Swim caps, swimming goggles, and smiles returned to local pools last month after an unprecedented halt to the Reston area’s primary swimming program in 2020.

After the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the Reston Swim Team Association last year, the first hiatus in its 50-plus years of existence, the league has now resumed practices as well as competitions and opened up new programming.

“We are thrilled to be back in the water this summer,” Debbie Wagner, the group’s president, said in an email.

Changes this year include the introduction of a program called New Wave for those with basic swimming skills but who weren’t quite ready for a swim team. Wagner noted that the goal is for participants to join a team mid-season.

“We have welcomed many new swimmers to the league and it always amazes me to watch them grow and develop from the first night of practice through the end of our season,” Wagner wrote.

RSTA uses Reston Association pools and targets kids ages 6 to 18.

The group’s board of directors worked throughout the winter and spring to plan for a summer season based on input from members and lessons from what local club and high school teams were doing under COVID-19 restrictions.

“With restrictions loosening and COVID case counts dropping to low levels just before the start of our season, we were able to bring back much of what we typically expect from our summer swim season,” Wagner said in the email.

In April, the RSTA noted changes to comply included 10-foot social distancing, wearing masks immediately before and upon exiting the water, and conducting health screenings, among other measures.

Since then, Virginia ended all COVID-19 capacity and social distancing requirements on May 28 in response to declining COVID-19 cases and rising vaccination numbers. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has also now been authorized for adolescents 12 and older, though no COVID-19 vaccines are available yet for younger children.

Even though Virginia has ended its public health restrictions, RSTA has continued utilizing COVID-19 precautions, such as reduced team sizes and off-deck seating areas have sought to avoid crowds on the pool deck.

The league’s return was also made possible in part by support from local businesses that have served as sponsors, including Synergy Design & Construction as a gold sponsor, Glory Days Grill as a silver sponsor, and Stang Family Orthodontics as a bronze sponsor.

The sponsorships help fund operations, including scholarship opportunities to swimmers unable to participate without the financial help.

“The season has been going well,” Wagner said, “and our swimmers and families are excited to be able to be back in the water this summer.”

Photo via Pete Wright/Unsplash

Opposing swim teams in Reston joined together this weekend to raise supplies for the South Lakes High School food pantry.

At the final dual meet for the Reston Swim Team Association season, the Ridge Heights Sharks asked their opponents, the Glade Dolphins, if they would like to join together to give back to the community. Many of the swimmers and coaches are alumni of SLHS or attend feeder schools.

“They were really eager to support this effort to bring awareness to hunger in our community and supporting a cause really near to their hearts,” said organizer Leslie Sogandares.

The pantry, which is open Thursdays from 3-6 p.m. during the summer, provides canned goods and toiletries for the community.  They are accepting donations, which can be dropped off at the school’s main office (11400 South Lakes Drive) from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.

Lake Newport, North Hills, Lake Audubon and Autumnwood were winners at the Reston Swim Team Association meet Saturday. Several individual and relay records were beaten as well, making for an exciting day.

Lake Newport Lightning 626, Hunters Woods Blue Marlins 486

While Lake Newport got the win, the Hunters Woods team toppled some long-standing records.

Blue Marlins teammates J. Ham, C. Yang, P. Pan and M. Beach set a new record in the boys’ 15-18 200-meter medley relay with a time of 2:01.23, besting a time set in 1997. A new team record in the boys’ 15-18 50-meter backstroke was also set by Jack Henry Ham with a time of 28.95, topping a record from 1986.

Anna Redican, of the Lake Newport team girls’ 15-18 50-meter, beat her own backstroke record from June 10. Her time of 32.66 was about two-tenths of a second better than her previous time.

For Lake Newport, double event winners were Aiden Smith, Finley Smith, Jack Edgemond, Mara Redican, Raj Vats and Zoe Van Winckel. Triple event winners were Anna Redican, Deanna Tipler, Joseph Redican, Julia Wang, Michael Zhou, Nathan Ho and William Kohn.

For Hunters Woods, double event winners were Abigail Skinner, Fiona Elster, Grace
Meade, John Evans, Kacy Darling, Megan Lee and Megan Slater. Triple event winners were Andrew Li, Gwyneth Wagner and James Skelton.

