W.T. Woodson and Lake Braddock will square off in the Patriot District championships in one of four district meets this weekend. (Photo by Jim Albertson)
After months of dual meets, the championship season has finally arrived for Virginia teams as the area district meets open this weekend across the Northern Region.
One major change has come into play: With the possibility of snow on Saturday, teams must be prepared for Friday’s preliminaries to be scored as finals should the meets be canceled tomorrow. Coaches were informed on Friday afternoon that relays will be scored as finals at the preliminaries on Friday, and it may end up that the district champions are crowned with a phone call on Saturday morning.
Here is a quick preview of the area Virginia AAA Northern Region district championships.
NATIONAL DISTRICT
Where: Washington-Lee Pool, Arlington
When: Prelims – Friday, 5:30 PM; Finals – Saturday, 5:30 PM
What to Watch For: It should be a battle between the two teams that faced each other in the final week of the season with unbeaten records: Yorktown and Washington-Lee. The two Arlington schools split the meet, with the Patriots girls and Generals boys each walking away with perfect seasons.
After diving on Thursday, Mount Vernon leads the way with 41 points, followed by Washington-Lee with 39 and Yorktown in third with 30.
Best Races: Perhaps the closest will be the men’s 200 freestyle between Edison’s Balazs Kiss, an honorable mention All-Met last year, and Washington-Lee’s Freddy Crawford, who is seeded first in the event with a time of 1:45.59. Kiss is seeded second at 1:46.83.
Outlook from the Deck: “We as a team want to win districts,” Washington-Lee Coach Kristina Dorville said. “Our relays our seeded well for the boys’ side, first and second in all of them, and I think in general it’ll be a fun meet. And to be hosting the meet at our new pool, the first time ever in an Arlington County pool, I believe, we’re excited about that opportunity as well.”
PATRIOT DISTRICT
Where: OakMarr RECenter, Oakton
When: Prelims – Friday, 6:00 PM; Finals – Saturday, 5:30 PM
What to Watch For: In its first season in the Patriot District after moving over from the Liberty, W.T. Woodson finished undefeated in the regular season and now must prove they can pick up points in a championship meet to walk away with the district crown.
The Cavaliers girls face their stiffest challenge from defending champion West Springfield, which Woodson beat 174-141 late in the season. Also keep an eye on Lake Braddock, another strong team that narrowly fell to Woodson in early December. Though the Cavaliers finished undefeated, they still go into the district meet facing an uphill battle to score points and win a title.
The Cavaliers boys faced nary a challenge throughout the season – never winning their meets by any less than 101 points. Woodson won by 150, 180, 101, 103, 139, 113 and 168 points during the perfect season.
Best Races: Keep an eye on the 50 freestyle girls’ race and the girls’ 400 freestyle relay, which could be a close battle between South County and Woodson.
Outlook from the Deck: “On the boys side we feel pretty confident and we’re excited for tonight,” Woodson Coach Susie Hamrock said. “The girls’ is going to be a bit more of a challenge, a battle between Lake Braddock, West Springfield, us and South County. One on one with the dual meets our depth really helps us, but tonight at districts we’re going to be spread thin. We don’t have any first place seeds on the girls’ side so we’re looking for our depth to help us again, so it’ll be more of a challenge.”
CONCORDE DISTRICT
Where: Cub Run RECenter, Chantilly
When: Prelims – Friday, 5:30 PM; Finals – Saturday, 5:30 PM
What to Watch For: No doubt this meet is once again a battle between two powerhouses that are also major threats for the state titles on both the boys and girls side: Oakton and Robinson.
Robinson boys’ have won seven consecutive Virginia AAA state titles – but last year it was Oakton that walked away as the Northern Region champions. The Cougars are led by UVA-bound, All-Met senior Bradley Phillips, a favorite to win state titles in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Keep an eye on K.J. Park and freshman Philip Hu as well.
On the girls side Oakton features All-Met junior Kaitlin Pawlowicz, but it was the Robinson girls who walked away with a win when the two teams met in a dual early in the season.
