PWSL Week 4
Content and pictures provided by: Jim Riley, Brenten Gilbert, and Ron Spink
Full Results of PWSL meets can be found here: PWSL Meet Results
SEALS REMAIN UNDEFEATED WITH VICTORY OVER BLUE DOLPHINS
The Southbridge Seals entered Week 4 of the Prince William Swim League’s summer season looking to keep their undefeated record intact as they welcomed the Lake Manassas Blue Dolphins. The two teams finished the opening relays tied going into the individual events where the Seals steadily built up a lead and took the meet by a score of 2539.5 to 1780.5 over the Blue Dolphins.
At 4-0 on the season, the Seals along with the Sudley Seahorses are the only remaining undefeated teams in the PWSL. This also marks both the longest winning streak in Southbridge team history and the first time that they will have a winning record at season’s end.
Southbridge posted a league high seven team records this week, six individual and one relay, including Owen Howery (50M Free / 50M Back / 50M Breast); Jordan Mumford (50M Fly); Parker Juhlin (50M Back); Lindsay Juhlin (100M IM); and the Girls 15-18 200M Medley Relay team of Nikki Skaines, Shaila Williams, Macy Daly and Jordan Mumford.
The Seals had seven relay teams make “Top 15 Times” and 18 individual swimmers recorded 38 “Top 25 Times” for the week in the PWSL. Two Seals, siblings Ainsley and Parker Juhlin, claimed first place overall in the league for the 50M Breast in their respective age groups.
Sixteen Southbridge swimmers recorded their first legal swims of the year in various events. The swimmers and the events in which they recorded a valid time are Jax Berg (50M Fly); Keni Bukarau (25M Back); Carson Hamblin (25M Free); Miguel Burset (100M IM); Arille Grabowski (50M Back); Jacob Lattanzi (50M Back); Peter Lasseter (25M Fly); Leah James (25M Breast); Mary Lou Moore (50M Fly); Hunter Muirheid (50M Free / 50M Fly); Colin Murphy (100M IM); Mason Parkzes (50M Free); Ryan Parkzes (100M IM); Moira Savidge (100M IM); Fiorella Vasquez (50M Free); and Mylin Windley (25M Fly).
“This meet was another extraordinary effort by all of the swimmers within the program to help the Seals reach a 4-0 record,” stated Seals head coach Greg Giovinazzo. “It is really exciting for the coaching staff as this shows the growth of the swimmers and how well-rounded they are truly becoming.”
A large majority of Southbridge swimmers recorded personal records at the meet. Most notably, Seals team members Sam Kayne, Catherine King, Hannah Stokes, Owen Howery, Brady Frost, Skylah Gherdovich, Keeli Mann, and Malachi Simms each notched personal records in all of their events this week.
Southbridge travels to Wellington to swim up two divisions for their next meet July 15 against the Dolphins.
The Seals are the official swim team of Southbridge on the Potomac located in Southbridge, Va., and includes swimmers from the Southbridge, Potomac Shores and other surrounding communities in southeastern Prince William County. They previously won the Prince William Swim League’s Purple Division championship in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 before moving up to the Orange Division this year, which also includes Montclair and Stonewall Park. Southbridge will host the divisional championship July 29.
BRIDLEWOOD BWAVES AT VICTORY LAKES PIRANHAS
Taking a brief break from Blue Division opponents, the BWaves headed into the Victory Lakes meet with a 1-2 record and a number of swimmers competing elsewhere for USA Swimming. Regardless, the teams were evenly matched – each fielding around 170 swimmers – and, with a history of close meets, the meet promised to be competitive.
The BWaves started off strong as is their M.O., taking all but three of the opening relays and fostering a solid lead heading into the individual events. The team held their lead throughout the individual events with a number of impressive swims throughout the meet, before closing out meet with wins in 6 of the final 8 relays. All nineteen of the BWaves relay teams would eventually register a top fifteen time in the county.
After a fun morning filled with music, great weather, and solid swims, the BWaves managed to notch another win on the season, finishing with a score of 2868 to 2389.
