By Reach for the Wall Staff

MCSL WEEK 1 RECAP: Powerhouses Dominate and a Tie Highlight Saturday’s Openers

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — The summer swim season officially arrived with a bang on Saturday, June 13, 2026, as the league hit the water for Week 1. From massive blowouts in Division A to an ultra-rare tie in Division B, the morning set the tone for an exciting summer on the pool decks. In all there were 5 meets across the divisions that were decided by less than 10 points, and there was a tie, which hasn’t happened in the league since 2024 when Franklin Knolls and Clarksburg tied in Week 3!

Here is how the action unfolded across the county.

Division A: The Heavyweights Flex Their Muscles

There was no “shaking off the rust” for the league’s top teams, as the favorites absolutely dominated their home openers.

• Stonegate laid down the marker for the season, putting up a massive 506 to 286 victory over Country Glen. Five of Stonegate’s swimmers swept their events- 8 & Under’s Liam Sandstrom and Penelope Velazquez; 11-12 Nova Wilson; and 13-14’s Tripp Thomas and Jenna Ryan. The bright spot for Country Glen was 15-18 Maximus Devinney, who swept his events and set league leading standards in the 100 IM and 100 Breaststroke.
• Right on their heels, powerhouse Rockville put together an equally staggering performance, crushing Woodcliffe 504 to 286 at their home pool. In three of the Freestyle events, Rockville swimmers captured every point, outscoring Woodcliffe 16-0 in the 8 & Under, 11-12 and 13-14 girls! Sara Young and Amelia Alsina swept their events, with Sara setting top times in the county in all 4 of her events!
• In the closest matchup of the division, Stonebridge successfully defended their home lanes, dispatching Wildwood Manor 464 to 327. Wildwood Manor’s Lachlan Bartholomew set the top time in the county in the 15-18 100 Free with a speedy 52.28!

Division B: Instant Classic Ends in a Dead Heat

The most dramatic meet of the morning came out of Division B, where Glenwood traveled to Bethesda for a grueling, point-for-point battle. When the final relay touched the wall, the scoreboard read a shocking 396 to 396 tie. In a sport where meets are decided by fractions of a point across dozens of events, a dead-even tie is a true summer rarity.

Division C: Manchester Farm 397 vs. Regency Estates 393

Regency Estates traveled to Manchester Farm and fought point-for-point throughout the meet. Manchester Farm’s depth in the older freestyle relays ultimately gave them the razor-thin 4-point victory to claim the top spot in the division.

Division F: Palisades 392 vs. Westleigh 388

Division F is shaping up to be a competitive 5 weeks this summer, as Palisades, pre-season #6 seed, defended their home deck by defeating #3 seed Westleigh by a mere 4 points.

Division I: Somerset 391 vs. Inverness 388

Somerset swimmers Gage Bolton (15-18 Boys) and Indu Kumar (13-14 Girls) led the way by sweeping their events on the day. Inverness was able to keep it close with the strength of their 8 & Under’s, Anna Impeduglia and Roger Moore who swept their events, while 13-14 Mason Wu did his job winning his events.

Division L: Twin Farms 373 vs. New Mark Commons 367

Twin Farms traveled to Rockville and narrowly escaped the Barracudas’ home pool with a victory by a mere 6 points! 11-12’s Ainsley Smith and Michael Smugeresky led the way for Twin Farms, winning their individual events.

Prince-Mont Swim League (PMSL)

the league officially kicked off Week 1 dual meets on Saturday June 13th, and the opening weekend saw a massive performance from Suleiman Mourad, rewriting the PMSL record books.

Week 1 Record-Breaker

The absolute headline of Week 1 belonged to Suleiman Mourad of the Whitehall Pool and Tennis Club (WPT). In their week 1 meet against the Roger Carter Seals (RCS), Mourad shattered three league records in the Boys 13-14 division in a single day:

• 50-Yard Butterfly: 24.13 seconds
• 50-Yard Freestyle: 22.95 seconds
• 50-Yard Backstroke: 25.50 seconds

Congratulations Suleiman!

Prince William Swim League (PWSL) 2026 summer season is officially underway.

The league kicked off Week 1 on June 6th, followed by Week 2 on June 13th.

The league tracks results by compiling a weekly “League Scoreboard” —merging all meets across every division, showing results and compiling the Top 25 individuals and Top 15 relays.

During Week 1, Maddy McGinley of the Dominion Valley Sharks shattered a two-year-old league record in the Girls 9-10 50-meter Freestyle, touching the wall in 31.26 seconds (the previous 2024 record 31.57)

Full individual “Top 25 Times” and official results for Week 2 are available on the PWSL League Site.

National News

The 2026 Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet was held in Vancouver, Canada, June 5-7 and featured USA Junior/Nation’s Capital Swim Club teammates Alyssa Sagle (Virginia commit) and Sadie Buckley (Texas commit), both brought home multiple podium finishes. The selection criteria for the meet is detailed in this link from USA Swimming.

Here is the recap of how they performed across the three-day meet at the UBC Aquatic Centre.

Alyssa Sagle

Sagle swam 6 individual events and the leadoff on the 400 Medley Relay. One of her highlight swims occurred as she went head-to-head with multi-Olympic medalist Kylie Masse in both the 50 and 100 Backstroke events.

• 100m Backstroke (Silver & Gold Relay): In the individual 100m backstroke final, Sagle took the silver medal behind Kylie Masse, touching the wall in a personal best time of 1:00.48. Later in the meet, she led off the victorious U.S. Junior 400m medley relay team, lowering her brand-new personal best even further to a blistering 1:00.46.
• 200m Backstroke (Silver): Sagle claimed another silver medal on night one, clocking 2:10.17 to finish just behind teammate Sydney Schoeck.

Sadie Buckley

Buckley showcased her versatile multi-event talent, pushing hard in both the backstroke and individual medley events, competing in 6 individual events, making the championship final in each of them, and winning the 200 IM! .

• 400m Individual Medley (Silver): In a tight, dramatic battle, Buckley took the silver medal with a time of 4:41.53. She led for the first half of the race, turning a second ahead at the 200-meter mark before Sydney Schoeck surged ahead on the back half to win by a mere three-tenths of a second.
• 200m Individual Medley (Gold): Buckley controlled the pace of the final, out swimming her fellow American teammate Liberty Clark by more than a full second to take the crown in 2:13.66. This performance was slightly off her lifetime best of 2:12.35 set earlier in the season at the Fort Lauderdale Open, however it solidified her dominance in the medley races for the weekend!
• 200m Backstroke (Bronze): Buckley rounded out an all-American podium sweep in the 200m back, securing the bronze medal with a time of 2:11.19 right behind Schoeck and Sagle.
• 100m Backstroke: Buckley also qualified for the championship final in the 100m backstroke, placing fourth overall with a time of 1:02.60 in a field heavily packed with top international talent.
• 100m Butterfly: Minutes after capturing the win in the 200 IM, Sadie placed 6th overall!
• 200 Butterfly(Silver): This was a 2-woman race from the start as Sadie battled Juliet Nicholson through the 150 before Juliet pulled away for the win. Given this was Sadie’s 12th swim of the meet and minutes after her 100 Backstroke, this was an amazing performance for Sadie!

*Note: This has been edited from the original post, where our readers pointed out the omission of Sadie Buckley’s win in the 200 IM. Apologies to Sadie for the omission and thank you to our readers.