Dolphin Times

Issue 3, Season 2019

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Dolphins Headed to Div. D Next Season

By Tucker the Dog

Dolphin Times Editor in Chief

The magical mystery computer at MCSL has placed the Bannockburn Dolphins in Div. D next summer.

Yes, the team may have finished fourth, but it will still advance up to Division D along with Merrimack, our neighbors just on the other side of the elementary school. Last time we competed against Merrimack, we marched from our pool to their pool while chanting and cheering the whole way. No one along Bannockburn Drive slept late that morning.

Also is Div. D will be Mill Creek, River Falls, Tilden and Kentlands. While the memory of this dog is not perfect, he is pretty sure we have competed against all of these pools other than perhaps Mill Creek which is located off of Shady Grove Road near Laytonia Regional Park. This dog knows that park well as he watches Jacob Seiberg play baseball there frequently.

Kentlands is off of Quince Orchard about 5 minutes from Shadowlands laser tag while Tilden is on Tilden Lane off of Old Georgetown in North Bethesda. River Falls is close as it is off of Brickyard, which itself is just a few miles past the one lane bridge on MacArthur.

As for our former Div. E teammates, Clarksburg Village will jump up to Div. C while Old Farm and Robin Hood will stay in Div. E. Regency Estates and Daleview — home to the best swim meet food and iced coffee in the MCSL — drop to Div. I.

While we call it a magical mystery computer, MCSL actually runs simulated meets with all the teams against each other using the three fastest times in each event for each team. There is no adjustment for swimmers who age up over the off season or for those graduating seniors who no longer will be eligible.

MCSL then ranks the teams by projected victories. It also produces a projected point total from those meets. One can find the full division assignments here.

Dolphins Finish 4th in Div. E Despite Divisional Win

By Doll Finn

Senior Dolphin Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins did all they could at Regency Estates on Saturday morning to try to repeat as divisional champs.

The team took first place at the meet and the 20 points that went with the win. Combined with the 16 points the team earned by winning two dual meets and finishing fourth at relay carnival.

Unfortunately, as Dolphin Times noted last week, 36 points would not be enough to win the division. That honor went to Clarksburg Village, which entered the meet with 38 points after winning all of its dual meets and taking second at relay carnival. It finished third in the divisional meet for another 12 points, which gave it the win with 50 points.

We suspect Clarksburg was nervous until the end as Robin Hood could have won the division if it had beaten Bannockburn and if Old Farm had finished ahead of Clarksburg.

Your Dolphins powered to a close 21 point win over Robin Hood and Old Farm fell 11.5 points behind Clarksburg. Still in a meet where first place is worth 16 points and last gets 1 point, a single swimmer could have been the difference.

Robin Hood got second in the division with 44 points followed by Old Farm at 38 points. It is true that Bannockburn could have moved up to third in the division if Old Farm had finished fifth at divisionals rather than fourth. That was never in play as the difference at divisionals between the teams was nearly 200 points. Regency Estates took fifth and our fellow charter MCSL teammates at Daleview finished sixth.

Dolphin Times would note that the divisional win did show the team got stronger as the season progressed, which always bodes well for next season. It also demonstrates the importance of each event as the Dolphins lost a few dual meets by close margins. An extra win or two would have put the division in play.

Final Dolphin Kick Propels Team to Divisional Victory

By Walter Tu Kold

Dolphin Correspondent

The Bannockburn Dolphins swum to victory at Saturday’s Division E meet with a 21 point margin over second place Robin Hood and a 49.5 point edge over Clarksburg Village.

Old Farm was fourth, Regency Estates was fifth and Daleview was last despite the support of Whitman High School Principal Robby Dodd who really should have backed Bannockburn regardless of which pool he joined.

Scoring in divisionals is different than a dual meet. First place gets 16 points. Second gets 13. Each subsequent spot is one point less with the 12th place finisher getting one point. As such, this puts a premium on the win but also rewards teams that can be competitive in all age groups and all strokes even if they don’t have the fastest swimmers in each event.

Relays also are more important in the Divisional Meet. First gets 28 points compared to 20 points for second, 16 for third, 12 for fourth, 8 for fifth and 4 for sixth. We often have heard questions about why last place gets points. This rewards legal swims and discourages swimmers from risking an early takeoff or an illegal kicks that could disqualify the entire relay and cost the team guaranteed points.

