Goooooooooood Evening Patrons of the Pool,

A lot to get to this week, but first, a look back. We had a solid week with some great swims at the Chevy B Meet on Tuesday and parlayed that into a really well-swum meet on Thursday. We came up short against Washington Golf, but with well over 50% of all swims being best times it was not from lack of effort. I could not have been more proud of our crew on Thursday. On particular swim on Thursday stood out from the rest. Frederick Papadopolous set the 12&U 50 Breast record breaking a 1992 record with a time of 37.11. Congratulations Frederick! This would be a good time to mention two team records that were set at Blue/Gold Time Trials as well and were missed by yours truly in the moment. McKinley Busen took down the 12&U Girls IM (1:13.07) and Fly (31.57) records both held by the venerable Melissa Douse set all the way back in 1982. It is a testament to McKinley's brilliance that she broke two such heralded records and somehow it seemed ho-hum for her. Congratulations to McKinley and sorry for the delay. There are quite a few other records ready to fall so keep your eyes out in future TWiS emails. 

After coming down from Thursday, everyone settled into the Aquathon on Friday morning. We are still tallying the laps and donations and will have prizes for the top swimmers/earners. You can still DONATE to the USA Swimming Foundation through the end of this week. Just click the link above. We will announce the total donation at the banquet. After the swimming portion we had a visit from 2021 US Olympic Gold Medalist Andrew Wilson. He spoke to the team and took questions and pictures with the kids (and coaches). It was a great talk and a great time had by all. Thank you to everyone who came and participated and thank you to the USA Swimming Foundation and Andrew Wilson for joining us.

And now it is time to get into the week at hand. Please make sure to read through the email as our meets this week are different than normal. In addition we have some differing schedules due to myriad events throughout the week. 

A Division Championship Meet -- Tuesday, July 18th @ Army Navy

Warm Up: 5:00PM -- Meet Start: 6:30PM -- Dance to follow

The lineup is set and attached below for your perusal. You can also see all entries in your Swimtopia portal. If you are not swimming on Tuesday I would highly encourage you to still join us on deck. We welcome all five A Division teams to Army Navy on Tuesday night to compete for the division title. The energy level will be high and the meet will be hype. Warm ups will begin at 5:00PM and run past 6:00PM with a 6:30PM start for the meet. This is a change to the previously posted schedule that had this meet beginning at 6:00PM. 

No costume theme for this one, as the theme will be showing our Army Navy pride and fast swimming. Come wearing your ANCC gear and be ready to cheer for everyone from the side of the pool. 

There will be a buffet starting at 7:00PM. Buffet Menu and Registration. At the conclusion of the meet take a jaunt across the parking lot for a dance party with all of A Division on the back patio of the clubhouse. I expect to see everyone on the dance floor. 

Wednesday Long Course Practice

Due to the dive champs practice day teams from around the CCSDA will be filing in to practice on our boards. Therefore we will be running practices in the long course lanes throughout Wednesday morning. 

All practices on Wednesday will remain on a normal schedule.

SuperNoVa Meet @ Army Navy -- Thursday, July 20th

Warm Up: 5:00PM -- Meet Start: 6:10PM -- Theme: Country Western

On Thursday we welcome our brethren and sistren from around NOVA to join us for the annual SuperNoVa meet. This meet acts as a B meet championship of sorts as swimmers who are competing at Divisionals or CCSDA Champs will not compete at SuperNoVa. As always, we will be practicing our wet t-shirt relay exchanges this week to ensure that our decade-plus dominance on that front continues on apace. Please make sure to have your entries marked by Tuesday at noon so that we can finalize the meet entries on Wednesday morning. 

Come dressed in your western best, ready for cattle drive, or just simply as an outlaw working your way from town to town. So put on your boots, grab a big ol' hat, and mosey on down to the deck for a good time. 

Friday Practice Schedule Change

We will not be having a normal Friday practice as Army Navy is hosting Dive Champs on Friday and we will not have access to the Olympic Pool. Don't worry though, we will still be having practice, just a little higher up than normal. 

9:00-10:00AM -- All 11&Over swimmers @ the training pool

10:00-11:00AM -- All 10&U swimmers @ the training pool

It'll be fun, we promise. 

Looking Ahead

Next week brings us the final week of our season and along with that quite a few events. There will be no practices next week, so the last practices will be on Friday, July 21st. Some of these events require sign up so I did not want to wait until next weekend to let you all know:

CCSDA Championships @ Congressional

The Champs meet takes place with prelims on Monday (10&U swimmers in the morning and 11&O swimmers in the afternoon) and finals on Tuesday (the top 16 in each event from Monday make it back to finals on Tuesday). Of specific interest to all members of the team will be the team parade at the beginning of Tuesday's schedule. At 9:00AM all the teams will lineup around the pool and cheer and get ready for a day of finals. All team members are welcome and encouraged to join those competing on deck at Congressional. The lineup for Champs will be finalized this Thursday.

Post Champs Splash Party

Following the swimming on Tuesday everyone is welcomed back to the friendly confines of Army Navy for a Splash Party at Army Navy. All are welcome to join us. There will be food, music, dancing, senior gag gifts, and general merriment to be had well into the night. Bring a float and rock out at the pools. Festivities will start around 5PM. RSVP to the Splash Party now to ensure that your spot is accounted for. 

Swim Team Banquet

Friday, July 28th will be our annual Swim Team Banquet. This is a chance to dress up and send the season off right with awards, good food, and good friends. There is limited space in the Five Star Ballroom so make sure to reserve your spot at the banquet now -- RSVP to the Swim Team Banquet. 

Thank you everyone, looking forward to a great week!

From the Deck,

Coach Ian