If Michael Fu and teammate Tony Yang weren't in the water last Saturday, they were on the road getting to a pool. (Courtesy of Rockville Rays)
To anyone standing outside of the University of Maryland’s Eppley Recreation Center last Saturday morning, it looked like a bad dream coming to life. Rockville Rays’ swimmers Michael Fu and Tony Yang, clad in their caps and goggles, were running through the parking lot at a feverish pace.
Were they lost? Were they late for the Potomac Valley Swimming Long Course Senior Championships? Did they lose a friendly bet and have to do something as ridiculous as this?
“People were kind of looking at us funny,” Fu said, “but you got to beat Tilden Woods, so we did what we had to do.”
The lengths to which rivalries will drive competitors were evident and Fu and Yang were not going to miss a chance against their chief MCSL adversaries. So, after completing their morning preliminary heats in College Park, Fu and Yang hustled back to Rockville Fitness Pool for Rockville’s meet with Tilden Woods, and helped the Rays to a 433-358 victory, keeping them atop the Montgomery County Swim League’s ‘A’ Division heading into the final week of dual meets.
Rockville’s coaches knew which races Fu and Yang could make if they made it back in enough time. When they arrived at the pool, it was a good omen.
“We must’ve made it back in record time,” Fu said.
Shortly after they returned, they jumped into the 100 meter breaststroke, which Fu won in a team-record time of 1 minute 9.81 seconds. Yang, meantime, typically limits his racing to freestyle and butterfly.
“He was asking me, ‘Why are you putting me in this’ race?” Rockville assistant coach Cara Chuang said. “He finished third. I thought that was really good.”
Fu also won the 50 butterfly, with Yang finishing third there, as well.
Chuang recalled the same conflicting meets challenged her last year. She said she took the same tack as Fu and Yang, but took it one step further. She swam the medley relay for Rockville, and then headed over to College Park for the 100 backstroke, before returning to finish the meet with Tilden Woods.
This year, though, Chuang, who will swim for the University of Illinois later this year, said she couldn’t split her attention last Saturday. She wound up winning the 100 free, 100 back, and 100 IM, and also swam the third leg of Rockville’s winning 200 medley relay team.
“I decided to stay [with Rockville] this year,” she said. “It’s my last year of MCSL. I couldn’t miss my last Tilden meet.”
Meantime, Rockville’s younger swimmers continued to show their potential to keep the Rays among the MCSL’s elite for the next few years.
Swimming in the 13-14 age group, Harrison Gu set team records in winning the 50 free (25.73), 100 IM (1:03.35), 50 breast (32.03), and 50 fly (28.34). He and 12-year-old John Jeang teamed on Rockville’s winning 175 free relay team.
Jeang, meantime, won the 12-and-under 100 IM, 50 free, 50 back, and 50 fly.
Competing in the 11-12 group, Elaina Gu, Harrison’s younger sister, won the 100 IM, 50 free (breaking Chuang’s team mark), 50 back, 50 butterfly, and swam the second leg of the winning 175 free relay.
Younger swimmers are making themselves known throughout the region. Three Northern Virginia Swimming League records fell last weekend, including one that had been on the books since the last generation of NVSL swimmers were in the pool,
Hayfield Farm‘s Joel DeSatnick swam the 50 breaststroke in the 13-14 boys’ division in 28.91, breaking a 31-year-old mark. Tuckahoe’s Jon Ballard put up a time of 29.10 in 1979, which stood until last Saturday.
In the 9-10 girls, Greenbriar‘s Jacqueline Clabeaux got to enjoy holding the league mark in the 50 breaststroke for just three weeks, because she broke her own standard of 37.88 with a time a 37.50, as she led Greenbriar to a 257-145 dual meet victory over Ravenworth Farm in Division 7. Clabeaux also won the 25 butterfly, and 100 medley relay, and 200 free relay mixed age.
One of Clabeaux’s contemporaries in the 9-10 group, Cassidy Bayer, swimming for Mount Vernon Park, bettered the mark in the 25 butterfly by .09 seconds with a time of 14.80. Bayer also won the 50 free, 100 medley relay and 200 free relay mixed age, as MVP beat Dowden Terrace, 246-156, to remain unbeaten heading into this weekend’s meet against Lakevale Estates for the Division 5 championship.
