Seals Renew Rivalry With Blue Dolphins

By Contributor: Jim Riley

The Southbridge Seals traveled from their home along the shores of the Potomac River to the western end of the county for a Prince William Swim League Week 4 showdown with the Lake Manassas Blue Dolphins July 7. These two teams have a friendly rivalry dating back to the Seals’ time in the Purple Division. After a week of extreme heat, the air temperature was only in the 60s when the meet got underway near the foothills of the Shenandoah.

Southbridge was looking to rebound from their first back-to-back losses since 2016 after nearly pulling off upsets swimming up a division against both Dale City and
Meadowbrook. Seals relay teams boosted their prospects of returning to the win column by placing first in 16 of 19 relays, including the record-breaking Boys 15-18 Free Relay.
Of those 19 relays, 13 of them recorded a Top 15 time in the county for the week. Seals swimmers also fared well in individual events placing first in 40 out of 47. Twenty-
one Seals recorded 53 PWSL Top 25 times and Hunter Howery set a new team record for the Boys 15-18 Back. Four events saw two Southbridge teammates place in the Top 10 for the county for the week including Girls 9-10 50M Free – Arielle Grabowski and Mylin Windley; Girls 11-12 100M IM and 50M Fly – Kayley Benway and Caila Sullivan; and Girls 13-14 50M Breast – Lindsay Juhlin and Samantha Kayne.

“I was really excited to see some of our younger swimmers record their first legal times in an event yesterday,” said Seals Head Coach Greg Giovinazzo. “Congratulations are in order to all of them, especially our 8 and Unders – Hannah Stokes (25M Breast), Lia Tingle (25M Back), and Christian Johnson (25M Fly).”

Southbridge improved to 2-2 with the win and will be on the road again next week visiting the Veterans Park Marlins before finishing up the regular season at home
against the Virginia Oaks Sea Devils. This year, the Seals moved up into PWSL’s Black Division and will face off against Old Bridge and Stonewall Park for the division
championship July 28 at Stonewall Park. After Week 4, all three teams hold identical 2-2 records.

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. Founded in 2009, they have won division championships in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016.