Preseason

The most important thing to know is that head coach Jon Austrian will be returning after finishing his med-school finals. Sarah, Christie, and Brian (for those with short memories, our other coaches) are also back this summer. Second, we are in the easier H Division this year, with three teams that have "Woods" in their names (Wheaton, Manor, and Potomac). However, because of MCSL expansion, this still counts as an upper division this year for all-star relay purposes. Veteran swimmers to watch are Annie Norton, Ethan Benjamin, and Sean Leaman. Annie is now at the top of the 13-14 age group and needs only one more record to complete her sweep of 13-14 girls team records. Ethan is coming off a successful winter season in which he reached finals in the prestigious Joe Jacoby meet. Sean has made a breakthrough in his swimming since last summer, almost breaking a BCC team record in 500 yard freestyle. Practice begins Tuesday, May 28.

Week 1

Here is the report from Maryland to Ann Arbor and back to Little Falls: The Penguins beat Rockshire decisively, 427 - 360, our first victory since last year's (Division F) opener against Tally Ho. There were several outstanding performances by entire age groups. The 9 - 10 boys came in an amazing first through fifth in freestyle, winning all the points for that event. The 13 - 14 boys duo of Joe Young and Danny Pomeroy came in 1 - 2 in three events, with Joe winning free and IM and Danny winning fly. Additionally, Danny was first in backstroke. The 15 - 18 boys, consisting of Chris Hewes, Josh Leaman, Sean Leaman, Brian Moyer, and Joe Norton, dominated Rockshire, outscoring them 63 - 25. The minimum 15 - 18 score possible is 15. Leading this age group was Brian Moyer, who won free, fly, and IM. Although he had assured us that he was out of shape after a year in college, he set his personal record in butterfly with a 29.02. This beats the all-star time for that event which narrowly evaded him last year. More stellar individual performances came from Bruce Spake and Annie Norton. The sensational Spake, a Little Falls rookie, smashed the all-star time for 11 - 12 boys freestyle with a 31.48 and broke Rockshire's pool record in butterfly using one of the best natural fly kicks I have ever seen. Annie continued her assault on the record books that she began last year, lowering her own team records in freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and IM, and setting Rockshire pool records in all those events except butterfly. Her free time is particularly noteworthy, as it virtually assures her a spot in the elite Coaches' Invitational Long Course meet and is a mere 1.6 seconds off the county record. Finally, the 175 meter graduated free relay is a new event, but a record is a record nonetheless, so congratulations to George Spake, Bruce Spake, Joe Young,and Cam Hoffman; and Kinsey Hoffman, Ellen Hearle, India Scribner, and Annie Norton on their new team records.

Week2

Little Falls defeated Regency Estates 412 - 375 and is now one of two undefeated teams remaining in the division. The perennially strong 15 - 18 boys swept their backstroke and butterfly, won the medley relay, and finished 1 - 2 - 4 in freestyle, breaststroke and individual medley. Both graduated freestyle relays lowered their own team records. The boys relay's winning time of exactly two minutes positions George Spake, Bruce Spake, Ethan Benjamin, and Cam Hoffman to compete for victory at next week's Relay Carnival. They may also own a team record for the tallest graduated relay, having two swimmers who are nearly six feet tall. The girls relay of Liza Amling, Andrea Hill, Annie Norton, and Maisie McCune lowered the previous week's team record to 2:04.20. 13 - 14 boy Ethan Benjamin won all of his events with Danny Pomeroy taking first in butterfly. In total, seven Little Falls team records were set. In addition to the relays, Annie Norton lowered her freestyle, breaststroke, and butterfly records. Now all of her 13 - 14 girls records beat the all-star times for boys. Sara Lundblad swam a 1:20.03 in 15 - 18 girls IM to set the team record. This is the first time in over fifteen years that the Penguins have seen a new record, in any event, for that age group. Old man Brian Moyer, after improbably reaching the all-star time in 15 - 18 boys butterfly last week, broke a team record for that event which had stood since 1979. His time of 28.78 seconds ranks in the county's top sixteen, enough at this rate to swim and coach at all-stars. Finally, we have two 10-year-old swimmers who swam strong races that put them close to all-star times. George Spake won freestyle with a very powerful surge to the finish and Liza Amling chopped three seconds off her fastest butterfly to nearly win against a fast opponent. A win next week against last year's rival Manor Woods would make a Division H Championship quite possible.