A week after Sully Station II nipped Greenbriar, 199-198, in the area’s closest dual meet this summer, Stonebridge matched that as the Sharks squeaked by Merrimack Park in the MCSL’s ‘E’ Division, 396-395.
“It took a minute for both Merrimack and us to realize what had happened when they posted the scores,” said Stonebridge Coach Jackie Emr. “When we heard that last number, we were like, ‘Really? One point?’”
Close meets have been the standard for Stonebridge this summer. None of its five duals have been decided by more than 22 points, including three by six points or less.
Both teams’ lineups were decimated by several swimmers choosing to compete in the PVS Senior Long Course Championships at Maryland. That forced teams to pull up some swimmers from their ‘B’ squads.
“We had a bunch of swimmers who’d never swam in an ‘A’ meet before,” Emr said, “and they really stepped up.”
Chiefly among them, Emr said, was Allie Klatzkin, who finished second in both the 100 back (just one-tenth of a second off teammate Michelle He’s winning time), and 50 butterfly, and took third in the 100 IM.
“They all knew it was tight at halftime,” Emr said. “And when they know the meet is tight, they put their heads down and swim their hearts out.”
Editor’s note: We opened up a thread on the Forum page called “What happened this weekend between TW and Rockville?” We encourage you to discuss it openly and please, be nice to each other!
Editor’s note II (7/21): Unfortunately we had to take some of the comments on this story down because many were unfair. If you comment here, please discuss the accomplishments of your team and do not denigrate other teams or members of those teams. Our plea to be nice to each other did not seem to work. Hopefully this will.
stats corner
not surprised. Rockville Rays represent everything that is great about the league. the sense of community and team is unparalleled.
Rockville definitely has the most spirit in the league! Go rays!!
i’m pretty sure that all the rays swimmers live in the neighborhood right near by. the neighborhood just churns out some good swimmers. Look at their 8 and under boys setting records. all those guys=rockville born and raised.
Yes, Cara goes to Poolesville HS but she was in their “Global Program” which is one of the reasons she attended that school. But she has been on Rockville Rays since she was 6…
Also yes the delays are unsportsmanlike, but they are not the only ones doing it. But also Tilden should not be talking when they are the most arrogant team in the MCSL.
BTW, any team, regardless of whether it’s part of a public, private, or has no affiliation with any pool can join the MCSL team. Community is a group of people who share a common interest that serve a specific purposes.
Rockville Rays may be indicative of FREEDOM. All of the swimmers and parents are there because they CHOSE to be there rather than they HAVE to be there because they happen to LIVE in the community. The team is comprised of people from different social economic and diverse ethnic background. Having FUN, swimming FAST, and honing FRIENDSHIP are their motto.
May be that girl that lives so far away from a “public” pool because she CHOSE to swim with her extended family! Would you like that record breaker to join your “community” pool? Actually, she could, according to the MCSL.
Hi Longtimemcsler,
What??? A cheer from Rays???
If that were true, then perhaps you, in some way from this comment, and they commended him/her to do what’s best for his/her team. Would you want your child/swimmer to do for his/her team? Should we all cheer for this child at any meet? Are you suggesting that we shouldn’t cheer for such noble act? Should we not admire this child and his team for doing what’s best for the team?
Thanks I guess????
back when i swam, the Rays were in like H division. Now they build a team through getting the local neighborhood and community involved and Top A division and everyone thinks that is a bad thing?
future looks bright for the Rays
Boys 8 & Under 100 Medley Relay
1:20.18
Nick Karayianis, Darius Truong Alan Li, Anthony Qin
all of these kids began at RV as 6 and unders.
Not true about the 8 year olds
We were so lucky to get the Karayianis’ from Regency Estates! They rule! Go Rays!!
Ray’s younger swimmers are good, but watch out, how many national level swimmers are from Rays. They will burn out because they normally practice way more than swimmers from other club/team. A good swimmer should be at peak around age 16-17, not 8 or 10, 12.