North Hills Hurricanes 556, Ridge Heights Sharks 533

Gabriel Huang of North Hills set a new team record of 21:05 for the butterfly stroke in the boys’ 8 and under 25-meter. The old record was set in 1999.

For North Hills, double event winners were Evan Zhang, Evelyn Brabant, Joseph Sciortino, Katie Cazenas, Lacey Turner, Marlee Czarny, Samantha Sciortino and Zariya Khan. Triple event winners were Corey Clark, Fiona Shaw, Gabriel Huang and Sarah Sciortino.

For the Ridge Heights Sharks, double event winners were Charles Buckreis, Edith Chaddock, Ella Handerahan, Ethan McCrea, Hailey Brown, Hailey Wang, Ian Hansing, Marc Sipher, Paige Sogandares, Ryan Erickson and Spencer Blase. Triple event winners were Evan Blase, Josh Zhang and Shilai Li.

Lake Audubon Barracudas 657, Glade Dolphins 466

For Lake Audubon, double event winners were Ben Lammers, Catherine Evans,
Daniel Spigarelli, Dennis Jackson, Erik Harriot, Jaelyn Cafiero-Bladek, Kian Elliott, Max Daum, Mitchell Vikhman, Sasha Osinovsky, Sophia Randall, Wyatt Barcus and Zachary Bell. Triple event winners were Emily Fritz, Marley Mulvaney, Matthew Fritz and Troy Elliott.

For Glade, double event winners were Amelia Flavin, Evan Pan-Wang, Lillian Swartzbaugh, Mary Barker, Nicholas Bowen, Phoebe Warstler and Sam Joyner. Triple event winners were Amanda Wagner, Andy Carro, Clara Landeryou, Marco Anguizola, and Sophia Landeryou.

Autumnwood Piranhas 520.5, Lake Anne Stingrays 515.5

For Autumnwood, double event winners were Anne Kennedy, Curtis Bushee, Delaney Kirr, Logan King, Megan Luczko, Sara Norford, Shea Willson, Vikrant Mahajan, William Bertoni and William Bolster. Triple event winners were Andrew Freeman, Andrey Smiryagin, Deep Murthy and Sophia Kennedy.

For Lake Anne, double event winners were Allie Cramer, Charlotte Holmquist, Fred Zhang, Ian Henry, Joseph Dealey and Morgan Stup. Triple event winners were Aaron Cramer, Andy Chen, Jacqui Go and Sean Henry.

Information and photos provided by Radhika Murari

Captions, from top: From left, Sophie Mulaire, Allysa Gilbreath and Page Schiavone of North Hills race to the finish in 50-meter butterfly; Karan Murari of the Glade Dolphins plays The Star-Spangled Banner with help from fellow Dolphin David Clark; Wyatt Barcus of Lake Audubon works the backstroke.

Glade, Lake Audubon, North Hills and Ridge Heights were winners Saturday as the 2017 Reston Swim Team Association season got underway.

Glade Dolphins 567, Autumnwood Piranhas 428

Glade’s girls’ 11-12 100-meter medley relay team — Kaitlin Mahon, Niki Chava, Clara Landeryou and Erin Irlan — set a new team record of 1:06.49, beating the previous record set in 1999.

For Glade, double event winners were Andy Carro, Emilie Fiske, Eric Pan-Wang, Griffith Knowlton, Gypsy Schaefer, Karan Murari, Maggie Thomas, Maryn Arseculeratne, Niki Chava, Patrick O’Malley, Phoebe Warstler, Suraj Pedineedi and Yanglan Xu. Triple event winners were Amanda Wagner, Evan Pan-Wang, Marco Anguizola, Sophia Landeryou and Zachary Wiemer.

For Autumnwood, double event winners were Anne Kennedy, James Lyon, Rachel Thompson and William Bolster. Triple event winners were Andrey Smiryagin, Anna E. Houck, Cooper Hill and Diya Murthy.

Lake Audubon Barracudas 613, Lake Newport Lightning 509

Despite a pair of record-setting performances by Lake Newport swimmers, the Barracudas held on for the win.