Despite all of Oakton’s star power, there is no doubt that Robinson remains a heavyweight favorite. The well-rounded Rams will be boosted by a tremendous start in the diving competition on Thursday night, where they swept first through fourth on the girls side (England Barimo, Brynn Rollo, Laura Gartrell and Ali Graine) and took first and second on the boys’ (Cory Bowersox and Frank Burdell). Robinson also has regional qualifiers in every event on both the boys’ and girls’ side.
Keep an eye on Ricky Munch, Rachel Canty, Johann Shim and Kathleen Dodson – all of whom have state cuts already, as well as senior Hannah Walden.
Best Races: The boys’ 100 breaststroke in which Oakton has the top and fourth seed while Robinson is seeded second and third. The girls’ 100 breast and 100 back are also set to be fast, highly-contested races stacked with swimmers from the two top programs.
Outlook from the Deck: “If they do the best they can, that’s all I can ask for,” Robinson Coach Clayton Joyner said. “If they’re having fun and doing that, the result will be positive. Oakton has a good team, that’s no secret. It’s going to be tough to beat them, but at the same time we have a lot of pride and tradition and I know my kids are going to step up.”
LIBERTY DISTRICT
Where: Audrey Moore RECenter, Annandale
When: Prelims – Friday, 6 PM; Finals – Saturday, 5:30 PM
What to Watch For: This meet might be one of the most hotly contested, with several talented teams on both the boys’ and girls’ sides contending for titles.
On the boys’ side, Langley, Jefferson, Madison and Fairfax will all battle it out for the championship. A deep Warhawks’ boys’ team finished the year unbeaten but will have to hold off a strong challenge from teams with several regional and state-bound swimmers.
Madison lacks star power but boasted plenty of depth in dual season with freshman Evan Owens, Eric Kim and Andy McGuire and senior Adam Pennington.
Keep an eye on Jefferson’s Stephen Seliskar and Matt Callahan, Langley’s Ryan Natal and Chuck Katis and Stephen Richards, McLean’s Charlie Putnam and Fairfax’s Jake Baumgardner and Joey Kelly.
On the girls’ side, it will be another closely contested meet featuring several teams. Madison, Langley, McLean and Jefferson will all look to be in the picture over the weekend – though the Saxons enter the weekend as the favorite to take the crown.
Keep an eye on Langley’s Megan Howard, Abigail Speers and Jayme Katis, Jefferson’s Katie Bennett and McLean’s Eva Greene.
Best Races: The boys’ 200 and 400 freestyle relays are separated all within one second among the top seeds, and the boys’ 200 freestyle also figures to be a close race.
Outlook from the Deck: “It’s really, really close on both sides, boys and girls,” Jefferson Coach Alexandra Porter said. “It’s definitely going to be a meet to watch. The top three [teams] in the district, [the meet is basically] is divided by 10 points. It’s going to be crazy.”
Tags: AAA Northern Region, Bradley Phillips, Concorde District, Eva Greene, Fairfax, Jefferson, Kaitlin Pawlowicz, Lake Braddock, Langley, Liberty District, Madison, McLean, Mount Vernon, National District, Northern Region, Oakton High School, Patriot District, Philip Hu, Robinson, South County, Virginia High School Swimming, W.T. Woodson, Washington-Lee, West Springfield, Yorktown
Since the focus of the article appears to be on teams rather than individuals, I do not understand why you focus on certain named swimmers to the exclusion of everybody else — aren’t all team members equally valuable?
On the other hand, if you are going to name names, then at least get it right. For instance, you failed to mention the McLean boy swimmer who most likely will win 2 state titles this year.
Sorry. I assume you mean Charlie Putnam? Oversight on my part, but I haven’t forgotten him and I added him into these previews.
Hubert the Infant says:
January 29, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Since the focus of the article appears to be on teams rather than individuals, I do not understand why you focus on certain named swimmers to the exclusion of everybody else — aren’t all team members equally valuable?
someones mad they didnt get mentioned……
Results from last night? Anyone?
the dude in lane 3 looks like he got shot in the back. interesting dive.
