Seals Storm Black Division To Take Title
By Contributor: Jim Riley
Southbridge 4015, Stonewall Park 3524, Old Bridge 3406
The Southbridge Seals capped off their 2018 summer season with a trip to the City of Manassas for the Prince William Swim League’s Black Division championship. The meet, hosted by the Stonewall Park Explosion, also saw the Old Bridge Breakers vie for the division title. Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish welcomed the teams before leading the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance and introducing the trio who sang the “Star Spangled Banner.”
The Seals entered the meet with the disadvantage of having the fewest swimmers of the three teams, but set to work winning six of the first 11 relays. By the end of the day, 13 Seals relay teams would secure Top 15 times for the county in divisionals and nine of those would set new team records on their way to doing so. Southbridge swimmers fared just as well setting ten new team records and recording 54 PWSL Top 25 times.
Despite having just moved up to the Black Division this year and the numbers seemingly against them, the Seals scored a convincing win. Southbridge was one of only five teams in the entire league to amass more than 4,000 points in divisionals. The final score was Southbridge 4,015 followed by Stonewall Park 3,524 (-491) and Old Bridge 3,406 (-609).
After the conclusion of all divisional meets, the Prince William Swim League conducted their cyber meet. The league combined the day’s results from the individual entries of all 24 teams representing its eight divisions into one massive virtual swim meet. Although the Seals do not have as large a membership as many other teams, Southbridge outperformed several of those teams to claim ninth place out of 24.
“As they’ve been doing all season long, our swimmers filled the PWSL Top 25 and continued re-writing the team’s record board,” Seals Head Coach Greg Giovinazzo said. “All of the kids did a great job today helping to contribute to this well-deserved victory.”
Southbridge finished the 2018 PWSL regular season with a 4-2 record in the league’s Black Division. This marks the Seals’ fifth championship in the team’s ten year history and its first outside of the Purple Division.
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 also won division championships in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016