With only two meets left in the season, the mid-season team standings look a little different than they have in recent years for the Reston Swim Team Association.

The Ridge Heights Sharks are 4-0 and stand on top of the standing, above perennial powerhouses Lake Newport (3-0) and Lake Audubon (3-1).

“It looks like we may have a new champion this year, or at least a new co-champion since Ridge Heights doesn’t swim Lake Newport, which could also go undefeated,” says league president Lyn Cordts. “It has been fun to watch the competitiveness of the teams this year. Many of the meets have been too close to call by the mixed age relays at the end.”

Week 5 Results:

Ridge Heights Sharks 660, Newbridge Dolphins 454

For Ridge Heights, triple event winners were Evan Blase, Ethan Bowwell, Christina Galbraith, Mac Sogandares, and Paige Sogandares. Double event winners were Erin Bobby, Hailey Brown, Kelsye Brown, Caley Duchak, Kati Imel, Anna Liang, Aya Ryan, and Bennie Tignor

For Newbridge, triple event winners were Celia Compton, Justin Compton, Emma Grossback, Ian Ha, and Gavin Wang. Double event winners were Elijah Bishop, Leonardo Briceno, Niki Chava, John Flori, Jean-Louis Guill, Elise Ha, Ethan Ha, Taylor Panneck, and Joseph Sgambati.

Lake Newport Lightning 589, Lake Anne Stingrays 500

For Lake Newport, triple event winners were Dan Ni, Anna Redican, Casey Storch, Vania Zeledon, and Michael Zhou. Double event winners were Caitlin Connelly, Michael George, Joshua Gregory, Reis Johns, Mara Redican, Sean Redican, Grant Romero, Meghna Sharma, Zach Wang, and Amy Zhao.

For Lake Anne, triple event winners were Allie Cramer, Patrick Dealey, Emily Meilus, Darius Truon, and Jocelyn Wulf. Double event winners were Madeleine Freeman, Andrea Griffith, Neil Kumar, Fred Zhang, and Laura Zhang

North Hills Hurricanes 592, Lake Audubon Barracudas 573

For North Hills, Katie Cazenas was the solo triple event winner. Double event winners were Michelle Boone, Sean Burke, Emily Deker, Natalie Flint, Ryan Grimes, Sarina Li, Piper Luczak, Ryan Luczak, Ethan Page, Catherine Ren, Samantha Sciortino, Sarah Sciortino, Grayson T Williams.

For Lake Audubon, triple event winners were Matthew Fritz, Sabrina Groves, and Aidan Scanlan. Double event winners were Jacob Cole, Robby Cordts, Max Daum, Danielle Elliott, Andrew Fritz, Jackson Harriot, Conor McBride, Bryce Onozuka, Michael Podshivalov, Griffin Scanlan, and Spencer Webb.

It may be a holiday weekend, but that won’t stop buyers and sellers. There are many open houses nearby on Sunday, July 5. Happy home shopping! For more real estate info, check out Reston Now’s Real Estate section.

2144 Whisperwood Glen Way
3 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$367,000
Open Sunday 2 to 4 p.m.

2106 Winged Foot Court
3 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$435,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

2335 Old Trail Drive
4 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB SFH
$449,000
Open Sunday 1 to 3 p.m.

2405 Beacon Place 
4 BR, 3 BA SFH
$869,000
Open Sunday 2 to 5 p.m.

2056 Beacon Heights Drive
3 BR, 3.5 BA TH
$960,000
Open Sunday 2 to 4 p.m.

2108 Golf Course Drive
3 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB TH
$470,000
Open Sunday 1 to 3 p.m.

This is an op-ed by Eric Mogensen, CEO and Corporate Director of the Reston Zoo. It does not represent the opinion of Reston Now.

There continue to be misperceptions about Reston Zoo and past events. The recent report of USDA filing charges against us, all of which are being refuted, has made it an appropriate time to clarify.

Meghan Mogensen was an employee of the zoo in 2012. She has never been an owner of any of the facilities, as has been repeatedly listed incorrectly. She was the Zoo Director and not involved with daily animal care; that person was the Animal Curator. The curator was directly involved with both the [euthanized] wallaby and the [injured] spider monkey. She was under company investigation for the spider monkey when the wallaby was injured. This was not made public. Corroborating materials will be presented in court. Meghan’s role begins and ends with the wallaby. All other issues for which Reston Zoo has been cited concern other employees.