James Madison Boys and Girls won the Liberty District Championships. 3rd year in row for the Madison Girls!
Your discussion of results up to this point is confusing. You report as if boys and girls compete for one championship,. When in actuality, there is a boys championship team and a girls championship team. This is definitely apparent in your reporting of the National District Results. The diving events at National District were won by Carl Buergler of WL and Maggie Cullather of Falls Church, both of whom qualified for the Virginia State AAA Championship.
So far I have heard that last night’s results included a win for both the Madison boys and girls teams in the Liberty District, and a win for the Oakton boys and Robinson girls in the Concorde.
The National District finals will be held on Monday, Feb 1 at the Washington-Lee Aquatic Center. Five meet records were set in prelims. If the seedings for finals holds, the boys title could be decided in the final event with Yorktown and W-L fighting it out. On the girl’s side, the Yorktown girls advanced all 32 entries into A finals and are positioned well to win the title. Falls Church, Mount Vernon, and W-L are in a tight battle for second
“gfdashn says:
January 30, 2010 at 1:01 am
Hubert the Infant says:
January 29, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Since the focus of the article appears to be on teams rather than individuals, I do not understand why you focus on certain named swimmers to the exclusion of everybody else — aren’t all team members equally valuable?
someones mad they didnt get mentioned……”
or, maybe he just noticed that certain swimmers get mentioned more than others…over and over and over…….
I would agree with Hubert, that you seem very selective on the individuals that you name. But then again, I guess this is just another example that nothing is really fair is it?
Actually, neither I nor any member of my family swims for a high school team in this area, so I have no personal stake in anybody’s getting mentioned in this article. However, I am a fan of swimming and had high hopes for reachforthewall.com.
This site could be popularizing swimming in this area by highlighting the thousands of dedicated swimmers who work hard and love their sport but who never get recognition because they do not have great times. Instead, reachforthewall.com seems to mention the same “great” swimmers over and over again. The truly ridiculous thing is that reachforthewall.com doesn’t even do a good job focusing on the area’s best swimmers: some of those mentioned repeatedly are not really that good, while some other swimmers who really are good both locally and nationally are never mentioned.
To be blunt: if you are going to write about something with an air of authority, do your research first.
am i the only one who is frustrated by the lack of results!
yo stop hating on the reporters or whatever
actually read the articles instead of just looking at the names in orange
i actually lol at theese from whiny indivduals
Wow!! Somebody finally says what the majority of the swim community has been thinking since day one of this site…. swim for RMSC or CUBU, be top 10 in the US and you get repeat coverage of your swimming here. 9,000 registered US swimmers, 32 PVS clubs, 100,000 summer league swimmers, who knows how many high school swimmers and if you drop RMSC/CUBU from the story, how many other swimmers have we heard about? Instead of 4 or 5 writers doing this part time, why not one guy on a regular basis? 32 PVS clubs.. 2 stories a week highlighting something about each of those clubs, in 4 months, each club gets a story and a little exposure. 9,000 US swimmers in PVS, 25 at the national level, 60 at the Junior national level, that leaves a whole lot of swimmers out there who might have an interesting story to tell…. there are hundreds of club coaches out there that would love to take 20 minutes out of there day and talk about a program or a swimmer… how about it? What about a big link on the page that says “contact us here about a story”
The reporter did a story on a preview in the area of HS swimming, and he can only base his report on past year’s results. So those names do get mentioned again along with any other name that a HS coach submitted in results to the reporter. Where do you think the reporter gets his data? The results need to be sent to them.
If you feel a name isn’t mentioned…why don’t you contact the reporter and give them some information.
Swim Parent say’s “How bout a big link on the page that says “contact us here about a story”
If you read the paper “reach for the wall” has asked for information or stories on their front page.
So contact us here about a story is there.
