Waynewood Dolphins Weekly Newsletter

(6/23/24) 

The Dolphins have been swimming for four weeks this summer and we’re approaching the halfway point of the season. Like our young swimmers, it goes by fast! This week, Coach Dylan is excited about some Dolphins earning their four-stroke caps at Monday’s B Meet. And we’ll have one of the most exciting competitive team events of the season: Relay Carnival. 

This week’s calendar at a glance: 

• Monday—Indicate availability for Saturday A Meet & Relay Carnival (deadline for both meets is Monday at 11 p.m.) 
• Monday—Home B Meet with Highland Park (warm-up 5:00 p.m.; no afternoon practices) 
• Tuesday—New signups open 
• Wednesday—Div. 7 Relay Carnival @Canterbury Woods (no afternoon practices) 
• Thursday—Teen night activity 
• Friday—Can-struction pep rally 
• Saturday—Home A Meet vs. Sleepy Hollow B&R, Dolphins warmup @8 a.m. 

In This Message: 

1. A Meet @Dominion Hills highlights 
2. Home B Meet vs. Highland Park (Monday @6 p.m.) 
3. Little Dolphins practice reminders 
4. Division 7 Relay Carnival @Canterbury Woods and Relay Carnival 101 
5. Upcoming home A Meet vs. Sleepy Hollow B&R, Saturday (6/29) 
6. More signups open Tuesday (6/25) 
7. Teen Night #2, Thursday (6/27) 
8. Can-struction pep rally, Friday (6/28) @6 p.m. 
9. Meet Ribbons & Look Ahead 

1) A Meet @Dominion Hills highlights 

Waynewood got outscored Saturday 243 to 177 in Saturday’s matchup with Dominion Hills. But our swimmers had several notable achievements in the competition:

• Not just an old format for music: Waynewood swimmer and coach Joshua Wolf tied his own team record Saturday in the 15-18 boys 50m freestyle: 24.86 seconds. Joshua previously set this mark at Waynewood’s Time Trials this year, but matching it in an official NVSL meet puts the league’s imprimatur on the mark. On the subject of Joshua, he’s not only a holder of multiple records across his Waynewood Dolphins career but also one of the fastest among thousands of swimmers participating in the 102 team NVSL. His freestyle time is currently the eighth fastest among all 15-18 boys across NVSL pools and his backstroke and butterfly are inside the league’s top 15. And every day at Dolphins practice, younger swimmers get the opportunity to learn from him. 
• Outstanding meet contribution: Waynewood’s 9-10 boys put the points on the board for the Dolphins Saturday, winning 20 of 36 points in individual events. Isaac Exner, Luke Morris, Jack Morris, and Ryan Charipar all scored points for the Dolphins. 
• Race of the meet: The Dolphins 8 & under girls squad of Catherine Beaton, Evelyn Lill, Charlotte Denis, and Violet Dunstan eked out the win 1:34.36 to 1:35.14 in the 100m freestyle relay. 
• Honorable mention: Down a key swimmer, the Dolphins’ 13-14 boys 100m medley team came up just short in a photo finish race 1:02.07 to 1:02.17. If you’re attending Relay Carnival Wednesday, keep an eye out for this squad’s 200m freestyle and medley races as Saturday’s close finish should be a source of motivation for this talented group.

• Other winning Dolphins relay squads: 
  • Girls 9-10 100m medley relay (1:24.11 vs. 1:25.93) 
  • Girls 13-14 100m medley relay (1:05.96 vs. 1:08.52) 
  • Boys 15-18 200m medley relay (1:55.18 vs. 2:07.83) 
  • Boys mixed age 200m freestyle relay (2:04.67 vs. 2:14.93) 

2) Home B Meet vs. Highland Park (Monday @6 p.m.) 

The Dolphins swim Monday (6/24) at WRA vs. the Highland Park Hurricanes. 

• Arrive by 4:50 p.m. for a 5:00 p.m. warm-up. The first meet event (boys 8 & under freestyle) starts at 6 p.m. 
• No afternoon practices on Monday due to the meet – this also means no 5:30 p.m. Little Dolphins practice (but Little Dolphins are welcome to join the noon practice if able). 
• Parking courtesy: Please look for street parking (or walk) and leave the WRA parking lot for our guests – this is a reciprocity courtesy that ultimately helps Waynewood families when we’re on the road. 
• Volunteers: please remember that timers, clerks, and table workers are requested to wear a white top and navy (or dark) shorts/pants/skirt while on duty (with no team logos). 
• Swim schedule: The meet will follow the standard order of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and IM. 
• Food forecast: We’ll have BBQ sandwiches and pizza so come hungry and order early before it sells out.

3) Little Dolphins practice reminders 

This is various places throughout the newsletter, but so that we have it in one place for Little Dolphins families: 

• The noon Little Dolphins practice will take place Monday through Friday this week. 
• The 5:30 p.m. Little Dolphins practice will not take place Monday (B Meet) or Wednesday (Relay Carnival). 
• When a practice session is canceled due to a schedule conflict or weather, Little Dolphins are welcome to attend the other day’s session if able. 
• We hope your Little Dolphin enjoyed his/her first week of practice. Practice is supposed to be fun. If that hasn’t been the case for your swimmer, please let our coaches know. 

4) Division 7 Relay Carnival @Canterbury Woods and Relay Carnival 101 

Canterbury Woods is the host of this year’s NVSL Division 7 Relay Carnival—a fun event featuring our division rivals. 

• Make sure that you have indicated your swimmers’ availability or non-availability by 11 p.m. Monday. 
• Swimmers will be notified Tuesday evening about participation in this meet. 

For an explainer on what Relay Carnival is, see the attached Relay Carnival 101. 

Relay Carnival @Canterbury Woods details: 

Times: The first meet event swims at 6:30 p.m. The Waynewood warmup is at 5:50 p.m. Please arrive no later than 5:35 p.m. for warm up. This meet tends to go quick, it’s realistic it will be over by 8:30 p.m. 

Keep in mind: There is no caravan from the WRA parking lot. You’ll need to navigate rush hour traffic, so allow plenty of travel time. Warmups at Relay Carnival occur in phases and Waynewood has the last warmup – so the parking lot may be full and you’ll need to plan time for walking from neighborhood street parking. Carpooling for this meet is a smart idea. 

Canterbury Woods’ address: 5101 Southampton Dr, Annandale, VA 22003. 

Food forecast: We don’t have this yet from Canterbury Woods, but we’re confident they’ll have something. We’ll share more details if we get them by Tuesday. 

Volunteers: Because there are six teams participating, Waynewood gets a customized and limited list of roles to fill. Team Reps typically fill these roles by reaching out to some participating families rather than online signups. 

No afternoon practice Wednesday: Since the team and coaches will be on the road, they’ll be no afternoon practice for big or Little Dolphins.

5) Home A Meet vs. Sleepy Hollow B&R, Saturday (6/29) 

The Dolphins’ third Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) meet of the 2024 Division 7 season takes place this Saturday, June 29. The Dolphins will compete with the Sleepy Hollow B&R Seals (SHBR). 

• Waynewood swimmers available for this meet will need to indicate status by 11 p.m. on Monday, June 24. 
• We can’t yet open the meet for swimmers to indicate availability as we are still waiting for a data component from NVSL, but we expect that by tomorrow. 
• The meet is at WRA. Dolphins are scheduled to warm-up at 8 a.m. Please arrive 10 minutes earlier, at 7:50 a.m. 
• We can’t rule out the possibility the meet start time might be moved up again due to heat concerns, but for now it’s still 9 a.m. 
• Volunteer signups for this meet should open Tuesday at 7 p.m. 
• Swimmers indicating availability will be notified of team selections no later than Thursday evening via email. 
• We’ll share more meet details later in the week.

6) More signups open Tuesday (6/25) 

We’ll likely open several sign-ups Tuesday at 7 p.m. With Relay Carnival Wednesday, this is an unusual week so don’t be surprised if some events come a little later (and we’ll send a reminder) but the upcoming signups are: 

Strokes: 

• Home B Meet vs. Hayfield Farm, Monday (7/1) 

Volunteering: 

• Home A Meet vs. SHBR, Saturday (6/29) 
• Home B Meet vs. Hayfield Farm, Monday (7/1) 

7) Teen night #2, Thursday (6/27) 

We hear it’s Book Hunt this week! Consult your local team teen for details. Please note it is only for registered Waynewood team members who have already turned 13 – no requests for exceptions please. If we get more details we’ll share them. 

8) Can-struction pep rally, Friday (6/28) @6 p.m. 

It’s a pep rally, it’s a food drive, it’s art! It’s also a competition! Start bringing canned goods, and other non-perishables to donate to United Community to the pool during practices this week. At the pep rally our teams will use them as building materials. May the most creative and charitable team win! And, as is tradition, there will be cheers and the announcement of the week’s practice monsters … don't miss it!

9) Meet Ribbons & Look Ahead 

Collect your meet ribbons: They’re in the crates in folders with family names on them. Please double check the label on ribbons to make sure you have only your ribbon. To date, crates should have all meets through the June 17 B Meet with Hollin Meadows, but we’ll keep adding more. 

In next week’s Sunday newsletter we’ll have information about: 

• July 4 parade and activities (plus no practice or teen night on 7/4) 
• A future pep rally, and meets including 7/1 home B Meet 

The full Dolphins season schedule is available on the website. 

Questions? 

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

Go Dolphins! 

Waynewood Dolphins Communications