Week 5 of the Reston Swim Team Association 2016 season saw the Hunters Woods Blue Marlins set a new league record in the boys 13-14 age 200 medley relay. The team of Liam Tolbert, Daniel Li, Philip Pan, and Albert Xu finished with a time of 2:07.98, besting their own league record from earlier in the season.

For Lake Audubon, a new team record of 2:09.51 was set in the boys 13-14 200 medley relay.  Spencer Harris, Ian Ha, Matthew Fritz, and Maxwell Wilson beat their record from earlier in the season. Read More

Reston Swim Team Association swimmers capped off the 2015 season by breaking more records at Saturday’s annual All-Star meet.

Lake Anne swimmers set three new league records. Joanne Fu broke the girls 15-18 50-meter Butterfly record with a time of 29.68. Darius Truong came in at 27.63 in 11-12 boys 50-meter Freestyle to beat the previous league record of 28.36. Truong also swam 35.06 to break a 25-year-old record (35.69) in the 11-12 boys 50-meter Breaststroke.

The following new teams records also were set:

• For Lake Anne, Emily Meilus set a new record of 27.83 for 15-18 Women’s 50-meter Freestyle while the girls 8 & under 100-meter Free Relay team of Amber Lu, Jacqui Go, Claire Munro, Katie Semanchik set a new record of 1:22.43.

• For Glade, Sophia Landeryou set two new team records: in the girls 11-12 50-meter Freestyle she clocked a time of 28.79. In the girls 11-12 50-meter Backstroke, she set a record of 32.53.

Natalie Bardach set a new team record in girls 13-14 50-meter Freestyle with a time of 29.10.

The girls mixed age 200-meter Freestyle relay team of Kelsey Birkland, Clara Landeryou, Sophia Landeryou, and Natalie Bardach set a new record of 2:05.74.

• For Lake Newport, Anna Redican set a new record time of 32.04 for girls 13-14 50-meter Backstroke and beat a 1994 record in the girls 13-14 50-meter Butterfly with a time of 31.07. Read More

On Saturday, Reston Swim Team Association’s Ridge Heights Sharks showed up across town to cheer on their longtime rivals, the Lake Audubon Barracudas.

The fate of the 2015 RSTA Championship was riding on the outcome of Lake Audubon’s meet with Lake Newport. If the Barracudas defeated the Lightning, the Sharks would reign as undisputed champs with an undefeated season.

With Lake Newport and Lake Audubon within six points of each other throughout the meet and tied halfway through the freestyle events, anything could happen. Two rain delays had swimmers and parents waiting it out in their cars.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be called off because of the weather,” said David Cordts, parent to two Barracuda swimmers. “The score was so close it would have gone down as a tie and Lake Newport needed a win, so we knew we’d keep swimming.”

Ultimately, Lake Newport prevailed and preserved its own undefeated season, making them co-champions of the league with Ridge Heights, which had not gone undefeated since 1998. (Because there are nine RSTA teams and only six meets, not all teams swim against each other.)

Lake Audubon finished in second place with a 4-2 record, while Hunters Woods and North Hills were tied for third with 3-2-1 records. See complete RSTA season standings on the RSTA website.

Nine swimmers finished off their regular season by smashing some team records:

• Lake Audubon’s Mathew Fritz crushed two long-standing team records. In the boys 11-12 50-meter breaststroke, he broke a record set in 1985 by half a second, and in the 50-meter butterfly he broke a record set in 1986 by .26.

• Glade’s relay team of Madeline LaPorte, Meghan Benedetto, Isabella Gati, and Emily Landeryou set a new team record of 2:15.12 in the girls 15-18 200-meter Medley Relay.

• Lake Newport’s relay team of Dylan Jones, Dan Ni, Alan Yu, Zach Wang broke a record set earlier this season in the boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay.

Newbridge Dolphins 560, Glade Gators 548

For Newbridge, double event winners were Elise Baldwin, Levi Bishop, Eric Compton, Everett Ha, Sam Joyner, Greg Mayo, and Joseph Sgambati. Triple event winners were Justin Compton, Mary Carol Cook, Jean-Louis Guill, Ethan Ha, Ian Ha, Laela Huddleston, and Sarah Zhong. Read More

Several new meet records were set at Reston Swim Team Association’s annual Individual Medley (IM) meet last week.

All races are 100-meter IMs. Among the records broken Wednesday at Lake Newport Pool:

Katie Cazenas of the North Hills Hurricanes set a new team record with her time of 1:23.38.

In the Boys 11-12 competition, a new league record was set by Darius Truong of the Lake Anne Stingrays with his time of 1:04.95, besting the 2012 mark of 1:09.84. He also clobbered the Lake Anne team record set in 1993 (1:15.48). Matthew Fritz of Lake Audubon Barracudas beat his team’s 1996 record with a 1:13.44. Also, Joseph Sciortino of North Hills beat a 1997 team record with his time of 1:19.43.