Also, I don’t think the intent of “Reach for the Wall” is to market all the clubs in the area. It is the respective club’s responsiblity to “market” themselves. Each club has the ability to submit a story or a angle that they believe is newsworthy to the swim community. So I ask have you submitted a story or has your PVS club coach submitted a story to the paper?
In general, RFTW does cover swimming as best as they can IMO. I have suggested by email a way for them to cover stories and they do (for the most part). Just got to ask. I’m sure money is tight and if they dont have the cash, the stories won’t come out. While its nice to see coverage on the 10,000 recreational swimmers, like other sports the cream rises to the top and gets all the coverage. That won’t change here and if you think otherwise I have some land in Florida I want to sell you.
I take issue with that Speedo….Their is more than a little cream that could be covered and is not and if you are going to write a story about local swimmers you should at least know who coaches them..That is not a budget issue. As far as suggesting story’s, here are a few.. Has the economy effected membership and have swimmers shifted to P&R teams or less expensive programs? How do juniors and senior swimmers handle the pressure of looking at colleges and how do they finally make their decision. What is a recruiting trip actually like and how does is vary between D1,D2,D3 schools. How do swimmers that go on to swim in college handle it..How do coaches handle overly involved swim parents and conversely , how do parents handle coaches that focus on a handful of swimmers when they have a big team. What makes a good age group coach/ what makes a good age group parent..How much does high yardage effect young kids.. How are the teams seen as different..the list go on. Their are so many ideas…
Tenerio, you swim with Sullivan , he is on your team so you dont even have to find someone for a story and you mentioned Putnam, how about following him if he is looking at colleges.
What I dont understand is how can their not be a follow up on the district meets that were previewed last Thursday or Friday. Any other sport, their would have been
In this 1,200 word article, 14 teams and 34 kids are mentioned. Those kids swim for clubs that vary from: Curl Burke, Machine, York, Sea Devil, Mason Makos, Arlington Aquatic Club, Fish, Potomac Marlins, Patriot Dive Club, Dominion Diving and high school only.
Swimmers,
I believe if you read the comments you will see that the observations made by the posters involve more then this article..and wow, you actually counted the words?
curious– The lack of follow up may be due to the fact that, because of the snow on Saturday, the Friday prelims (other than National) were converted into timed finals after the fact. At least that is what some of the comments on this thread indicate. I believe the local print media typically sends reporters only to the Saturday sessions.
The first day of the northern region meet was cancelled for weather in 2003 and 2004, but at least everyone knew on Saturday that the meet was being swum as timed finals.
Guys – lets move on and cover Regionals better….and can’t we give Paul Tenorio a break….this is breaking new ground in the base-case and besides maybe he was spent from a hard week of practice. Sounds like alot of arm-chair quarterbacking here to me.
Thanks to The Post and these dedicated writers for providing any coverage whatsoever for swimming — which has to be one of the most ignored sports in the area. Keep up the good work!
Hi everyone, this is Mitch Rubin, the editor of the site.
Thank you all your your comments. And keep them coming. We appreciate every bit of input you have for us. Swimfan2, thanks for the great story ideas.
If anyone out there has more for us you can reach us at info@reachforthewall.com. Our e-mail has been listed in the right column of the homepage since we launched the site in June.
Additionally, let me tell you a bit about how this site runs. There are, unfortunately no full time resources devoted to it. It’s myself, Amy Shipley, who is also our Olympics reporter and as such, has had to focus on the coming games in Vancouver, Paul Tenorio who also covers high school soccer, football, basketball and helps out with The Post’s Redskins coverage, Matt Brooks who recently joined us on a part-time freelance basis and also writes about all other high school sports. We are joined by two college students, Forrest Kobayashi and Ishita Singh, who help out whenever they can.
I’d love it if any of the above reporters had the time to scour the area for story ideas. But right now this site is not yet big enough for the company to devote a full time reporter to it. Hopefully some day it will be. But for now, it’s a bit in your hands.