Highlighting the individual races, two team records fell for the BWaves. The 8 & Under Boys continued their assault on the 25m Backstroke record, lowering it for a fourth time this season. This time, Jacob Thorpe took the honors and shaved another three tenths of a second off and setting the new standard at 21.88 seconds, which was also good for first in the entire league. Peter Gilbert also took down the 11-12 Boys record for 50m Butterfly, after throwing down a swift 33.90 second swim in the event.
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Peter Gilbert lowered the BWaves 11-12 Boys 50m Butterfly record at Victory Lakes this week. |
The BWaves have seen the 8 & Under backstroke record fall in each of the four weeks this season by the hands of Grant Eyre and Jacob Thorpe (shown swimming breaststroke). |
Next week, the BWaves travel to Piedmont for another challenging matchup with a Blue Division team, while the Piranhas will host division rivals, Ashland.
Seahorses Narrowly Escape Tsunami
Coming off their impressive divisional victory against Braemar last weekend, the Piedmont Tsunamis faced a difficult back-to-back challenge in taking on their second PWSL Blue Division Rival, the Sudley Seahorses, in a meet that would ultimately be decided by a mere seven points. The final tally – Piedmont 2641.5, Sudley 2648.5 – was the closest head-to-head margin ever between the two teams, and was truly anyone’s swim to take through the final relay events of the day.
The contest for top divisional ranking was a back and forth struggle throughout the day. Sudley led the early third of the meet by outperforming their positional rankings in two of the opening medley relays. However, their cushion eroded as Piedmont clawed back to retake the lead through a steady march of head-to-head victories – winning 67% of all individual battles and moving swimmers aggressively up the rankings vs. seed time placements. Even with that in hand, the Seahorses were ultimately able to duplicate their initial combined efforts later in the morning, with freestyle relay wins that sealed the narrow outcome.
The Piedmont team contribution was solid for the total meet as swimmers delivered a 43% faster swim time ratio vs. prior performance. Individually, Piedmont Tsunamis owned a remarkable 11 of the top PWSL times on the day. Charlotte Hannam, Camille Spink (3), Matthew Pianoto, Katherine Diatchenko, Anna Dzouenko, Alyssa Sagle, Evan Brandt, Emma Hannam, and Christian Mulroe, all recorded number one overall spots in PWSL for individual performances on Saturday.
However some of the biggest news in the league came by way of toppled records at the meet. Only three PWSL League
Records were broken in total on Saturday – and all three came from two of the 12 year old swimmers on the Tsunami squad. In an 11-12 Girls Freestyle event that saw both Piedmont and Sudley team records crushed by sub-29 second performances, Camille Spink took more than a second and a half off her seed time to notch a new league-best at 28.31 seconds. Spink then delivered another PWSL league record later that morning by recording a 30.57 time in the 50 Fly, shaving .33 seconds off 2016’s time. In the 11-12 Girls 50 Breast, Emma Hannam closed the door on the PWSL record that she tied last week, beating last year’s mark by almost a half second at 36.22 – definitively owning the top slot.
For the Tsunamis, seven team records fell Saturday with the 9 and 10 year olds looking to make a new squad statement towards the future. Christopher DeVito gave more cushion to the Boys 9-10 50 Breast record that he broke last week by beating it again at 44.40. In the Girls 9-10 50 Freestyle event, Charlotte Hannam set the new bar at 33.21 – taking a full second off her best time of the year.
Camille Spink broke the Girls 11-12 team back record for the fourth straight week in a row, with a time of 33 seconds flat. Finally, Spink joined Emma Hannam, Erin Walters and Alyssa Kendrick in a repeat team record-breaking performance from prior week on the Girls 11-12 100 Free Relay, finishing the day at 57.40 seconds combined.
The loss brings the Tsunami squad to 3-1 overall on the year, and makes Piedmont evenly square at 1-1 on their divisional record. That said, the close contest on Saturday sets anticipation for what will likely be one of the most competitive Blue Division finals in recent history at the end of the summer swim season. In the meantime, the Tsunamis will swim their third straight event at home against the Bridlewood Waves on Saturday, July 15th.