As reported, Meghan was charged with animal cruelty. Her intent was to ease the suffering of a gravely injured animal as quickly as possible because her curator failed to do her job. The intent was admirable, the process wrong. However, the official necropsy report showed no signs of drowning, i.e. the animal was already deceased. Meghan is a vocal animal rights advocate when it comes to their care; her intent was never to cause any suffering. There was no cruel intent. This is a woman who hand-reared porcupines and pot-belly pigs in our house when she was a girl; a parrot from the day it hatched; helped raise multiple baby kangaroos on bottles.

There have been mistakes made at the zoo, but they were made by animal staff which sincerely cared for their animals, and were inadvertent. As in every zoo in this country, including our very well respected National Zoo, animals die through mistakes and keeper error. No animal cruelty is involved; there is no vicious intent.

Our staff loves their animals; most [staffers] young and want to save the world. For many, this is their first paying  job out of college. It’s hard, gritty and many times Read More

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for Reston, Northern Virginia and the entire Washington, DC, region from late Friday night to Saturday night.

Forecasters say heavy rains will develop Friday night in the Shenandoah Valley and spread northeast across the rest of the area.

From the NWS:

SATURDAY MORNING. RAINS…HEAVY AT TIMES WITH EMBEDDED
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY EVENING WITH ONE TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN LIKELY BY THE TIME A COLD FRONT CLEARS THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT.

POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR FLASH FLOODING TO OCCUR ON SMALL STREAMS…CREEKS AND URBAN AREAS. SIGNIFICANT RISES ARE ALSO LIKELY ON MAIN STEM RIVERS SUCH AS THE POTOMAC.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.

Searching for a new home? Check out these open houses the weekend of June 27-28.

11652 Mediteranean Court
3 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$565,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1630 Greenbriar Court
4 BR, 2.5 BA SFH
$599,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1591 Brass Lantern Way
3 BR, 4 BA TH
$675,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

2335 Old Trail Drive
4 BR, 1 FB, 2 HB
$499,000
Open Saturday, Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

11722 Dry River Court
3 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB
$450,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1712 Abercromby Court
1 BR, 1 BA Condo
$209,900
Open Sunday 2 to 4 p.m.

12020 Taliesin Place
2 BR, 1.5 BA Condo
$339,900
Open Sunday noon to 3 p.m.

11990 Market Street
2 BR, 2 BA Condo
$839,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

Mary Ellen Craig, a retired attorney and former Reston Association president, died on June 12, surrounded by her family.

Her death was caused by Alzheimer’s disease, which she had been battling with her characteristic grace and courage for the prior four years., her family said. Despite the ravages of the disease, Mary Ellen never lost her humor, compassion, and good cheer.

She was born in Indianapolis, IN, on March 4, 1939 and was raised by her mother Kathryn Smith and her extended family while her father Howard Craig served as a World War II paratrooper in the South Pacific. Mary Ellen went to Purdue on a full-ride academic scholarship to study nutrition and home economics and, upon graduation, enrolled in one of the first Peace Corps classes, spending two years in Chile and making friends and gaining life experiences that she’d reflect fondly on for the rest of her life.

Mary Ellen earned a Master’s degree from Columbia University and served as Dean of Women at Denison University before marrying Charles Alan Kase and raising her two children. Once her youngest child was enrolled in full-time elementary school, Mary Ellen jumped back into her professional life, earning a Law Degree from American University and serving and an intern for the Honorable Frank Q. Nebeker on the DC Superior Court before going into private practice in 1980.

Mary Ellen established a partnership with Susan Norwitch that she later developed into the Craig, Hirsch and Ellenberger LLP practice that she retired from in 2006. Mary Ellen lived in Reston, Virginia from 1971 through 2014 and deeply loved the town. She served Reston as President of the Forest Edge PTA and President of the Reston Association (2000-01) and as an ombudsman for Fairfax County and was active in many other church and community groups.

Mary Ellen left behind two children, Marc Kase and Stephanie Zucker; three grandchildren, Nathan, Katie and Bella Zucker; and her sister Tara Rinker. Mary Ellen loved to travel and all of her children and grandchildren and most of her relatives and friends can share wonderful stories of traveling the world with her. She also left behind a cat named Jazzie that loved only her, closets full of stylish and quirky outfits, and walls full of art from the Greater Reston Arts Center.

