By Preston Williams

Chantilly Highlands swimmer Michael Grimmett-Norris has been involved in summer swimming for 14 years, and never had one of his team’s meets ended in a tie.

“I wasn’t sure it was possible,” he said.

Grimmett-Norris found out Saturday that it is, when he and his Dolphins teammates swam to a 222-all draw at Ashburn Village, and the the bizarre results could help determine the Red Division champion in the Colonial Swim League.

Ashburn Village (2-1) needed a victory to keep pace with unbeaten Cascades (3-0) atop the division. Those teams are set to meet at Cascades on Saturday.

The tie might have been less of a disappointment to Chantilly Highlands (1-1-1), which had moved up from the White Division this season.

“It was kind of weird,” said Grimmett-Norris, who won the boys’ 15-18 50 freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly and swam on two victorious relays. “We would win a couple races; they would win a couple races.”

Chantilly Highlands won five of the six boys’ relays and Ashburn Village won five of the six girls’ relays; the teams split the mixed age relays.

It has been a dramatic couple of weeks for Chantilly Highlands. The Dolphins beat the Burke Center Penguins, 220-217, on July 3.

In the Northern Virginia Swimming League, four meets Saturday pitted teams that were 2-0 in their divisions. Sully Station II nipped Greenbriar in Division 7, Brookfield beat Parliament in Division 10, Canterbury Woods edged Great Falls in Division 11 and Brandywine defeated Rolling Hills in Division 13.

All four winners took over sole possession of first place in their divisions.

Sully Station II won 199-198, pulling out the victory even though the Piranhas lost the final two relays. The final score came as a surprise to Greenbriar, which had begun its victory celebration before the meet announcer disclosed the result.

“We actually thought that they won,” said Sully Station II swimmer Carli Molano, who won the girls’ 15-18 50 back and took second in the 50 fly. “They were doing their cheers saying that they appreciated swimming at our pool and everything, but then when a guy from our team announced [that Sully had won], we were so surprised. He made it all suspenseful. The other team was so in shock and we were screaming and everything. It was so exciting.”

“There were a lot of [disqualifications] on both sides and it was very very difficult to keep score because you don’t really know who gets DQ’d,” Sully Station II Coach Scott Brown said. “That really changes the score around.”

A few Piranhas scored who were not necessarily seeded to do so, which might have provided the difference. One such swimmer was Olivia Witt, who finished third in both the girls’ 13-14 50 back and 50 fly.

“One race she walked back with a big grin on her face,” Brown said. “She’s somebody who’s always worked very very hard and is always at practice and swims whatever we ask her to do. There were a handful of races like that where they surprised us. I asked them to ‘surprise us; surprise yourselves,’ and they did that.

“This ranks way, way up there with meets I’ll remember for a long time, the Greenbriar meet coming down to the end.”

The 8-under girls helped boost Brookfield in its 218-184 win over Parliament in Division 10. Caitlin Mowry, Amalia Mack and Darby Monahan nabbed the top three spots in the 25 free, and the same trio swept the 25 breast, with Mack winning, Mowry second and Monahan third.

Breakers Coach Chris Schwindt said he was uncertain how the meet might transpire, given the rainy conditions throughout.

“It was just kind of a weird mood,” Schwindt said, “but all around it was a great meet. Some of our swimmers were kind of affected by the weather. They added a couple of seconds and still placed very well.”

Benjamin Condemi, Anna Kenna, William Schulte, Patrick Silsby and Shannon Silsby all won two events.

The Breakers too have known drama this summer — in their first two meets, they beat Holmes Run Acres, 203-199, and Hayfield Farm, 206-196.

Canterbury Woods went 0-5 last season in Division 9 but after a 208-194 win over Great Falls the C-Serpents are 3-0 in Division 11.

Canterbury Woods Coach David Shen, who swam for the team last year, said that in 2009 the C-Serpents had a lot of swimmers at the bottom of the various age brackets. That’s not so much the case now.

“We’d look up and all [the opponents’] kids would be a little taller than ours,” Shen said.

With the maturation of the Canterbury Woods swimmers and the drop in divisions, the C-Serpents are “having a lot more fun this year,” Shen said. “They’re getting a lot more excited, getting faster and having a really great time with it. It’s just a lot more fun across the board.”

Two Canterbury teams that were not seeded to win but which pulled out victories were the boys’ 11-12 100 medley relay (Chase Collins, Nathan Orrick, Gabriel Charlifue, Morrison Rubin) and the boys’ 13-14 100 medley relay (Matthew Newell, Duncan Macritchie, Zachary Yarashus and Ben Pease).

Brandywine stayed unbeaten in Division 13 by upending Rolling Hills, 242-159, thanks in great part to the Barracuda girls sweeping the first three finishes in five events — the 8-under 25 free, 8-under 25 breast, 11-12 50 fly, 15-18 50 back and 15-18 50 fly. Julia Wickard, 11, won the 15-18 back and 11-12 fly. In the 8-unders, Abby Gill won the breast and took second in the free.

Alex Miller, in his first season as co-head coach (with Michael Davis) of Brandywine after three years as an assistant, has been pleasantly surprised with what the Barracudas have done after moving up this season from Division 15.

“In all honesty, we were thinking one or two wins would be a good season,” Miller said. “It’s a great feeling.”

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