Three boys from the 15-18 age group set new records for their teams. Casey Storch of the Lake Newport Lightning smashed the 2002 mark of 1:04.40 with his time of 1:00.77. Mac Sogandares of the Ridge Heights Sharks beat Adam Orton’s 1998 record (1:01.99) with a time of 1:01.87, and Devin Truong of Lake Anne beat Marc Severin’s 1997 time of 1:02.54 with a 1:02.28.

In the Girls 15-18 competition, Emily Meilus of Lake Anne set a new league record with her time of 1:06.44.

IM Backstroke swimmer/Credit: Leslie Sogandares

Swimmers from five Reston Swim Team Association teams set records during last weekend’s meets. Among them:

Lake Anne — Darius Truong came in at 31.55 in the 11-12 Boys 50-meter Backstroke to beat the previous league record of 32.56 set by Ryan Ha in 2012 and his own All-Stars record of 32.60. In the 11-12 Boys 50-meter Breaststroke, swam a 35.85 to beat his own record of 36.46.

The Girls 8-and-under 100-meter Freestyle Relay team of Jacqui Go, Amber Lu, Claire Munro and Katie Semanchik set a new team record with a time of 1.28.27, replacing a record set in 2003.

Glade — Isabella Gati clocked in at 30.08 in 15-18 Girls 50-meter Butterfly, beating a league record set in 1996. She also set a new team record. Sophia Landeryou set a new team record for 11-12 Girls 50-meter Freestyle with a time of 29.41, replacing a record set by her sister in 2012. The 15-18 Girls 200-meter Medley Relay team of Madeline LaPorte, Meghan Benedetto, Isabella Gati, and Emily Landeryou set a new team record at 2:16.31

Lake Newport — Anna Redican set a new record time of 32.57 for 13-14 Girls 50-meter Backstroke. The 15-18 Boys 200-meter Medley Relay team of Casey Storch, Michael George, Jack Edgemond, and Grant Bommer set a new record of 2:02.53.

Newbridge — Ryan Ha set a new team record for the 15-18 Boys 50-meter Backstroke with a time of 29.43.

North Hills — Joseph Sciortino set a new team record of 29.40 for 11-12 Boys 50-meter Freestyle. The 11-12 Boys 100-meter Medley Relay team of Miles Yang, Evan Zhang, Joseph Sciortino, and William Xu replaced its previous record with a new team record of 1:09.23. The 13-14 Boys200-meter Medley Relay team of Ryan Hill, Ryan Luczak, Abhishek Bazaz, and Ryan Grimes replaced its previous team record with a new time of 2:12.44.

In meet results:

North Hills Hurricanes 645, Lake Anne Stingrays 481

For North Hills, triple event winners Katie Cazenas, Albert Huang, and Sarah Sciortino. Double event winners were Allison Boone, Michelle Boone, Eleanor Boyer Uriarte, Marlee Czarny, Emily Deker, Ishan R Ganjoo, Landan Grange, Ryan Hill, Ada Langston, Benjamin Livaudais, Piper Luczak, Emily Ren, Samantha Sciortino, Carly Shaffer, Caroline Xu, and Evan D Zhang.

For Lake Anne, triple event winners were Rowan O’Connor, Darius Truong, Devin Read More

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.

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.

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

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

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

A cool, rainy morning didn’t dampen the spirit of the RSTA teams Saturday as swimmers across Reston demonstrated their concern for others along with their swimming skills. A towel collection for the homeless and a display of support for a grieving family showed that Reston swimmers have big hearts not only for speed and endurance but also for caring and compassion.

All nine RSTA teams participated in the Reston Aquatics Challenge to see which team could collect the most towels for donation to the Embry Rucker Shelter in Reston.  The shelter opens its doors for homeless people to take showers, but it doesn’t always have towels for them. Organized as an Eagle Scout project by Robby Cordts of Troop 1313 in Reston, the challenge collected 365 towels for the shelter.

Winning the challenge with a collection of 98 towels was the Lake Anne Stingrays.

“As swimmers we take towels for granted, however there are people in Reston to whom towels are a luxury,” said Cordts.

Compassion also was on display as several teams selected orange as their spirit theme to honor Newbridge team parent and avid volunteer Dave Tremaine and his family.

“David Tremaine very recently passed away due to colon cancer. He was Hayfield Secondary’s principal in Alexandria — school colors were orange, and a significant part of his wardrobe and persona — and his loss was significant to many in the Reston and Hayfield communities,” said Kimberly Berry of Glade.

Meet results after the jump.  Read More