Mary Ellen was a wonderful parent, sister, daughter, aunt, niece, friend, role model and companion to all of us and will be sorely missed.

There will be a VA memorial service will be held at the Walker Nature Education Center, 1145 Glade Dr., on July 5 at 2 p.m. She will be buried at her family’s burial plot at the Franklin Greenlawn Cemetary in Frankin, IN on July 7 at 11:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be made to two charities Mary Ellen was passionate about:

Boys to Men Mentoring Network 9587 Tropico Drive La Mesa, CA 91941 www.boystomen.org.

Mountain Stewardship & Outdoor Leadership (SOL) School PO Box 18111 Morgantown, WV 26508 www.mountainsol.org.

After the third week of Reston Swim Team Association meets, three teams remain undefeated: Ridge Heights, Lake Newport and Lake Audubon. Here’s how the teams fared in Saturday’s meets:

Lake Newport Lightning 665, Autumnwood Piranhas 455

Lake Newport triple event winners were Jeffrey George, Amanda Jacobson, Dan Ni, Grant Romero, Meghna Sharma, Lauren Spar, and Vania B Zeledon. Double event winners were Fabricio Alvarez, Grant Bommer, Kent Bommer, Alexandra Connelly, Jack Edgemond, Sophia Egge, Michael George, Caroline Kohn, Anna Redican, Emi Redican, Joseph Redican, Siena Shannon, Alyssa Spar, Zoe Van Winckel, Zach Wang, and Michael Zhou.

For Autumnwood, double event winners were Donovan Willson, Toren N Greenfield-Tuthill, Emily Hur, John M Lyons, and Phineas Ulmishek-Anderson.

Lake Audubon Barracudas 617, Lake Anne Stingrays 450

Lake Audubon triple event winners were Sydney Cook, Max Daum, Matthew Fritz, Sabrina Groves, Suya Haering, Conor McBride, Sophia Randall, and Aidan Scanlan. Double event winners were Emily Fritz, Kaliyana Haering, John Hughes, Dylan Mulvaney, Alana Pudner, and Griffin Scanlan.

Lake Anne triple event winners were Rowan O’Connor and Jocelyn Wulf. Double event winners were Arianna Barkhordari, Luke Bowen, Andrew Cramer, Francisco Espinoza, Jason Fu, Colin Hagerup, Elaine Liu, Amber Lu, Caroline Miller, Emmalina Sjapeki, and Sam Sligar.

Hunters Woods Blue Marlins 553, Newbridge Dolphins 501

Hunters Woods triple event winners were Andrew Chen, John Evans, Marissa Jerome, Liam Tolbert, and Brian Zhou.  Double event winners were Jack Henry Ham, Andrew Li, Jonah Medler, Seth Parcell, Ben Szeto, Ashley Thai, Chloe Tuberson, Katie Vintimilla, Chris Yang, and Roger Zeng.

For Newbridge, triple event winners were Justin Compton, Lily Compton, David Joyner, Sofia Milosevic, and Sarah Zhong. Double event winners were Elise Baldwin, Niki Chava, Celia Compton, Mary Carol Cook, Jean-Louis Guill, Ian Ha, Ryan Ha, Amrita Khalsa, Megan Slater, and Sabine Soltys.

Ridge Heights Sharks 589, Glade Gators 453

Ridge Heights triple event winners were Evan Blase, Katie Falcone, Ethan McCrea, Marc Sipher, and Mac Sogandares. Double event winners were Ian Champney, Adrienne Crowe, Peter Dorosheff, Ian Hansing, Dylan Hawley, Kati Imel, Amy Key, Alex Russell, and Trontour Wang.

For Glade, triple event winners were Natalie Bardach, David Clark, Clara Landeryou, and Sophia Landeryou. Double event winners were Olivia Cochis, Ryan Erickson, Emily Landeryou, Natalie McCrea, Sophia Montgomery, Abigail Stiglitz, Calvin Warstler, and Zachary Wiemer.

Searching for a new home? There are a host of open houses this weekend. Here is a select list. For complete real estate information and more open house listings, visit our Real Estate section.

12020 Talesin Place 
2 BR, 1.5 BA Condo
$339,900
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1300 Sundial Drive
3 BR, 2 FB 2 HB TH
$615,000
Open Saturday 1 to 4 p.m.