This site was created to allow you to help us cover you and for you to cover yourselves. Every school and summer team has it’s own page for you yourselves to tell us about what’s going on with your team. It takes just a minute to register and we do scour those pages for ideas. But only a very few high schools have taken advantage of it. To get there just type your school/summer team name into the search bar and click on the link that will appear
I also monitor the info@reachforthewall.com e-mail, and the hss@washpost.com e-mails for swimming story ideas. We’d love to write about the best stories out there, but 99% of the ideas coming into our inbox are about swimmers from the two biggest local clubs.
Our goal was to create an online swimming community for you all to discuss issues and talk about your accomplishments as well as those of, your children and your friends. We can’t do it alone.
Swimfan2 gave us a great start to some new ideas. Keep them coming. And populate those team pages. And if you have a specific complaint, our inbox is always open: info@reachforthewall.com
We have a new development; M1Thumb is in the building.
If you want results get your HS coaches or the individual responsible to send the results into the POST….along with sending them to PVS so they do get posted. Otherwise, you are going to wait….awhile.
I also say “thank you” for giving swimming a place in the Washington Post…
not exactly sure what was wrong with this article…
Mitch Rubin says-
“but 99% of the ideas coming into our inbox are about swimmers from the two biggest local clubs.”
It should probably read:
but 99% of the ideas coming into our inbox are FROM PARENTS about swimmers from the two biggest local clubs…lol…coaches are to busy actually coaching
Don’t worry Paul, you’re the man and I’m glad somebody is actually taking time to recognize the value in a sport such as swimming. Go RSD!!!
Sorry Swimfan2, you think for a minute some kid will grant access to a reporter while looking at colleges? The kids barely want to communicate with their parents, yet alone the general public via a reporter. I have seen the helicopter parents write to coaches in the kids sophmore year and fill out every questionaire to get the college coaches attention, only to be disappointed by the lack of response. It’s really simple, get a junior or senior cut and the coaches will come out in droves. Get Trial Cuts and you can pick and choose where to go.
Mitch the lack of college swimming coverage is something I would suggest more – talk to the SID at GMU, UVA or Maryland and get an interview with their local swimmers if you want to expand on Swimfan2′s suggestions…
Paul – Keep up the great work! This article was just what the site needed to take it to the next level. Lots of great input and suggestions above. Looking forward to following the development of a great concept.
Parents/Swimmers – drive your HS coaches to submit their data. The site is only as good as the data provided!
Maybe have a user video upload section, that way we can watch big races from regionals/districts/states/metros.
I’m thrilled this website exists. This article was simply a preview of each District meet, they only had last year to go from and certainly couldn’t mention every good swimmer.
However, I will admit to previously thinking “here we go, with the same names”. But, they can only report on who they know about. If you have a tip on an up and coming swimmer, or a swimming interest story, send them an email and tip them off. They may not use it, but they might. Up until a week a go, our team didn’t even have any times from the dual meets, and I see some teams that still do not have information posted from any dual meets.
Now that some District data should be coming out, how about an article on the truly “who to look out for” swimmers…not those already at the very top, but maybe those freshman and sophmores poised to step up?
Thanks for making the site available. It is going to take some time to get all to participate but it is the right thing to do. I am pleased to see the effort of publishing the results of each of our high school team/league championships. I congratulate the reporters in their effort to tape and interview one of the championships. Swimming and Diving is not Basketball or Football – but there is incredible talent in this Region and the community should have the opportunity to learn and know the results of these dedicated athletes. Northern Virginia has produced several Olympians! It is really great that this site is up and running and it will improve with participation from all high schools and programs. Thanks!!!
From my perspective, the coverage is great. I actually feel badly that the site editor had to explain/apologize. They’re doing wonderful work with scarce resources and I’m very impressed by how much they produce.
Also, I am new to this site and have been reviewing the last several weeks of coverage. I think the coverage leans one way or another because — let’s face it — the talent is concentrated in certain places. There are occasional articles about swimmers from some of the smaller teams, but most of the area’s best swimmers come from two or three different programs. I’m not sure why anybody would be surprised that those two or three programs get the bulk of the coverage.