The Lake Newport team of Casey Storch, Michael George, Jack Edgemond and Zack Wang set a new league record in the boys’ 15-18 200-meter medley relay with a time of 1:55.15, besting a time set in 1999. In addition, Anna Redican set a Lightning-record time of 32.85 in the girls’ 15-18 50-meter backstroke, beating a record set last year.

For Lake Newport, double event winners were Alexander Grover, Bridget Brennan, Casey Storch, Michael George, Ryan Giebel, and Zoe Van Winckel. Triple event winners were Anna Redican, Julia Wang and Michael Zhou.

For Lake Audubon, double event winners were Bethany Burke, Daniel Spigarelli, Dennis Jackson, Emily Fritz, Erik Harriot, Griffin Scanlan, Joel Hahn, Lenn Vikhman, Marley Mulvaney, Olivia Abbey and Sophia Randall. Triple event winners were Kaliyana Haering, Matthew Fritz, Max Daum, Spencer Harris and Suya Haering.

North Hills Hurricanes 609, Hunters Woods Marlins 484

For North Hills, double event winners were Ada Langston, Allison Boone, Bennett Shivers, Delia Alcorn, Evan J Zhang, Isabella Zhang, Joseph Sciortino, Katie Cazenas, Marlee Czarny, Natalie Flint and Samantha Sciortino. Triple event winners were Evan D. Zhang, Fiona Shaw, Ilayda Boucher and Sarah Sciortino.

For Hunters Woods, double event winners were Daniel Li, John Byron, Sophia Yao, Trontour H Wang, Veera Houldsworth and William N. Harvey. Triple event winners were Andrew Li, Brian Zhou and Jack Henry Ham.

Ridge Heights Sharks 628, Lake Anne Stingrays 421

For Ridge Heights, double event winners were Ajay Gopi, Caley Duchak, Delaney Duchak, Edith Chaddock, Ethan McCrea, Hannah Lane, Katie Falcone, Kelsye Brown, Robert Deason, Sydney Parker and Varun Phadke. Triple event winners were Alex Russell, Andrew Pierce, Evan Blase, Hailey Brown, Hailey Wang, Haley Caicedo and Paige Sogandares.

For Lake Anne, double event winners were Aaron Cramer, Abigail Roscoe, Andy Chen, Ben Dealey, Charlotte Holmquist, Joseph Letteri and Sean Henry. Devin Truong was a triple event winner.

Information and photos provided by Radhika Murari

Captions, from top: Glade Dolphins 11-12 100-meter medley relay record-setting team of (from left) Niki Chava, Clara Landeryou, Erin Irlan and Kaitlin Mahon; Lake Audubon and Lake Newport girls’ swimmers in the 13-14 50-meter backstroke; North Hills swimmers cheer for their team.

Reston Swim Team Association Week Three is in the books, and all swimmers will be off this weekend for a holiday bye week. Here are some highlights from Saturday’s meets.

Team records set on Saturday:

• A new team record of 1.18:62 was set in the girls’ 9-10 age 200m Medley Relay by Glade’s Clara Landeryou, Amelia Pimentel, Kaitlin Mahon and Maggie Novak, beating a record from 2007.
• The Lake Newport boy’s 15-18 200m Medley Relay team of Michael George, Casey Storch, Jack Edgemond, and Dan Ni set a new record with a time of 2:01.98, beating their own record set last week.
• Michel Zhou of Lake Newport set a new record time of 20.06 for boys’ 8 & under 25m Backstroke, beating a record from 1990.
• Casey Storch set two team records for Lake Newport: In boy’s 15-18 50m Freestyle, he had a time of 25.10, beating his own record from the start of the season; in the 15-18 50m Breaststroke, his time of 32.13 beat the record from 1997.

Meet Results:

Lake Newport Lightning 591, Glade Dolphins 531

For Lake Newport, double event winners were Liam Brennan, Cade Dowling, Lindsey Jacobson, William Karim, Anna Redican, Mara Redican, Grant Read More

Reston Swim Team Association and Herndon High swimmer Emily Meilus swam the women’s 100M backstroke in 1:03.47 at the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha yesterday.