Week3

In the hard-fought battle to remain undefeated in Division H, Little Falls succumbed to July 4 vacations and lost to Manor Woods, 380 - 406. We can prove who the true better team is at Divisionals. From the start, Little Falls swimmers gave their best effort. In the 12 & under IMs, Ben Cimons chopped 2 seconds off his time (and later did the same in backstroke) to come close to the all star time. Colleen Hamm won her 11 - 12 IM by prevailing in a freestyle battle throughout the final lap. Next, the boys open age medley relay shattered their own time to go under 2:05 and remain unbeaten. Still in the first quarter, the Spake brothers, with improved flip turns, greatly lowered their 50 freestyle times. George now has his first all-star time, while Bruce is now a mere tenth of a second off our team record. Ethan Benjamin posted his first all-star time of the season by .01 seconds in freestyle. He went on to a more comfortable all-star time in backstroke and first place in all his events. Annie Norton did not lower her own team records today, but she still came in first in all her events and set a Manor Woods pool record in freestyle. Brynn Duncan rounded out a strong 13 - 14 girls showing with 3 second-places to Annie and victory in backstroke. She also dressed well for the pep rally. Sara Lundblad lowered her team record in the 15 - 18 girls IM to 1:19.49 and set a new one in breaststroke with a 1:27.41. Both records had been old, but the breaststroke one was ancient -- from 1978. Another team record was set in the boys graduated free relay. This week it included regulars George Spake, Bruce Spake, and Ethan Benjamin, and 7-year old Jacob Taswell. In the relay, the Spake brothers battled to a draw with Manor Woods' Thomas brothers and Ethan gained a solid lead on the 13 - 14 leg. Jacob appeared to be fast losing ground to his older rival, but then shifted gears to maintain a convincing lead with a very fast split. The situation repeated itself in the girls relay, as Annie Norton made up a body length deficit off the start and established a lead, after which 7-year old Maisie McCune held on for the victory. Both relays are expected to do well at Relay Carnival tomorrow.

Relays

Little Falls missed first place in the Division H Relay Carnival by only four points to place third. Four relays won, three of which automatically go to all-stars. The mixed 13 - 14 free relay, Ethan Benjamin, Joe Young, Brynn Duncan, and Annie Norton, won by 4 seconds in 2:02.84. The race was never in question for one of our most dominant age groups. The next victory was our still-undefeated boys open medley, consisting of Sean Leaman, Joe Norton, Brian Moyer, and David Benjamin, which lowered its best time slightly to pull off a close win over Potomac Woods. This relay has to defend its title for the rest of the dual meets and at Divisionals to qualify for all-star relays. For the second year in a row, our 9 - 10 boys medley won Relay Carnival. Patrick Hearle's strong underwater backstroke start set the tone as Chris Hamm, Jeffrey Aronoff, and George Spake contributed their own fast splits to edge out Regency Estates. Our last winning relay was the girls 11 - 12 medley of Andrea Hill, Elizabeth Spergel, Colleen Hamm, and Ellen Hearle. All swam hard; their time beat by three seconds the time predicted by simply adding their times from individual races. Next week, we face Wheaton Woods.

Week4

Little Falls demolished Wheaton Woods by our largest margin of the season. The Penguins got first place in 31 of 50 events and swept four. Our sweeps were a combined effort -- the 9 - 10 girls in freestyle, the 11 - 12 girls in breaststroke, the 13 - 14 boys in butterfly, and the 15 - 18 boys in freestyle. The 13 - 14 boys are particularly notable, as they nearly have three all-star times in the same event. The Penguins' two stellar boys relays fared differently, with the open medley remaining undefeated and the graduated free relay barely losing to their rivals from Relay Carnival. But both teams still hold the fastest times in the Division, which would lead them to All Star Relays. Maisie McCune and Jacob Taswell performed solidly in all strokes against older 8 & unders. The seven-year-old future stars combined for seventeen points. Interestingly, Ethan Benjamin lowered his 13 - 14 all-star times in three events, but only totaled a drop of about .2 seconds. Liza Amling improved by a greater amount as she won 9 - 10 girls butterfly, shaving her time close to 19 seconds. She also won freestyle, while Lauren Becker won backstroke against a group of Wheaton Woods girls whose seed times predicted a sweep for them. We will swim the third "Woods" team next week and see the mighty Josh Hafkin, one of the country's (not county's) best 13 - 14 backstrokers.

