Dolphin Times

Issue 2, Season 2019

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Dolphins Enter Divisionals Going 2 of 5 in Dual Meets

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

2019 has been a season of inches for the Bannockburn Dolphins.

All of the dual meets have been decided by just a few points which means the current 2 and 3 record could just as easily been 4 and 1. Or even a complete sweep. Even at relay carnival, the team kept it much more competitive than in prior years with a fourth place finish that was just 20 points from third and 25 points from second.

Yet ultimately the results are what the results are.

At this point, the Dolphins need to win Divisionals to get the symbolic championship for the 2019 season. Getting the actual championship, however, is no longer mathematically possible.

With 16 points, the Dolphins sit in fourth place. The problem is that Clarksburg Village has 38 points after sweeping all of its dual meets and finishing second at relay carnival. This is a problem for Bannockburn as Divisionals are only worth 20 points. This means there is no way for the Dolphins to catch Clarksburg Village.

Two teams can derail Clarksburg’s march for the Division title. Old Farm is at 30 points and Robin Hood has 28. Points are awarded at 20 for the win, 16 for second, 12 for third, eight for fourth and four for fifth. No points go the sixth place.

This means Old Farm can tie Clarksburg Village with a win if CV finishes third and Old Farm wins. If CV finishes fourth or worse, then Old Farm gets the win. Robin Hood’s path is more complicated, but basically it needs to win the division and ensure Clarksburg Village finishes fourth or worse. Even if Old Farm in that scenario were to finish second, it would still be two point shy of a tie for first.

A Dolphins win at Divisionals would still ensure Clarksburg Village wins if CV finishes second or third. If CV finishes fourth and Old Farm is second, then the two teams would tie for the crown.

We won’t go through all the possible calculations. But the point is that the Dolphins can send a real message with a win on Saturday even thought the actual crown is just outside the team’s reach.

Big Time Improvements Hallmarks of 2019

By Walter Tu Kold

Dolphin Correspondent

Dolphin Times has a long history of reporting how well swimmers have improved their times over the season. This is a way to give a shout out to not just the A meet participants but also those who mostly swim in the B meets.

The Bannockburn Dolphins switch to a new computer system makes it more challenging to produce those same results. Yet it also offers up some interesting data that we did not previously have.

More specifically, it lets us see the number of times that a swimmer posted an improved time at either an A meet or a B meet in any stroke, including IM. It also tells us the average percentage of improvement. Swimmers can post up to five times at a B meet and four times at an A meet. That means there are 45 opportunities to post a better time for those who posted their original time at Time Trials and if they swam the maximum number of events at all other meets.

The reality is that no swimmers do this. So the realistic maximum is probably about half of the numerical maximum.

That is what makes some of these statistics so impressive.

We first highlight those who posted 10 or more improved times this season.

For girls 7/8, Maia Niebylski posted 17 improved times with Caroline Conway just behind her with 16. Valerie Merriam and Ambre Verhoeven were next with 12 improved times each.

Max Genereux led the boys 7/8 with 21 improvements followed by Eli Nigri with 20 improvements. Noah Hass was next with 14, Wessel van der Werf had 13 and Jimmy Crino had 10.

In girls 9/10, Blair LeFairvre notched 18 improved times followed by Gabriella Noya and Nadia Lall, both of whom had 12. Alex Genereux posted 11 improvements and Clare Garvin had 10.

In boys 9/10, Daniel Merriam and Noah Nigri posted 21 improvements with Jack Edlavitch next with 15 and Joey Lewis with 14. Charlie Edlavitch and Alexander Watkins each had 12 improved times and Durke Anderson had 10.

Girls 11/12 kept the streak going with Dale Stenberg with 20 improvements, Lauren Faulkender with 15, and Isabelle Hyman, Julia Ulrich and Zoe Verhoeven with 13 each. Next was Shelby Carter and Celia Noya with 11 each.

Alex Spooner led the Boys 11/12 with 18 improved times followed by James LeFaivre with 17 and Marine Alvarez and Charlie Conroy with 13 each. Rowan Conroy had 12 improvements while Theo Zobrist had 11.

Darby LeFaivre led the girls 13/14 with 16 improvements followed by Maya Clancy with 15, Tess Buckley with 12 and Ella Scott with 11. On the boy’s side of 13/14, Meyer Eskin led the way with 20 improvements followed by Will Spooner with 16, Max Kroloff with 14, Sam Smith with 12, Anthony Noya with 11 and Thaddeus O’Neil with 10.

The oldest swimmers kept up the pace. For girls 15/18, Valerie Mello had 12 improvements followed by Madeleine, Maya Fawaz and Sophie Duncan with 11 each and Shifra Eskin with 10. For the boys 15/18, Lucca Scott posted 13 improved times with Gideon Helf and Andrew O’Brien at 11 each and Owen Wassiliew with 10.

With also flag anyone with an average improvement of at least 15% as that is just an impressive display of getting faster. On this list are Mozhdeh Hickson in girls 7/8, Elias Del Solar and Jimmy Crino in boys 7/8, and Charlie Edlavitch in boys 9/10.

Editorial: Time to Volunteer is NOW!

By Tucker the Dog

Dolphin Times Editor in Chief

Swim team only works thanks to the tireless work of all of the volunteers. On behalf of Dolphin Times we salute anyone who are helped organize the meets, time the events, herd the swimmers to the starting blocks, run the results to automation, man the computers to produce the results, announce what is happening, sell amazing gear, officiate the meets, and do all of the other things needed to make this such a great team.

Yet there are always some parents who get to the end of the season without helping out. The good news is that there are still opportunities this week with the pre-team meet, the pancake breakfast and the B meet relay carnival.

There is no more forgetting to help. The time is now.

Dolphin Times to Close Absent New Ownership

By Tucker the Dog

Dolphin Times Editor in Chief

Last year was supposed to be the final edition of Dolphin Times under the current leadership team.

That is partly because I’m a lazy dog and partly because they don’t allows dogs at any of the meets. And the swimmers who live in the same household as me are now much older and at fewer meets.

Yet no one stepped up so we came up with this abbreviated publishing schedule for 2019.

The reality is that someone connected with younger swimmers needs to takeover this fine publication before we go the way of the Washington Star and the Northwest Current and simply shut down.

Young kids love to see their names in print and the meet recaps are a great way to share the excitement of swim team with grandparents and other relatives. So please don’t cause us to shutdown for good. Step up and take it over.

Email [email protected] to talk with my human about what is required.

Next Dolphin Times to Publish After Divisional Meet

By Tucker the Dog

Dolphin Times Editor in Chief

Fear not. There will be one more Dolphin Times this year.

The Dolphin Times team plans to bring wall-to-wall coverage of the Divisional meet as well as the announcement of the 2020 divisional assignments.

Look for this last edition right around time of the banquet.