That mark was 3.75 seconds off the top time of 1.01.80, but far short of the time needed to make the semifinals.

Swimmers in today’s finals for a spot on the 2016 Olympic team include event U.S. record holder and 2012 Olympic gold medal winner Missy Franklin and two-time event gold medalist (and three-time Olympian) Natalie Coughlin.

Meilus, a rising senior at HHS and a previous Washington Post All-Met selection, will try again in the 200m backstroke on Friday.

Meilus swims for Reston Swim Team Association’s Lake Anne Stingrays and competed in Saturday’s meet against Lake Audubon before leaving for Omaha.

Reston Swim Team Association and Herndon High swimmers will have their eyes on the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in Omaha today and Friday, where swimmer Emily Meilus is competing for a spot on the team.

Meilus, a rising senior at HHS and a previous Washington Post All-Met selection, swims for the Lake Anne Stingrays.

Meilus will be competing in the 100m backstroke (Monday) and the 200m backstroke (Friday).

Meilus swam in the Lake Anne vs. Lake Audubon meet in Reston on Saturday before leaving for Omaha.

Hunters Woods’ boys 13-14 200 medley relay set a new league records in the second week of Reston Swim Team Association 2016 action on Saturday. Philip Pan, Daniel Li, Roger Zeng, and Liam Tolbert swam in 2:10.20, besting the record they set in week 1.

Team records set on Saturday:

A new team record of 2:11.19 was set in the boys’ 13-14 age 200m Medley Relay by the Lake Audubon team of Spencer Harris, Ian Ha, Matthew Fritz, and Maxwell Wilson, beating a record from 2007.

With a time of 31.13 in the girls’ 11-12 age 50m Free, Hailey Wang of Ridge Heights beat the previous record set in 2002.

The Lake Newport boys 15-18 200m Medley Relay team of Michael George, Casey Storch, Jack Edgemond, and Grant Bommer set a new record with a time of 2:01.98, beating the record previously set in 2015. Read More

Reston Swim Team Association has decided to postpone Wednesday’s Individual Medley meet at Lake Thoreau Pool.

The meet was moved to Lake Thoreau earlier this week after Lake Newport, Reston Association’s largest pool and the site of big events such as the annual IM and All Star Meets, was closed for emergency repairs last week.

The IM meet attracts swimmers from all RSTA teams. Swimmers of all ages complete a 100-meter individual medley (breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle and butterfly).

Lake Newport will be closed until at least Monday, RA officials said.

“Due to concerns about safety [including parking, traffic and the close proximity to the major thoroughfare of Sunrise Valley Drive during rush hour], and the limitations of this venue to adequately accommodate our RSTA swimmers and families, it was determined, in consideration for our swimmers, to not hold the meet on this date at this location,” an RA spokesman said.

“Alternatives are being considered, but specific plans are not available at this time. We thank you for your patience and understanding.”

Lake Newport’s repair involves a mechanical failure within the main pool pump, including a damaged bracket. The maintenance team has purchased two replacement brackets that are being shipped, but they may not be a guaranteed match to existing components, RA says.

RA is also seeking to replace the entire pump, and that equipment may not arrive for several days.

RA aquatics staff says it will re-evaluate the situation by next Monday. If you have questions, call (703) 435-6530 or email [email protected].

Lake Audubon is the only undefeated Reston Swim Team Association team after the Barracudas narrowly beat Lake Newport 594-582 on Saturday. 

“What I love about RSTA and this meet in particular was the obvious support for all swimmers,” said Blake Kohn, Lake Newport parent. “At the end of relays and an extremely competitive meet, the round of applause was the loudest I’ve ever heard. Everyone was proud of all the kids on both teams.”

Triple event winners for Lake Audubon were Ellie Crump, Sabrina Groves, Suya Haering, and Aidan Scanlan. Double event winners were Emily Fritz, Angelika Giavis, Matthew Hughes, Bryce Onozuka, Sasha Osinovsky, Alana Pudner, and Abigail Spigarelli.