Nationally ranked swimmers in Montgomery County are made through their Potomac Valley Swim team not their MCSL team. The Rays practice is 1 hour per day per age group Monday – Friday, much like the rest of the MCSL league.
As far as what the younger Rays swimmers will be doing 8 years from now, I just hope everyone is happy and healthy. The younger Rays currently excel in many areas besides swimming. They are great athletes in other sports, most play at least one instrument, and most are in above grade level classes in school. It’s hard to predict what paths their hearts will take them so far in the future.
2010 has been a wonderful summer in which the Ray’s 8 & under boys have broken eachother’s team records and even together set a new MCSL record, but I think what they will remember the most are the many hours they have traded Pokemon cards and silly bands, played their DS games, built paper airplanes, and hung out together at the pool. They challenge eachother in the water but are best friends out of the water. What more could you ask for from team mates?
Our kids put their hearts and souls into every meet and every race. Today, when they made the announcement that the Rockville Rays won Division A, I stood and applauded with the rest of the Rockville Ray parents. We worked hard as a unified team each week and deserve the accolades that our coach and team bring to the pool.
Swimming together makes the Rockville Ray swim team friends forever. That is our motto.
The Rockville kids work hard and deserve the accolades. When they won the Division A title today, I stood and applauded like the rest of the parents.
I feel as though the Rays just bring the RMSC swimmers from the longcourse pool and put them in the 25 meter pool. They need to make rules that do not allow Rockville and other public pools to simply “steal” swimmers away from neighborhood pools.
It is sad when the record boards reflect one team only. That is not what the MCSL set out to do in the 1950s.
Every family on the Rockville Rays chose to swim there. If a family is unhappy at their “neighborhood” pool, why shouldn’t they have the freedom to resign their “neighborhood” pool membership and join a MCSL swim team at a public pool? The city of Rockville did a wonderful job renovating the facility a couple of years ago and that has helped to attract many new families to the pool and to all the programs provided there including the Rockville Rays.
Most MCSL teams have swimmers that also swim on a PVS team. The PVS league gives swimmers an opportunity to practice swimming year round, try events that are not offered in MCSL, and become stronger swimmers. If any MCSL team wants to become more competitive and move up their ranking the formula is simple, encourage your swimmers to join a PVS team.
Rockville Rays = RMSC. The team is not a “team”, it is individuals who happen to swim in the longcourse pool.
Do they go out after the meets? No.
Do they plan and execute a team trip to Shadowland like Tilden Woods or Regency Estates? No.
At halftime or at the end of a meet Rockville can barely scrounge a team cheer together. All “A” division coaches can comment on it.
They may win titles, but they have no idea what a “neighborhood pool” is.
The league is MCSL, not PVS.
Those kids have been together since the day they joined RMSC.
The do plenty of events together.
The city of Rockville did a great job renovating the pool, but on Saturday, I was wondering why the scoreboard was not working?
If they had “annual dues” like every other MCSL pool then they could raise money to keep the facilities runnng properly.
…and if that occurred, that team would disband and the RMSC team called the “Rockville Rays” would be no more. Truth hurts.
RMSC is one of the largest PVS teams in Montgomery County with thousands of swimmers and 5 practice sites. The Rockville Rays is a MCSL team with only around 125 swimmers. As I recall, there are many great RMSC swimmers on all the Division A Teams. Off the top of my head, Timmy Ellett swims for both RMSC and Tilden Woods and the Gibsons swim for RMSC and Westleigh. Regency Estates even has RMSC swimmers like Goaxing Cosgrove that made the MCSL All Star Meet but they could use some more (Division D in 2010 but dropping to Division G in 2011).
It’s kind of scary, in a stalker kind of way, that people outside of the Rockville Rays want to know what we did for social activities. To clear up the confusion, we did the same activities (pep rallies, lunch after meets, banquets, and yes, Shadowland) as other MCSL clubs. As far as our team spirit, check out our photos on our team website. The smiling faces speak for themselves.
“Those kids have been together since the day they joined RMSC.” Interesting how RMSC came first for Rockville swimmers, and not the other way around.