Long Course

Annie Norton and Bruce Spake represented the Penguins at the Coaches' Invitational Long Course Meet. Annie finished seventh in the county in girls 13 - 14 200 IM and eigth in 100 freestyle. Bruce came in eighth in boys 11 - 12 100 freestyle. Each at times led the highly competitive fields, Annie midway through the IM's breaststroke leg and Bruce off the start until 30 meters in the freestyle.

Week5

Little Falls vanquished Potomac Woods 422 - 366. Of the Penguins' usual star swimmers, only Annie Norton comfortably won all her races. Brian Moyer stepped up his freestyle to win a close race with Joe Norton and a Potomac Woods swimmer (who finished third). He won his butterfly race more easily, and Joe won breaststroke and IM with a personal best in the latter to round out the 15 - 18 boys' success. Bruce Spake face a closely matched competitor in Potomac Woods' Stephen Sakaris. He won freestyle by out-touching his rival, finished with one arm fully extended to the wall, and recorded his best IM time at the meet. Ethan Benjamin gamely lowered his all-star times in backstroke and butterfly, but was surpassed by the nationally-ranked Josh Hafkin in both (and by our valuable midseason returnee Stephen White in breaststroke.) Colleen Hamm was most certainly not outclassed by the Potomac Woods 11 - 12s, winning IM, breaststroke, and butterfly. Her butterfly surpassed the Potomac Woods team record set in the lane next to her. Liza Amling continued to drop her butterfly time, winning in an all-star time of 18.50. Another 9 - 10, Patrick Hearle, lowered his backstroke time very close to the all-star time with a whole year left in his age group. Finally, both graduated free relays broke pool records for Potomac Woods en route to victory.

Divisionals

Little Falls won Divisonals and is therefore Division H Champion for 2002. Furthermore, the team has so improved recently that the MCSL computer program has put us in Divsion D next year. And we thought last year's F Division foray was elite. Little Falls won Divisionals because virtually every swimmer performed exceptionally well. Annie Norton won all of her events except butterfly, broke all of her own 13 - 14 team records, and broke all 3 of her own Rockshire pool records. She demolished everyone else, including a girl wearing a very expensive full-body suit. Brian Moyer swam inspired, doing more to earn the Swimmer of the Year award he received in the evening. He lowered his 15 - 18 team record in butterfly and set a new one in freestyle by stroking faster while keeping his stroke length. The new 100 freestyle record is 57.18 seconds. Again completing Little Falls' 15 - 18 domination, Joe Norton finished second in freestyle and IM and won breaststroke in a best time and first all-star time of the season. Bruce Spake also had a very strong meet. He won 11 - 12 freestyle with a new team record of 30.07 and won butterfly. The 11 - 12 competition was particularly stiff, including many all-star level rivals. Ethan Benjamin benefitted immensely from the absence of Josh Hafkin (who was at Sectionals) and won backstroke and butterfly. His butterfly time represnts nearly a one-second drop and almost assures a team record next year at age 14. Although aging-up will hurt the team in many ways next year, the performances of next year's 8-year-olds was encouraging. Jacob Taswell and Maisie McCune swam 25 free in times of 20.76 and 20.21, respectively. Jacob's best individual time translated to his fastest relay split at the end of the meet, as the boys graduated free relay lopped nearly two seconds off its time to leave everyone else fighting for second place. Although we had a disproportionate number of gold medals, silver and bronze are pretty good. Bruce Spake finished third in IM and breaststroke (with all-star times in both), George Spake was third in 9 - 10 boys freestyle, and Liza Amling repeated last week's strong butterfly performance to come in second. Numerous other swimmers had numerous best times. Division D will demand more, so let's stay in shape during the offseason.