For Lake Newport, triple event winners were Jack Edgemond, Anna Redican, Mara Redican, Casey Storch, and Alan Yu.  Double event winners were Amy Edgemond, Dylan Jones, Maggie Karim, Emi Redican, Lauren Spar, Connor Witt, and Amy Zhao.

The competitive spirit was strong at other meets as well, as several swimmers set new team and league records:

Darius Truong continued his record-setting streak with new Lake Anne records in Boys 11-12 50-meter Breaststroke (36.73) and 50-meter Butterfly (30.77), replacing his own records from just last week. The Butterfly time also established a new RSTA league record.

Two swimmers for Glade bested team records set by older siblings, with Clara Landeryou setting a new record in the Girls 8 & Under 25-meter Butterfly with a time of 19.01, besting her sister’s record from 2011 of 19.02, and Hunter Ellis besting his brother’s time of 29.38 in the Boys 11-12 50-meter Freestyle with a new time of 29.03.

Hunter Ellis also set a new Glade record in the Boys 11-12 50-meter Butterfly with a new time of 31.53, beating his own record set earlier this season.

Tyler Ellis of Glade set two new records of his own, breaking an RSTA league record set in 1979 by John Fedak in Boys 13-14 50-meter Freestyle with a new time of 25.60, and a new league record in the Boys 13-14 50-meter Butterfly with a time of 27.58.

Siblings were on a streak Saturday, with five members of the Redican family of Lake Newport all participating in record-setting swims. The Lightning’s mixed age relay team of Vania Zeledon, Mara Redican, Anna Redican, aEmi Redican and Katie Storch set a new league record with a time of 2:05.16 in the 200-meter Freestyle Relay, while the Boys 8 & Under 100-meter Freestyle relay team of Sean Redican, Michael Zhou, Joseph Redican, and Robbie Keys set a new Lake Newport team record with a time of 1:22.02.

Hailey Brown set a new Ridge Heights team record in the Girls 8 & under 25-meter Backstroke with a time of 21.88, beating her own record from earlier this season.

Hunters Woods’ Jack Ham set a new team record in the Boys 13-14 50-meter Backstroke with a time of 31.01.

Click through for team highlights.

Read More

Two Lake Anne swimmers set three records in Reston Swim Team Association meets on Saturday.

Emily Meilus broke her own records from 2013 in backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. In the Girls 15-18 50-meter backstroke, she set a new time of 30.55. In the 50-meter Breaststroke, she set a new time of 37.39, taking off more than a second from her 2013 record. In the 50-meter Freestyle, Meilus set a new time of 27.86, replacing her old time of 28.02.

Darius Truong continued his domination of the 11-12 boys age bracket with new records in butterfly (31.89), breaststroke (37.06), and freestyle (29.79). His new freestyle time bested a record set in 1997 by Bobby Burns.

In other pool action, Lake Audubon and Lake Newport both won their meets, setting up a showdown between the two undefeated RSTA teams for this Saturday, July 12 at Lake Audubon.

Lake Audubon Barracudas 650, Lake Anne Stingrays 451

Triple event winners for Lake Audubon were Suya Haering, and Sophia Sobenes. Double event winners were Natalie Abbey, Zachary Bell, Jacob Bowen, Alaina Cordts, Robby Cordts, Elizabeth Crump, Angelika Giavis, Sabrina Groves, Ashley Gurney, Kaliyana Haering, Jackson Harriot, Aidan Scanlan, and Adrianna Smith.

For Lake Anne, triple event winners were Francisco Espinoza, Joanne Fu, Daniel Pons, Darius Truong, and Devin Truong. Double event winners were Adrianna Barkhordari, Sean Hagerup, Neil Kumar, Emily Meilus, Caroline Miller, and Fred Zhang.

Autumnwood Piranhas 504, Glade Gators 468

Triple event winners for Autumnwood were Joanie Belo, Mikayla Kirr, and Kalista Majoros. Double event winners were Bailey Copeland, Delaney Kirr, Valerie Kovacs, James Lyon, Luke McDermott, Evan Melnick, Natalie Metz, Michael Norford, Madison Raikes, Josephine Taylor, Jair Valenzuela, Donovan Wilson, and Liam Wilson.