This meet really is a story of the 15/18 boys and girls as well as 13/14 girls and under 8 boys and girls powering to wins and recording record times while the rest of the team pushed for points where ever they could be found.

A good example came in event 1 where Charlie Conroy finished sixth but beat a faster swimmer. And Alex Spooner finished ninth but beat his seed time and a swimmer who was supposed to beat him. That gave us two points more than what was expected from that event. This pattern would be repeated throughout the meet.

The 15/18 dominance was on display with both 200 Medley Relays. The boys team of Andrew O’Brien, Owen Wassiliew, Lucca Scott and Ray Crist won by more than two seconds over Robin Hood while the girls team of Maya Fawaz, Tess Buckley, Sophie Duncan and Valerie Mello took first by about 1.5 seconds over Robin Hood as well.

As we moved to the younger ages, the team was racking up points. Brody Ulrich took third in under 8 boys 25 free while Eli Nigri dropped nearly 1.5 seconds to finish seventh.

Caroline Conroy dominated in under 8 girls 25 free with a win that was more than 1.6 seconds faster than second place. Adriana Zobrist was sixth in a swim that was more than a second faster than her seed time.

Meyer Eskin dropped time in boys 13/14 50 free to secure fifth against a swimmer who had a faster seed time.

The girls 13/14 was just ridiculously fast with the top seven swimmers putting up All Star times. Darby LeFaivre was second and she took 4/10 of a second off her seed time. Tess Buckley took sixth and she dropped 1.2 seconds from her seed time.

Matching this in intensity was the girls 11/12 50 free as there also were seven All Star Times. Julia Ulrich took fourth and Lauren Faulkender was sixth.

The girls kept up the strong performances with Sophie Duncan and Valerie Mello going first and second in a 15/18 100 free event that featured eight All Star times. For the boys, there was five All Star times with Lucca Scott finishing fifth.

More power from the girls was on display in the 13/14 100 IM with Darby LeFaivre and Tess Buckley taking first and second in an event with six All Star times. For the boys, Meyer Eskin was fourth in an event with seven All Star times.

In under 8 25 back, Caroline Conroy won for the girls and Brody Ulrich won for the boys. Sophie Duncan and Valerie Mello were one-two in 15/18 100 back with Sophie setting a team record. For the boys, Andrew O’Brien and Owen Wassiliew were second and fourth.

Darby LeFaivre took first in girls 13/14 50 back with a team record in an event with six All Star times.

in 15/18 100 IM, there were eight All Star times for boys and girls. Sophie Duncan topped a Carolin McTaggart time to set the pool record and record the win. Valerie Mello was fourth. For the boys, Andrew O’Brien and Lucca Scott went fourth and fifth.

Other Dolphin wins included Brody Ulrich in boys 25 fly, which also set a pool record. Sophie Duncan won the girls 15/18 50 fly in an event in which there were seven All Star times and Daleview and Robin Hood both had swimmer set team records.

Divisionals ends with the greatest event in swimming, which is the under 14 graduated free style relay. The boys team of Noah Nigri, James LeFaivre, Meyer Eskin and Brody Ulrich took fourth for 12 points while the girls team of Nadia Lall, Julia Ulrich, Darby LeFaivre and Caroline Conroy finished second for 20 points.

No New Owners to Result in End of Dolphin Times

By Tucker the Dog

Dolphin Times Editor in Chief

This time we really mean it.

Dolphin Times is your source of scuttlebutt on Bannockburn’s swim team. We give you the latest and greatest.

This fabulous publication was revived about eight years ago after going dormant upon the departure of a prior coach and the family that helped produce it. It likely will go dormant again next year without someone taking it over.

Kids love to see their names in print. This is especially true for the youngest swimmers. It is why someone needs to take this over who has younger swimmers and attends more of the meets, especially the B meets as that is a chance to really highlight the great work of so many young Dolphins.

Please reach out if you are interested. We used to publish 8 to 10 times per season. This year the paper is down to three editions. It needs new ownership that can give these young Dolphins the recognition they deserve.