11545 Hearthstone Court
3 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB TH
$439,900
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1725 Whisperhill Drive
2 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$342,500
Open Saturday 2 to 5 p.m.

1651 Valencia Way
4 BR, 3.5 BA TH
$439,900
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1299 Silentwood Lane 
2 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$399,900
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

24o43 Headlands Circle
2 BR, 1.5 BA TH
$300,000
Open Saturday 1 to 4 p.m.

Reston Swim Team Association swimmers set 20 new records in the first two meets of the 2015 season. Among them: one league record and 10 team records.

Josh Zhang of Ridge Heights set the new league record in the boys 13-14 breaststroke with a time of 33.07. The previous record was set in 1981.

Team records set on Saturday include:

• Darius Truong of Lake Anne beat his own team record set last week in the boys 11-12 freestyle with 28.87.

• Sophia Landeryou of Glade set a new team record (33.17) in the girls 11-12 backstroke, beating a record set in 2001.

• Joseph Sciortino of North Hills broke his own boys 11-12 freestyle record from June 6 with a time of 29.45.

• Ryan Grimes of North Hills broke the boys 13-14 freestyle record from 2004 with a time of 26.35.

• Zhang broke his own record from last week in the 13-14 50-meter breaststroke with a time of 33.07. He also swam the boys 13-14 50-meter freestyle in 26.33, smashing the record of 27.03 set by Alan Webb in 1997.

• Newbridge’s 15-18 200-meter medley relay (Ryan Ha, Eric Compton, Leonardo Briceno, and Patrick O’Malley) set a new team record (2:02.98).

• Glade’s girls 15-18 200-meter medley relay (Madeline LaPorte, Meghan Benedetto, Emily Landeryou and Lainie Davison) broke a record set in 2002, with a time of 2:20.23.

• The North Hills boys 13-14 200-meter medley relay team (Ryan Hill, Ryan Luczak, Abhishek Bazaz and Ryan Grimes) broke its own team record from June 6 by more than three seconds with a new time of 2:14.29.

Meet results:

Autumnwood Piranhas 551, Glade Gators 465

For Glade, triple event winners were Natalie Bardach, Clara Landeryou, Sophia Landeryou, and Madeline LaPorte. Double event winners were David Clark, Lainie Davison, Tiffany Ji, Griffith Knowlton, Karan Murari, and Zachary Wiemer.

For Autumnwood, triple event winners were Liam Willson, Andrey Smiryagin, Vikrant. Read More

South Lakes High School’s girls 4×400 relay team finished fourth in the Virginia High School League 6A Track and Field Championship and has qualified for a spot at the national high school meet in Greensboro, N.C., next weekend.

Seniors Jordan Lozama, Claire Nieusma, junior Golden Kumi-Darfour and sophomore Devyn Jones finished fourth with a time of 3:56.64 last weekend at the Virginia meet in Newport News.

Kumi-Dafour also received an individual All-State honor by finishing eighth in the 800 meters (2:16.88). Juniors Eric Kirlew and Skander Ballard earned All-State honors with Kirlew’s sixth-place finish in the triple jump (45–07.00) and Ballard’s eighth in the 400 meters (49.83). Ballard teamed with fellow juniors Nikolai Waithe, Anas Fain and senior Sam Arpee for fourth in the boys 4×400 meter relay (3:22.41).

Other SLHS performances at the state championship:

• Girls 4×800 meter relay (freshmen Olivia Beckner, Emily McGrath, junior Monica Lannen, Kumi-Darfour), 12th, 9:40.82
• Boys 4×800 meter relay (seniors Andrew McCool, Collin Weirick, Sean Miller, junior John LeBerre), 17th, 8:19.82
• Girls 4×100 meter relay (seniors Comfort Reed, Ozioma Chinaka, Samantha Webb, sophomore Nikayla Hoyte), 10th, 49.42
• Boys 4×100 meter relay (senior Timothy Logan, Waithe, Kirlew, sophomore Timiebi Ogobri), 12th, 44.06
• Senior Nathan Stone, 110 meter hurdles, 9th, 15.05
• Ogobri, 100 meters, 18th, 11.25 (personal best)
• Nieusma, 400 meters, 14th, 59.14

Photo: SLHS girls 4×400 relay team/Credit: SLHS track

The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch for Northern Virginia and the D.C. area through 8 p.m. Monday.

A watch means conditions are favorable for a tornado to form. It does not mean a tornado has been sighted.

