Swimming around the DMV through 12/18
By Reach for the Wall Staff
The first weeks of December saw a flurry of activity on the pool decks around the DMV (unfortunately for snow lovers, no flurries from the sky). The high school leagues have completed their schedules prior to the holiday break, and just in time, as schools are restricting in-person learning and activities. The Montgomery County high schools have provided us with their first 2 weeks of meet results:
The Prince William Aquatic Center (lead photo, courtesy PWCS Facebook page) has hosted quite a few meets in the month of December and have posted the results on their website:
If you are interested in seeing what a cross-town rivalry will inspire swimmers to accomplish, take a look at the results of the meet between Patriot, Battlefield, William Monroe, Brentsville & Meridian. We’ll call out a few of the swims that happened to set new records (pool and PWCS) at the PWCS facility:
Men’s 200 Medley Relay:
Patriot High School 'A' 1:41.20 1:34.49#
1) Hochard, Joshua SR 2) Nguyen, Vincent D SO
3) Gentry, Landon SR 4) Pearson, Boden J SO
24.95 26.10 21.05 22.39
Women’s 200 Medley Relay:
1 Battlefield High School 'A' 1:44.25 1:42.93@
1) Spink, Camille JR 2) Hannam, Emma I JR
3) Heilen, Sophia M SR 4) Cornwell, Jamie SR
24.55 30.00 24.85 23.53
Men’s 200 IM:
1 Gentry, Landon SR Patriot 1:50.83 1:50.65#
22.83 28.56 32.84 26.42
Women’s 50 Free:
1 Spink, Camille JR Battlefield 22.20 22.24@
Women’s 100 Free:
1 Spink, Camille JR Battlefield 48.43 48.27@
Women’s 400 Free Relay:
1 Battlefield High School 'A' 3:29.06 3:27.32#
1) Sawwa, Lexi SO 2) Cornwell, Jamie SR
3) Peny, Tess S SR 4) Spink, Camille JR
25.54 52.76 24.66 52.30 25.84 53.87 22.93 48.39
Speaking of rivalries, Stone Ridge and Holton Arms competed December 16th to give a preview of the championship showdowns that will occur in February. Stone Ridge outdueled Holton by 3 points as the girls traded wins throughout the meet. Full results are here:
In Northern Virginia (VHSL), traditional rivals Oakton and James Madison, held their dual meet on December 17. In both competitions, Oakton prevailed, handing James Madison Men their second loss of the season 205-110 and in the Women’s meet Oakton topped James Madison 174-141. The Concorde District and Northern Region (6A) meets should see both these teams near the top of the standings at the end of the season.
Lake Braddock has started off the season undefeated and will have a showdown their first meet in 2022 (Jan 8th) against WT Woodson!
4-0 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
LB vs AC
Girls:
214-101
Boys:
196-116— LB Swim & Dive (@LBswimdive) December 18, 2021
The teams from Justice has a great start to the season & have used their Twitter account to spread the word!
What a meet, so close! The Atoms put up quite the fight! But boys took it!
Boys 158-153
Girls 190-122Boys are now
3-1
The Girls, however. See below 👇#wolvesEAT pic.twitter.com/lzglHqiBSR— Justice HS Swim&Dive (@JHS_SwimandDive) December 18, 2021
Riverside (Loudoun County) has also had a great start to the season, with both their teams going 2-0. They have posted meet results and stories here: Riverside Results
PVS Meets:
Over the weekend of December 9-12, PVS sanctioned 3 championship style meets with trials and finals sessions over the 4 days. Tons of great swims were accomplished with swimmers attaining best times, PVS Jr./Sr. standards, Sectional standards as well as time standards for future USA National meets. We’ve imported all the PVS team results in the links below:
ICYMI:
Each month, USA Swimming distributes an email titled ‘Coaching Connection’. In the December email, there was a ‘Staff Spotlight’ on a PVS alum Kaitlin Pawlowicz.
The story leads off: “Kaitlin has been brightening the days of USA Swimming colleagues since 2018. After previously working for Evan Stiles at Arlington Club, she was hired to work in the National Team Division to help promote, spearhead and build open water swimming.”
From the picture that accompanied the email, we can easily see how she brightens the day for her colleagues!
Further, Kaitlin shared a bit about her background and what she’s up to since moving on from competitive swimming:
“After growing up in Northern Virginia (aka NoVa) and swimming for the legendary John Flanagan at Nation’s Capital Swim Club, Kaitlin went on to swim at the University of Texas (HOOK ‘EM!)
“I no longer do much swimming but have recently taken up running. Although I’m not the best runner, it challenges me and helps clear my mind. I am looking to conquer a marathon in the near future but haven’t decided which one yet – taking any and all recommendations for best races,” Pawlowicz said.
The spotlight concluded with Kaitlin’s contact info: “Please don’t hesitate to reach out kpawlowicz@usaswimming.org.”
As we head into the holiday season and the coaches ramp up their training regimens to prepare for the 2022 meets, please remain vigilant to keep yourselves and your teammates healthy! We are hopeful for a return to a full compliment of championship meets and really fast swimming in February.
If you have some good news to share or meet results you’d like to send us, please email:
operations@reachforthewall.org and we’ll get the word out!
Happy Swimming!!