For Glade, triple event winners were Clara Landeryou, Emily Landeryou, Sophia Landeryou, Joseph Letteri, and Webb Nims. Double event winners were Kathyrn Becker, David Clark, Tor Davidsen, Kellie McCrea, Natalie McCrea, Karan Murari, and Zea Nims.

Lake Newport Lightning 638, Hunters Woods Blue Marlins 461

Triple event winners for Lake Newport were Jeffrey George, Emi Redican, Alina Shannon, Siena Shannon, Meghna Sharma,Casey Storch, Zoe Van Winckel, Alan Yu, and Vania Zeledon. Double event winners were Max Biear, Liam Brennan, Michael George, Dan Ni, Mara Redican, Grant Romero, and Andrew Shedlock.

For Hunters Woods, triple event winners were Mary Byron and Ashley Thai. Double event winners were Sylvia Cheng, Amanda Cornette, Nolan Dunkel, John Evans, Jack Ham, William Harvey, Ryleigh Line, Ashley Turner, Ryan Vintimilla, Timothy Vu, and William Yao.

— Photos and info submitted by Lyn Fiscus Cordts

At the midway point in the RSTA summer season, two teams are tied for first place: defending champions Lake Audubon and 2012 champions Lake Newport, each with 3-0 records.

North Hills is close behind with a 3-1-0 record. These perennial powerhouses are often at the top of the rankings, but a closer look at the age group standings reveals teams with strengths that sometimes go unremarked.

The Ridge Heights Sharks are undefeated in the 15-18 age group, while the North Hills Hurricanes are undefeated in both 9-10 and 11-12 age groups. The Glade Gators rank first in both the 8 and under and 13-14 age groups. Autumnwood’s 9-10 year olds rank second in the league, as do Lake Anne’s 15-18 year olds.

“We’re very fortunate to have more than a few 15-18s who really enjoy swimming and competing together,” said Frank Sogandares, Ridge Heights manager. “We’re very proud of the progress made by all our swimmers. Everyone really seems to enjoy practicing and competing together; our coaches have done a great job keeping everyone focused on improvement without underwhelming expectations for summer swim knuckleheadedness too much.”

Records Set

In individual stand-out performances at meets on June 28, Lake Anne’s Darius Truong set a new team record in the 11-12 50-meter butterfly, crushing a record of 34.09 set in 1993 with a new time of 32.66. Emily Meilus broke her own team record from earlier this season in the 15-18 50-meter backstroke with a new time of 30.84.

Ridge Heights’ Hailey Brown set a new team record in the 8 and under 25-meter backstroke with a time of 21.89.

Click through to see team reports. Read More

Records continued to fall as the Reston Swim Team Association’s teams completed their second week of the summer season. Two league records and seven team records were set, with swimmers besting records as old as from 1993.

Many of the old records were set later in the summer, so it is remarkable that these new records are being set in only the second week of meets, said RSTA board member Andy Storch.

“RSTA coaches have been focusing early in the season on stroke development for newer swimmers, and competitive technique with experienced swimmers,” he said. “So, I think we could be seeing the results of considerable hard work — both from the swimmers and our terrific coaching staff.”

New Records Set

A new league record was set in the girls’ mixed age relay by the Lake Newport Lightning team of Vania Zeledon, Meghna Sharma, Anna Redican, Emi Redican, and Sienna Shannon (2:05.61), besting a time set last year at the All Star Meet by a North Hills relay team. The time also replaces a team record in this event set last week.

Another new league record was set by Ryan Ha of Newbridge in the 13-14 50-meter backstroke, replacing a time set in 1995 with a new time of 29.85. Ha’s time also replaces his own team record in this event set last week.

Team records set on Saturday include:

• Darius Truong of Lake Anne set a new team record in the 11-12 50-meter Backstroke, besting a record set that had stood since 1993, with a time of 34.37.
• Emily Meilus of Lake Anne set a new team record in the 15-18 50-meter Backstroke, beating a record set in 2001 by nearly two seconds with a time of 31.24.
•  The Lake Audubon girls mixed age 200-meter freestyle relay team of Suya Haering, Sophia Sobenes, Julia Nassau, Molly Ellor, and XX broke a team record from 2007 with a new time of 2:08.96.
• Katie Storch of Lake Newport set a new team record in the 15-18 50-meter backstroke with a time of 33.33, besting a record from 2002.
• Lake Newport’s boys 8 & Under 100-meter freestyle relay team of Joseph Redican, Cameron Romero, Robbie Keys, and Sean Redican replaced a team record from 2005 with a new time of 1:22.87.

