Weekend Wrap-up and More!

By Reach for the Wall Staff

The Fall Championship season is officially underway with every PVS Club and age group having an opportunity to compete in a multi-day, multi-session event. The fast swimming kicked off last Wednesday at the US Open where any current and former PVS swimmers competed against the top competition across the US as well as some International stars. This meet also was significant because it is the first opportunity for US swimmers to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Trials, as the qualifying period opened as of 11/30/2022. For reference, here’s the list of qualifying times:

This was a scored meet, with Nation’s Capital posting the highest point total from the area. NCAP finished 11th overall with 143.5 points, the bulk of which came from Camille Spink (41) and Erin Gemmell (30.5). Erin swam fewer events than Camille and had to step up against Katie Ledecky in two of Katie’s top events- the 200 and 400 Freestyle. Erin fared well in both, finishing in a tie for 5th in the 400 Freestyle (Katie 1st, Summer McIntosh 2nd), and 2nd in the 200 Free, a mere 4 tenths from Katie and 2 seconds clear of the rest of the field! Camille had two podium finishes in the 50 and 100 Freestyle, where she placed 3rd in both races, she also swam in finals in the 200 Free, capturing the top spot in the ‘B’ Final, posting a 2:00.81, just off her lifetime best. Eleanor Sun was the other NCAP swimmer to score points at the meet, finishing 11th in the 200 IM and 9th in the 200 Butterfly, both swims just off her lifetime bests.

Rockville Montgomery had 4 swimmers compete, placing 29th overall in the team standings with Toby Barnett, Jed Garner, Angela Kadoorie (one of the youngest in the meet at age 14) and Madison Smith competing. Scoring points for Rockville were Jed, placing 9th in the 200 Breaststroke, Angela 16th in the 400 IM and Madison 12th in the 1500 Freestyle.

Swimmers that attained Olympic Trial Standards:

• Erin Gemmell: 200, 400 Freestyle
• Camille Spink: 50, 100, 200 Freestyle; 200 IM
• Jed Garner: 200 Breaststroke

*All photos captured from the live feed, courtesy USA Swimming:

Locally, there were 3 meets with Trials and Finals, the Sport Fair Winter Classic, hosted by MAKO, the MSSC Christmas Champs, and the Machine Turkey Claus where hundreds of athletes put their hard work to the test! Team Scores were recorded for each of the meets with Arlington Aquatic Club taking the title in the Sport Fair Winter Classic followed closely by MAKO and York. RMSC won the overall at the MSSC Christmas Champs, with All Star Aquatics in 2nd and host MSSC in 3rd. In the Turkey Claus Showdown, NCAP outdistanced the host club Machine for the overall title, with Greater Philadelphia nabbing the 3rd spot. Lastly, York Swim Club hosted their annual Reindeer Mini Meet, where the next generation of PVS swimmers got their taste of a ‘big’ invitational meet. Per tradition (we captured a post on York’s Facebook page), Santa made an appearance to cheer the kids on!

This coming week, we will do our best to highlight PVS swimmers competing at the USA Swimming Winter Jr. Nationals as well as the NCAP and MAKO Holiday Invitational meets via our Twitter, Facebook sites as well as through individual posts.

Saturday, December 3rd, also ushered in the 2022-23 high school swim season as public schools in Maryland and Northern Virginia held their first competitions. As reported in November, the private schools competing in the WMPSSDL, WCAC, ISL, VISAA (and other leagues) have a few meets under their belts heading into December. We look forward to seeing the competition unfold as the locals schools look to defend/compete for their respective State and Conference crowns!

To kick things off we’ve been provided the top times from both the WMPSSDL and MCPS leagues. We’ll continue to provide as many results as we get…enjoy!

WMPSSDL Top Times:

MCPS Top Times: