Waynewood Dolphins Weekly Newsletter

July 16, 2023

There is a lot planned for the upcoming week, starting with our Dolphins team photo and portraits Monday morning and ending with our banquet Saturday night. Purchase your banquet tickets here. Please read carefully as this week’s events have a significant impact on practices this week—we explain below.

This Week’s Calendar at a Glance:

• Monday—Team Photo and Portraits, 7:30 a.m.
• Monday—IM Invitational @ Hayfield Farms, 5 p.m.
• Wednesday—Little Dolphins Mini-Meet, 9 a.m.
• Thursday—Dolphin Duel, 6 p.m.
• Friday—Practice for Divisional Championship Swimmers Only
• Saturday—Divisional Championship @ Truro
• Saturday—End-of-Season Banquet, 6 p.m.

In This Week’s Message:

1. Dolphins Beat Rapids, Finish Season at 5-0
2. Waynewood Dolphins 2023 Picture Day
3. Banquet Tickets on Sale Now
4. This Week’s Practice Schedule
5. Fort Hunt IM Invitational
6. Little Dolphins Mini-Meet
7. Dolphin Duel
8. Divisional Championship
9. Last Call for Volunteers, Plus More Magnets for Families

1. Dolphins Beat Rapids, Finish Season at 5-0

Congratulations to our swimmers on an undefeated season! Waynewood finished atop Division X with a perfect 5-0 record. The Dolphins cruised to a 300-120 victory (after a slight score modification) over the Great Falls Rapids on a muggy Saturday in Waynewood.

• You can find the full results here and the updated individual top times here.
• Photos are on Instagram and already posted on SmugMug. We’ve also posted more photos from previous meets, so be sure to look at all our SmugMug galleries.
• Team results and league standings can be viewed at NVSL’s website.

We honored our high school seniors between the individual and relay events. Congratulations to Regan Bolling, Faith Gibson, Annie Hogan, Julia Hopper, Emery Lindblom, Jack Lohmann, Dylan Paradise, Lucy Temple, Ava Vieira, and Olivia Vieira.

Highlights:

• For the first time this season, Waynewood won every relay—starting with our 8 & under events through the mixed-age freestyle races.
• Waynewood swimmers also swept 10 of the 40 individual events (scoring all points in each event).
• Our 11-12 girls were particularly dominant, claiming all 36 of the 36 possible points in individual events, plus their relay. Congrats to Teagan Adams, Cici Dahlberg, Sasha Hill, Lizzy Kellogg, Lucinda Keenan, Abigail Minear, Lydia Schourek, and Whitney Shawn—all of whom scored points for the Dolphins.

2. Waynewood Dolphins 2023 Picture Day

Briar Creek Photography looks forward to providing our team and individual/sibling photos Monday morning.

• 7:30 a.m.—Individual/sibling sessions by two photographers in two locations
• 7:50 a.m.—Coaches line up team in height order for the team photo, followed by remaining individual/sibling sessions

Be sure your swimmer has eaten breakfast and is hydrated when they arrive.

• You should receive a link to your child’s private gallery of images (individual and/or team photo) within 3 days of the session.

TIP: Add [email protected] to your address book to avoid the email going to your spam folder. All orders will be placed online and mailed to your home.

• Please try to wear this year's team suit for photos or something blue or black (and bring your team T-shirt, especially if you don't have a team swimsuit).

3. Banquet Tickets on Sale Now

Tickets are on sale now for our season-ending celebration at the pool at 6 p.m. Saturday. Click here to purchase by Friday.

Our banquet will be catered by Northside 10 and Southside 815. The menu includes pulled pork, fried chicken, mac and cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, tossed salad, watermelon, and hot dogs.

Ticket prices:

• Adults and teens (13 and up)—$18
• Children (5-12)—$12
• Toddler (4 and under)—FREE
• Family Pack (any family residing in one household)—$72

This year all Waynewood Dolphins swimmers will be receiving a medal. Swimmers who do not attend the banquet can collect their medal later in their family folder. Following the banquet, the Dolphins will extend the party into the pool for a late night celebration of the season.

4. This Week’s Practice Schedule

Due to this week’s event, we’ve made significant changes to our practice schedule.

• On Monday and Wednesday (Picture Day and Mini-Meet), 9-10 swimmers are invited to swim at the 8 & under practice at 11 a.m.
• 13-14 swimmers can join 11-12s at 10 a.m.
• No afternoon practices Monday or Thursday.
• Friday practices are for Divisional Championship swimmers only.
• The only 5:30 p.m. practice for Little Dolphins this week is Tuesday.
• Little Dolphins’ 12:30 practice will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (and 5:30 p.m. swimmers may join morning sessions this week if they wish).

REMINDER: We’ve extended the Little Dolphins practice season until Thursday, July 27, to accommodate the delayed start due to FCPS going a week later.

• Little Dolphins practice on Thursday, July 20, and Friday, July 21, will go from 12 p.m. until 12:30 pm (no 5:30 pm practice either day).
• From Monday, July 24, through Thursday, July 27, Little Dolphins will practice from 10 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.
• These practices are optional and all Little Dolphins are invited to attend this session. There will be no afternoon practice for these days.
• Little Dolphins have opportunities to swim in two meets—more info further down.

5. Fort Hunt IM Invitational

The 2023 Fort Hunt IM Invitational will take place at Hayfield Farm (7820 Hayfield Road, Alexandria, VA 22315) on Monday. 

• Warmups begin at 3:45 p.m. and the first heat will be at 5 p.m. 

Waynewood had many alternates bid-in to this meet, so please look carefully at rosters being sent around and let us know ASAP if your swimmer can’t participate for some reason.

• Like an A Meet, the Waynewood Dolphins send our fastest IM swimmers to this meet. Waynewood will have a team area at the event. Swimmers and spectators are advised to bring chairs as seating will be limited.

WARM-UPS: Swimmers are encouraged to warm-up at their home pools before heading to the meet. Warm-up times at Hayfield Farm will be by age group as follows:

• 11-12s—3:45-4:05 p.m.
• 9-10s—4:05-4:25 p.m.
• 13-14s—4:25-4:45 p.m.
• 15-18s—6:00-6:15 p.m. (during break)

PLEASE NOTE: 15-18s will warm-up during the break for a quick 15 minutes, which will happen around 6 p.m. but time may vary due to the pace of the meet. Organizers will be very strict; this is a warm-up for the 15-18s only, so please DO NOT send your 13-14s to warm up as well. The pool space is not big enough for both age groups.

Event schedule (times listed are "no earlier than"):

• Event 1: Boys 10 & under—5:00 p.m.
• Event 2: Girls 10 & under—5:15 p.m.
• Event 3: Boys 11-12—5:30 p.m.
• Event 4: Girls 11-12—5:45 p.m.
• Event 5: Boys 13-14—6:15 p.m.
• Event 6: Girls 13-14—6:30 p.m.
• Event 7: Boys 15-18—6:45 p.m.
• Event 8: Girls 15-18—7:00 p.m.

6. Little Dolphins Mini-Meet

Finally, the Little Dolphins get to swim in a meet. The annual Mini-Meet is the culmination of the Little Dolphins’ hard work this summer. Please arrive at 8:45 a.m. The meet will begin at 9 a.m.

• There are no stroke-and-turn judges for this meet and, therefore, no disqualifications. It’s a very positive atmosphere for our youngest swimmers.

Our older swimmers will be running the meet, serving as timers, ribbon writers, clerks of course, etc. The 11-12s and 13 & ups will be signing up to volunteer with the Little Dolphins head coaches.

• Parents can relax and be spectators and take lots of pictures. Grab the camera and your coffee and cheer your kids on!

7. Dolphin Duel

It’s an annual Waynewood tradition—the Dolphin Duel! The meet starts at 6 p.m. (warm-ups at 5 p.m.).

• Swimmers may sign up for 2 strokes; all participants will swim in the final relay. Sign up here.

NEW THIS YEAR: We’re inviting Little Dolphins to swim freestyle at the Dolphin Duel. Please arrive by 5:40 p.m.

• Little Dolphins don't need to register. They can just show up and find the designated coach.

PLEASE NOTE: This meet is only for swimmers who are not swimming in the Divisional Championship. If you are not sure whether you are swimming Divisionals, sign up for Dolphin Duel. We can scratch you if you make Divisionals.

• Budding comedy writers can submit their kid-appropriate riddles and jokes to our Dolphin Duel announcer Brian Stolarz at [email protected]. As many of you remember, if he reads your joke “on air,” sees amazing dance moves or good sportsmanship he may have a treat for you!

REMINDER: There is no afternoon practice Thursday. Friday’s practice is for Divisional Championship swimmers only.

8. Divisional Championships

NVSL hasn’t yet given us what we need to open online availability indications for Divisionals, but we’ll send out notice when it’s up. You’ll need to indicate your swimmer’s availability without delay.

• Expect Monday at 11 p.m. to be the deadline to indicate swimmer availability.
• The final decision on strokes will be made after the IM Invitational.
• The Divisional Championship will take place at Truro on the morning of Saturday, July 22.

Divisionals is a division-wide meet where the fastest 2 swimmers from each team in each stroke for each age and gender come together (e.g. each team gets to enter two 8 & under boys backstrokers). Each swimmer is only allowed to choose 2 strokes to swim in this meet. Individual Medleys (IMs) are included in this meet and IM DOES count as one of a swimmer's 2 choices. 8 & under swimmers do not swim IM. There are no relays.

Last year, our team also received numerous "bid-ins" for additional slots in some age groups beyond the initial allocation of two per team. So if your swimmer is close, interested, and available, please go ahead and mark him/her as such. Otherwise, the team reps won't be able to ask for his/her inclusion should a slot become available.

9. Last Call for Volunteers, Plus More Magnets for Families

Thank you very much to all those who have lent a hand. There remain a few more opportunities at Thursday’s Dolphin Duel and Saturday’s banquet.

• Sign up here starting Sunday at 7 p.m. This is your last chance of the season to get shifts in with the team—but parents can still earn credit through arranging WRA shifts.

Volunteer Thank You

The Dolphins thank the following families who will have a newly designed car/refrigerator magnet ready for pickup at the Dolphin Duel or banquet:

• Agnini
• Batcheller
• Carraway/McGrann
• Castle
• Corcoran
• Coyne
• Denis
• Dunstan
• Englefield
• Evans
• Goggins
• Gorney
• Hartridge
• Heinzen
• Hoeflinger
• Hope
• Hudson
• Kadish
• Knapp
• Leth
• Lozar
• Luher
• Lytle
• McElwain
• Morris (Aaron and Meredith)
• Mustin
• Pond
• Poyac-Clarkin
• Roughgarden
• Scott
• Shawn
• Shevchik
• Simonelli
• Sperber
• Vermillion
• Whitford
• Whitlow
• Woodward

Questions?

Don’t hesitate to contact our Team Reps, Frederick & Tom, at [email protected]

Go Dolphins!

Waynewood Dolphins Communications