The final score of Bannockburn 379 - Potomac Woods 409 doesn’t tell the whole story of this exciting first meet of the season against the toughest competition in the Division E. In most of the events that we won, we won with ease, often by a second or more. An unbelievable number of 25 All Star times were turned in by Bannockburn swimmers showing the power of dedicated winter swimming. Also thrilling were the six new team records set at this meet. Way to go Dolphins with an awesome start to the season! This summer’s team is one of the biggest and strongest teams the Dolphins have ever had!


SWEEP SWEEP SWEEP
Looks like the girls rule when it comes to sweeps! The awesome quartet of Nora Kelsall, Megan Wirtz, Samantha Kline and Rachael Solonsky swept the 9-10 girls free, back and fly. Way to go girls! Holding their own were the amazing 11-12 girls who swept both IM and free. Hats off to Elizabeth Fosburgh, Madeline Alagia, and Elena Palermo for this feat!


PERFECT MEETS
Three Dolphins won every event they entered in their age groups: Elizabeth Fosburgh and Jackson Janezich in IM, free, back and fly, and Callie Fosburgh IM, free, back (who knew Callie could swim backwards so fast?), and breaststroke. Outstanding!


A MEET DEBUT
Making their A meet debuts this week were Alexander Alagia, Victor Colosi, Isabella Fowler, Peter Maeder, and Eliana Oechsler. Congratulations to all these young swimmers. We look forward to seeing you at many more A meets this summer.


ALL STAR TIMES
Dolphins turned in an incredible 25 all star times in this first meet! Congratulations to the following swimmers on their first, but definitely not their last, all star times of the season: Jackson Janezich and Elizabeth Fosburgh in IM, free, back and fly; Callie Fosburgh in IM, free, back and breaststroke; Ryan Chitwood in IM, free and breaststroke; Malena Lair in IM, free and back; Danielle Schulkin in free and fly; Nicky Schulkin in breaststroke and fly; Alex Spigler breaststroke; Elena Palermo in breaststroke; and Vincent Steis in backstroke. Gold stars to all of you!


NEW RECORDS
Just the first meet of the season and already the records are falling. We have 6 new team records: Malena Lair broke the oldest team record smashing by more than 6 seconds Mary Cox’s 1976 record for 15-18, 100m back. Wendy Schliecher lost three team records at this meet: Danielle Schulkin broke Wendy’s 1985 record for 15-18, 50m fly, while Callie Fosburgh broke Wendy’s 1983, 13-14 girls 50m free and 1984 50m breaststroke. Callie Fosburgh also broke Malena Lair’s 2006 record in the 100m IM. Finally, not to be out done, the boys broke the 2005 record for the 14 & under end relay with Vincent Steis, Ryan Chitwood, Jackson Janezich, and Nicky Schulkin swimming. Awesome!


SALUTE THE SWIM-UPS
The Dolphins benefited from three younger swimmers courageously swimming up into older age groups to help fill the lanes and win points in various events. Hats off to these 12-year olds who all swam up to into 13-14 events: Andrew Wagman in free, fly and breaststroke; Claire Rock in free, back, fly and breaststroke; and Kellan Steele in fly and breaststroke. Though not technically a swim up, special kudos also go out to 10-year-old Nora Kelsall who swam in the 200m girls open medley relay competing alongside many 15-18-year-olds. Thank you, thank you one and all!


COACH’S CORNER—Ramzy Suleiman
I would like to start by congratulating all the swimmers who participated in the meet against Potomac Woods last Saturday. The meet was extremely close the entire way, and Bannockburn proved that it can compete at a high level and hang in there with a tremendously strong opponent. In addition, I want to thank Kellan Steele, Andrew Wagman, and Claire Rock, for swimming up for us when we needed them. Maybe sometime in the future I’ll throw you guys at kids your own age group. I would also like to thank Madison Thomas-Buenos for being incredibly awesome. I have decided to make a documentary film about his life with the staff at Bannockburn Pool, and I hope all of you will contribute to this fantastic feature film. In other news Madeline Alagia has documented the entire list of Bannockburn cheers and has begun teaching them to the Bannockburn youngsters. Everyone on the team must encourage the younger kids to learn these awesome cheers so we can carry on the tradition. Which brings me to my next point: this week I am starting a “Make your own cheer contest.” The person (or people) that come up with the best cheer (as decided by a highly qualified panel of judges) will perform this Saturday at the home meet. So gather up your pom poms and start constructing the most awesome cheer in the history of the universe. Next, I must mention this SATURDAY’S THEME IS HILLBILLYS. If anyone has any live farm animals, bring ‘em on down for the meet (or we’ll dress up 8 and unders like cows and pigs). Lastly, I would like to announce that pool manager Willie Fitzgerald loves being hit with kickboards. SO PLEASE, if you get a chance, make our manager happy all day and give him some kickboard love. Best of luck this weekend! We are swimming Potomac Glen at and they beat Old Georgetown by 73 points so it should be a very close meet and we need all the good swims we can get. Stay hydrated, eat good food, don’t do drugs, etc., and we’ll have a great meet.


