Meet Highlights: 2019 MCSL Coaches Invitational Long Course Meet

By: Reach for the Wall Staff

The Montgomery County Swim League (MCSL) held its 45th annual Coaches Invitational Long Course Meet at the Rockville Swim and Fitness Center on Tuesday, July 9, 2019. In our preview last week, we put together a short ‘watch list’ of swimmers/events where records could be broken. Sure enough some of those records did go down & overall the meet was fast!!! There were 3 Olympic Trial Standards met: Phoebe Bacon (200 IM, 100 Butterfly), andErin Gemmell (100 Freestyle). There were also 11 Junior National Standards met: Catherine Belyakov (200 IM, 200 breaststroke), Alex Colson ( 200 IM, 100 Butterfly), Eleanor Sun (200 IM), Ryan Vipavetz (200 Freestyle), Noah Rutberg (200 backstroke), Sophie Duncan (200 Backstroke), Joyce Wu (100 Breaststroke), Erin Gemmell (100 Butterfly), and Alan Li (100 Butterfly).

Here’s a quick rundown of what we saw (full results):

Meet Records

• Boys 12 and Under 200 IM:  Adriano Arioti (12 – Rockville) – 2:21.71 (old record 2:22.16)
• Girls 15-18 200 IM:  Phoebe Bacon (16 – Tallyho) – 2:17.10 (old record 2:19.63)
• Girls 13-14 100 Freestyle: Erin Gemmell (14 Potomac Woods)- 55.87 (old record 56.79)
• Girls 13-14 100 Breaststroke: Joyce Wu (14- King Farm)- 1:12.99 (old record 1:13.09)
• Girls 13-14 100 Butterfly: Erin Gemmell (14-Potomac Woods) 1:01.55 (old record 1:02.10)
• Girls 15-18 100 Butterfly:  Phoebe Bacon (16- Tallyho)- 1:00.68 (old record 1:00.87)

Teams with Most 1st Place Wins

The following teams multiple individual winners (not multiple wins by an individual, that’s noted in another list below):

1. Rockville (5): Adriano Arioti, Anabel Sha, Andrew Eliason, Erika Chen, John Eli Clado
2. Wildwood Manor (3): Eleanor Sun, Harper Bartholomew, Isla Bartholomew
3. Country Glen (2): Dylan Danaie, Elly Zhou 
4. Regency Estates (2): Noah Rutberg, Kyle Wang
5. Merrimack Park (2): Oliver Bartolomeo, Nadia Thomas
6. Stonegate (2): Jack Dawson, Federico Sanidad

Double Winners

The following swimmers came in first place in two events:

• Adriano Arioti (12 – Rockville): Boys 11-12 200 IM; Boys 11-12 100 Backstroke
• John Eli Clado (8- Rockville): Boys 8 and Under 50 Back; Boys 8 and Under 50 Fly
• Elly Zhou (8- Country Glen): Girls 8 ^ & Under 50 Breaststroke; Girls 8 & Under 50 Butterfly
• Harper Bartholomew (8- Wildwood Manor): Girls 8 & Under 25 Freestyle, Girls 8 & Under 25 Backstroke
• Phoebe Bacon  (16- Tallyho) Girls 15-8 200 IM; Girls 15-18 100m Butterfly
• Erin Gemmell (14- Potomac Woods): Girls 13-14 100 Freestyle; Girls 13-14 100 Butterfly
• Andrew Eliason (14 – Rockville): Boys 13-14 100 Freestyle, Boys 13-14 100 Backstroke
• Toby Barnett (14- Flower Valley):  Boys 13-14 200 IM; Boys 13-14 100 Breaststroke
• Alexander Colson (18- Northwest Branch): Boys 15-18 200 IM, Boys 15-18 100 Butterfly

Young Guns

The following swimmers placed in the top 3 of their events despite being on the low end of their age group. look to these swimmers for repeat performances at this meet next year!

• Jordan Kelly (13 – Rockshire):  2nd in Boys 13-14 200 IM; 2nd Boys 13-14 100 Breaststroke
• Nasim Elkassem (13-Country Glen): 2nd in Boys 13-14 100 Butterfly, also 5th in Boys 13-14 100 Backstroke;
• Anna Wei Li (13 – Woodcliffe):  2nd in Girls 13-14 100 Breaststroke, also 6th in Girls 13-14 200m IM
• David Fitch (15 – Potomac): 2nd in Boys 15-18 200 IM
• Josh Wolfson (15-Tally Ho): 3rd in Boys 15-18 200 IM
• Sophie Duncan (15 – Bannockburn): 1st in Girls 15-18 200 Backstroke (her swim of 2:17.64 just missed the record 2:17.26);
• Sean Santos (15- Hallowell): 3rd in Boys 15-18 200 Breaststroke
• Mai Lan Bui (7- Bethesda): 3rd in Girls 8 & Under 50 Butterfly

The REALLY Young Guns

We feel a special shout out is in order for all of the 8 and unders who swim this meet.  Most have never swam more than a 25 or competed in a long course pool.  Most have never seen a long course pool.  We tip our hat to each of them, bravery at its finest!  Well done our little friends.

Cinderella Story

These are the swimmers that were alternates at the start of the meet & made it into the race:

• Boys 13-14 100 Freestyle: Samir Elkassem (Country Glen, 1st Alternate), finished 6th
• Girls 8 & Under 50 Butterfly: Mai Lan Bui (Bethesda, 2nd Alternate) finished 3rd
• Boys 15-18 100 LC Meter Butterfly: Ian Mackey (Country Glen, 1st Alternate) finished 8th

Congratulations to everyone who swam at the 2019 MCSL Coaches Invitational Long Course Meet!