Saturday, July 7 brought some of the hottest weather this area has seen this summer. Searing temperatures coupled with extraordinarily high humidity levels made for an extremely uncomfortable day. Indeed, all three of the Reston Swim Team Association (RSTA) meets were moved up by one-half hour to accommodate for the high temperatures and humidity levels. With heat indexes well over the 100-degree mark, no one could have predicted that this day would bring about more pool records from RSTA swimmers. But if there is one thing that parents and friends of these swimmers have come to expect - it is the unexpected.
As Jim Mizner, RSTA Board member for Lake Newport remarked, "Just when you think that the kids have given their all, they seem to be able to reach a higher level. It's almost like they found another gear. It really is amazing to watch." And as friends and spectators of Lake Newport and Newbridge witnessed at their meet on Saturday, they really did find that next level. At this meet another pool record was set. Newbridge’s Ryan Ha broke a nine-year-old mark in the boys 11 – 12 50 meter butterfly. His time of 32.23 easily surpassed the old record of 33.51 that was set by Matt Hochstrasser back in 2003.
Adding to the excitement was the fact that this meet pitted the last two RSTA undefeated teams against one another. And as is fitting in a contest of this type, the winner was in doubt until the very end. At the final tally, Lake Newport outpaced Newbridge by just 16 points. With just one meet left in the season, this puts Lake Newport in the driving seat to secure the league championship when they host Lake Anne in two weeks for their final contest.
And while the meets between Ridge Heights - Lake Anne and Lake Audubon - North Hills didn’t have the title implications of the Lake Newport - Newbridge encounter, pool records continued to fall.
For North Hills, Rachel Swarts continued to break her own records. In the girls 15 – 18 50 meter butterfly, her time of 31.18 set a new mark, bettering her old record of 31.63 which she set four weeks ago. Also for North Hills, Miles Yang broke a record that was set 11 years ago. His time of 22.21 in the boys 8 and under 25 meter backstroke eclipsed the old mark of 22.27 that was set by Jonathan Pickering back in 2001. For Ridge Heights, Hailey Wang continues to set the pace. Her time of 19.07 in the girls 8 and under 25 meter butterfly bettered her previous mark of 19.52 which she set back on June 16th. And for Lake Anne, Emily Meilus continues to set the standard in the girls 13 – 14 50 meter backstroke. Her time of 32.38 beat her old record of 32.81 which she set back on June 16th.
Scores and highlights of Saturday’s meets follow.
Lake Audubon Barracudas – 622, North Hills Hurricanes – 498
For Lake Audubon, triple event winners were Vela McBride, Conor McBride, Julia Sofhia-Nassau, John Hughes and Winston Evans. Double event winners were Aidan Scanlan, Spencer Harris, Matthew Hughes, Michael McDermott, Sydney Hahn, Emily Fritz, Matthew Fritz, Jacob Cole, Ellen Huber and Suya Haering.
For North Hills, triple event winners were Joseph Sciortino, Grace Tierney and Rachel Swarts. Double event winners were Brenna Emery, Samantha Sciortino, Landan Grange, Miles Yang, Peri Schiavone, Allison Cimino and Caelen Grange.
Ridge Heights Sharks – 583, Lake Anne Stingrays – 482
For Ridge Heights, triple event winners were Hailey Wang and Diego White. Double event winners were Harrison Hughes, Jade Wang, Ryan Vanderhoof, Matthew Heffernan, Emily Sennett, Jared Decker, Margo Moyer, Mac Sogandares, Kaitlyn Smith, Kati Imel, Chris With and Samantha Lowe.
For Lake Anne, triple event winners were Hannah Lane, Sean Hagerup, Victor Espinoza, Emily Meilus, Tope Oladimeji and Joanne Fu. Double event winners were John Gilbert, Maxwell Mescall, Morgan Stup, Fred Zhang, Devin Conley, Peyton Raphael and Sam Sligar.
Lake Newport Lighting – 568, Newbridge Dolphins – 542
For Lake Newport, triple event winners were Anna Redican, Jeffrey George and Casey Storch. Double event winners were Megan Long, Katie Storch, Morgan Giebel, Lindsey Jacobson, Grant Romero, Amy Edgemond, Nathan Williams, Alexander Liu, Jimmy Keys, Vincent Kahng, Andrew Shedlock and Alan Yu.
For Newbridge, triple event winners were Emily Sun, Elise Baldwin, Celia Compton, Jocelyn Wulf and Stephen Baldwin. Double event winners were Justin Compton, Bradley Torrington, Emma Schaller, Amy Springfield, Ryan Ha, Megan Ha and Ian Meikle.