Storms are expected to move into the area between 4 and 9 p.m. Heavy rains and possible damaging winds are expected.

Rain may be heavy at times, it will not last long enough to cause flash flooding, the NWS said.

This is an op-ed by Reston 2020’s Terry Maynard. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

RestonNow’s article yesterday on the upcoming Board of Supervisors hearing of Phase 2 of the Reston Master Plan provides an excellent overview of the key provisions of new Plan for “suburban” Reston, the community that all of us live in except those in Town Center and the new high-rise residences near the Sheraton Reston.

Speaking on behalf of the Reston 2020 Committee, we believe the draft plan amendment generally serves the existing Reston residential community well, but with some important exceptions we have detailed to the County staff on at least two occasions. (Please see our initial ideas for Phase 2, comments on draft Version 2, and specific comments on the Reston Land Use Map.)

It may help to highlight what we believe are the more substantial shortcomings regarding the village centers and open space in this Phase 2 of the draft plan and the changes made by the Planning Commission so Restonians have the opportunity to reach out to the Board of Supervisors at the hearing today (Tuesday, June 2, 4 p.m., Fairfax County Government Center) or to Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins directly.

We urge the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Hudgins in particular, to listen to and address the concerns of Reston organizations and residents at this important hearing and in other communications concerning Reston’s existing neighborhoods.

Village Centers:  In our view, the most significant shortcomings of the draft plan appear in the section dealing with village centers.

Maybe the biggest one is that the draft plan puts no limits on the density of redevelopment in these critical elements of the Reston community. The plan’s failure to limit density (we recommended a density of FAR 1.0, four times the current limit) could result in extremely dense commercial, office, or residential development (or all of the above) in the village centers that would be totally inappropriate for a neighborhood-serving center.

The absence of a reasonable density restriction could easily lead to the situation we are about to see in Town Center North, where plans to build a 23-story office building beyond the high-density, half-mile transit station area (TSA) — and twice as tall as the adjoining new Spectrum Center — were approved by the Board because there was no density restriction. Read More

A Golf Course Island family is looking for its cat, Grayson, who went missing Friday night. Grayson was last seen at Links Court and Wedge Drive in Reston.

He is a male, solid gray, older cat. He has thick short hair, a broad chest and looks like he is wearing eyeliner. He is on daily medication, so he may be sick.

There is a reward for his return.

Call 301-512-7087 or email [email protected] if you see him.

Monday, May 25 is Memorial Day. Enjoy your time off if you are taking the national holiday.

Here’s a look at what is open and closed:

All Reston Association pools open for the season Saturday and will operate on a weekend schedule. Reston Association offices will be closed. Walker Nature Education Center is closed.

Fairfax County

County Government – Closed.
Animal Shelter – Open Sunday, May 24; Closed Monday, May 25.Courts – Closed.
Public Schools and School Offices – Closed.
Library – Closed Sunday, May 24 and Monday, May 25.

Transportation

Metro is operating on a Sunday schedule.

Fairfax Connector – Operating Sunday service on Monday, May 25.  Routes that operate on Sundays are: 101, 151, 152, 161, 162, 171, 310, 321, 322, 371, 401, 402, 423, 505, 551, 558, 559, 574, 605, 721, 937, 950, 981, 983, RIBS 1, RIBS 2, RIBS 3, RIBS 4 and RIBS 5. If your route isn’t listed, it does not have Sunday service.

Fastran – Not in service.

Parks and Community Centers

Park Authority – RECenters will open on regular schedule and close at 6 p.m. Nature centers open noon to 5 p.m.; historic sites open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Frying Pan Farm Park open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; visitor center closed.

Teen and Senior Centers – Closed.
Community Centers – Closed.
McLean Community Center – Closed; Old Firehouse Teen Center – Closed.
Reston Community Center Hunters Woods – Open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Reston Community Center Lake Anne – Closed.

Trash pickup

County Trash and Recycling Collection – County residents should contact their trash and recycling collector directly for service schedule changes due to the holiday.

Private Collection Service Providers
Fairfax County Collection Customers: Trash and recyclables will be collected as scheduled on Monday, May 25. Please have your materials to the curb no later than 6 a.m. to ensure collection. Any questions may be directed to the Customer Service Center at 703-802-3322, TTY 711.
Recycling and Disposal Facilities:

I-66 Transfer Station – Open
I-95 Landfill Complex – Open