Click through to read team results. Read More

Reston Swim Team Association (RSTA) saw several longtime records fall as it opened its 42nd season on Saturday.

Tyler Ellis of Glade set four new records.. He set a new league record in  the 13-14 50 Butterfly, breaking the record set by Adam Orton of Ridge Heights (27.87) that has stood since 1995, with a new time of 27.66, which also set a new Glade team  record. Ellis also set a new record in 13-14 50 Freestyle with a time of 25.88, breaking his own record from last year. His fourth new record was in the 13-14 50 Backstroke, breaking Jonathan Christensen’s record from 2005 by more than a second with a time of 30.83.

Tyler’s brother Hunter Ellis set two new records of his own. He set a new Glade team record in the 11-12 50 Backstroke with a time of 34.86, beating Jonathan Christensen’s time from 2003 of 35.18. In the 11-12 50 Butterfly, Hunter beat his brother’s record from 2012 of 33.53 with a new time of 31.86.

Other records:

• Newbridge’s Ryan Ha, set a new team record in 13-14 50 Backstroke (30.74), beating his own record set during the All-Star meet last summer.
• Lake Newport’s Girls Mixed Age Relay team of Greta Larne, Meghan Sharma, Anna Redican, Emi Redican, and Katie Storch broke a record set in 2012 with a new time of 2:08.38.

Team results:

• Lake Newport Lightning 653, Ridge Heights Sharks 465
• Lake Audubon Barracudas 622, Glade Gators 468
• North Hills Hurricanes 562, Hunters Woods Blue Marlins 471
• Newbridge Dolphins 610, Autumnwood Piranhas 412

For more information, visit the RSTA website. 

–Submitted by Lyn Fiscus; photos courtesy of RSTA

Winter is on its way out, so it is almost time to think about summer.

The Reston Swim Team Association is gearing up for the 2014 summer swim season.  RSTA has nine teams, each capped at 110 swimmers, so prospective and returning families should keep in mind a few key upcoming dates.

Registration Deadlines

Online swimmer registration for returning families will open on Tuesday, March 4.  Swimmers in good standing from last summer (those who participated in at least three meets) have first chance at registration.  Swimmers who participated in one of RSTA’s Winter Swim programs may begin registering on Tuesday, April 8. Finally, families new to RSTA may register beginning on May 6. Spots on teams fill quickly, so those interested in participating are encouraged to register early.

New Swimmers

All new swimmers under the age of 11 must attend and pass a new swimmer evaluation session to register for a summer swim team.

“In these evaluations, we’re not testing for speed or stroke accuracy,” says RSTA President Karen Marginot. “We’re testing for safety in the water and willingness to participate on a swim team.”

In addition to assessing whether the swimmer is at a level to be successful on a team, the evaluation sessions simulate the environment of a swim practice and will give younger swimmers an idea of what it will be like to be on a team. The evaluation session will last about one hour. Registration for new swimmer evaluations will open in March and will be held only on the following dates and locations:

• Sunday, April 6th 9:00-10:00 AM at the Reston Community Center

• Friday, April 25th 8:00-9:00 PM at the Reston Community Center

• Friday, May 2nd 8:00-9:00 PM at the Reston Community Center

• Saturday, May 10th 10:00-11:00 AM at the North Shore Pool

Coaching Applicants

Each RSTA team operates with a head coach who is assisted by five other assistant coaches and team lifeguards. All positions require current American Red Cross Lifeguard/CPR/AED certification. Head and assistant head coaches must be 18 years of age, possess current pool operations, and have completed a water safety instructor course. For information on coaching positions available for 2014 and a link to submit an application, visit http://rsta.org/coaching. Applications to coach are open now and are due no later than March 16.

For more information on RSTA programs, visit www.rsta.org.

Photo courtesy of RSTA.