 7th in the 25 Butterfly. Lauren Clark  (12) earned 3 nominating times: 14th in the 100 IM and 50 Backstroke and 12th in the 50 Butterfly. Middlebridge: Wolfie Woolard (16) and Ryan Vipavetz  (16) pushed each other to achieve all 5 nominating times.  Wolfie is currently 20th in the 100 Backstroke with other swims just outside the Top 20 and both swimmers have a good shot at breaking in during the season. Tanglewood: Trinity Hubbard (14) is the lone qualifier in the 50 Freestyle and currently sits 25th. West Hillandale: Royce Nazir (7) captured first in his three races, and for the girls, Ella Raymond (11) also went undefeated with four wins. Kemp Mill: Stephen Perencevich (14) and Jayden Matusow (14) pushed each other throughout the meet each of them placing first or second in each of the 13-14 races. Twinbrook: Daniel Grammer (14) went undefeated for the meet. Aviva Peck (8) won all the 8 & Under Girls events and even took a shot at the 12 & Under 100 IM, finishing fourth!