SWIMMING TIP of the WEEK
FINISHES. We lost far too many races in the last 5 meters this past weekend. Don’t breathe in the red, put your head down, kick like crazy, and you will win your close races.


DON’T RAIN ON OUR B MEETS
We managed to finish IM and complete all the heats of 8 & under freestyle before the skies opened up into a downpour. Thanks go to all the swimmers who turned out with the best of intentions and their parents who were at their posts volunteering. We all hope for better weather this Wednesday so all the swimmers can show their stuff!


WEEK 1 DIVISION F RESULTS: To see the full meet results go to: http://www.mcsl.org/results/2007/week1/Div_E.txt


QUESTION OF THE WEEK
What 4 swimmers are less than a second away from breaking 5 Bannockburn Team Records? (Hint: 3 boys and 1 girl.)


NEXT UP ON THE SCHEDULE
Our next B meet is Wednesday, June 20 at Carderock. Please be at Carderock for warm-ups at 5:30pm. Directions to all the pools we are swimming are on the bulletin board. With so many little ones on the team this year, we are in serious need of more helpers to be card runners, ribbon writers, and to shepherd the 10 and unders from the team area to report for their event and then go to the proper lanes. Please see the sign up sheet to help out. We would like to encourage new families to start volunteering so that the “old timers” don’t get stuck with all the work. (And keep your fingers crossed for clear skies.) For all team members who are not swimming in this meet, we ask you to come out and be card runners, timers, or help shepherd the little kids to their events.

Thursday, June 21 the Dolphins hit the ice for a fun skating event at the Cabin John ice rink from 12:30-2:30. Please see the bulletin board for details. Please remember all children 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Friday, June 22 at 6pm is the second pasta party of the swim season. (Please note this event is NOT on the calendar.) A list of what to bring for the swimmers’ pasta party will be posted on the bulletin board. Since we had such a good time getting together last week, we will also have another parent get together at the same time as the team pasta party though this time the event will be a potluck. Please bring whatever food or beverages you would like to share. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to get to know other parents and ask any questions they may have while our swimmers enjoy pasta with the team.

Our next A meet is Saturday, June 23 at Bannockburn. Warm-ups are at 8am. There will be breakfast food for sale at the meet and a sub sandwich lunch following the meet for all the swimmers and their families with subs and drinks sold at cost. We still need someone to volunteer to organize this event. (This includes: order the subs and get drinks, get helpers, set up the tables with plates, etc., be there to pay for the subs (reimbursed by the team), then organize the lines and collect money, and finally to clean up. This is not a hard job as we’ve done it for years and have all the info and there are plenty of parents to help out if someone would just please volunteer to organize the event.) For all team members who will not be swimming in this meet, the coaches ask that you come and cheer on the team and have lunch with the team afterwards. The coaches will try and pass out ribbons at the lunch.


PARENT NOTES & REMINDERS
We hope you and your children are enjoying the beginning of the swim season. Here are several notes and reminders to help assure everyone continues to enjoy the season.

1. The coaches would like to test a new system to ensure that all swimmers will be at the meets in which they have been entered. Here’s the plan:

a. A list of all swimmers for the Wednesday meets will be on the bulletin board by noon each Tuesday.

b. A list of all swimmers for the Saturday meets will be on the bulletin board by 4p each Thursday.

c. The coaches ask that all parents check the lineups and initial after their swimmer(s) if s/he is coming to the meet OR cross the name of their swimmer(s) off the list if s/he is not able to attend. For the Saturday meet, this must be done by the end of practice on Thursday as the lineup must be submitted Friday morning.

d. There is currently a list of all swimmers and dates of the A meets on the bulletin board. Parents, please take the time to indicate the meets your child will NOT be able to attend.

The Dolphins are in an extremely tough division this year and having every swimmer at every Saturday meet is important to fill the lanes and gain valuable points. If your child cannot make an A meet, coaches need to know this in advance in order to find other swimmers to fill the lanes. Your cooperation in this respect is much appreciated. All A meets are on Saturdays with warm-ups beginning at 8am. Meets finish by 11:30am. (NB the relay carnival is on Sunday, July 8, and the Divisional meet, on Saturday, July 21, begins at 7am.)

2. It is equally important for all parents to volunteer in some respect for each meet, both A and B meets, in which you child swims. Other than the coaches, the meets are run entirely by parent volunteers. We need you to help time and do other jobs associated with running the meet, bring food to sell at the meets, or work the food events.