Waynewood Dolphins Weekly Newsletter 

(7/23/24) 

What a finish to the season! Our Dolphin swimmers rocked it at the Little Dolphin Mini-Meet, Dolphin Duel, and Division 7 Championships. We then gathered together to celebrate with our team banquet, awards, and pool party. Congratulations to our swimmers and thank you to Coach Dylan, the coaching staff, and all our parent volunteers. This won’t be the last message you receive from the team this summer but we are moving to wrap things up and preparing for the offseason.

This week’s calendar at a glance: 

• Coach Dylan is working with All-Star meet qualifiers in preparation for Saturday. 

In This Message: 

1. Division 7 Championship highlights 
2. Dolphins Divisional Team T-shirts – 2nd order 
3. Award banquet summary 
4. Ribbon, awards, and Smugmug reminder 
5. Winter Swim: information and coach applications 
6. Team sponsors recognition 
7. Call for 2025 volunteers 
8. Just keep swimming

1) Division 7 Championship highlights 

Dolphin swimmers achieved first, second, or third place finishes 25 times in events at Saturday’s individual championship:

Girls 10 & under 100m IM: Heidi Evans, 3rd Girls 

11-12 100m IM: Abigail Minear, 2nd* 

Boys 13-14 100m IM: Connor Minear, 1st* 

Boys 15-18 100m IM: Joshua Wolf, 2nd*; Moses Wolf, 3rd 

Girls 8 & under 25m freestyle: Evelyn Lill, 1st 

Boys 11-12 50m freestyle: James Gallagher, 2nd*; Luke Bluey, 3rd 

Boys 13-14 50m freestyle: Luke Morris, 2nd* 

Boys 15-18 50m freestyle: Joshua Wolf, 1st* 

Girls 8 & under 25m backstroke: Violet Dunstan, 2nd 

Girls 11-12 50m backstroke: Abigail Minear, 2nd* 

Girls 13-14 50m backstroke: Maya Dahlberg, 3rd 

Boys 15-18 50m backstroke: Caleb Wolf, 2nd* 

Girls 9-10 50m breaststroke: Vera Hill, 3rd 

Boys 13-14 50m breaststroke: Connor Minear, 2nd* 

Girls 13-14 50m breaststroke: Sasha Hill, 2nd; Bella Connally, 3rd 

Boys 15-18 50m breaststroke: Moses Wolf, 2nd; Jackson Coyne, 3rd 

Girls 8 & under 25m butterfly: Violet Dunstan, 1st 

Boys 9-10 25m butterfly: Alexander Mamienski, 2nd 

Girls 9-10 25m butterfly: Fiona Mead, 3rd 

Boys 13-14 50m butterfly: Luke Morris, 1st* 

Boys 15-18 50m butterfly: Caleb Wolf, 1st* 

*-notes NVSL All-Star Meet qualifying swims 

Making Divisionals itself is an accomplishment. Congratulations to all the Waynewood swimmers who participated! Results for the full Divisionals meet are available here.

2) Dolphins Divisional Team T-shirts – 2nd order 

Miss the first opportunity to purchase a 2024 Divisionals team shirt (starting at $12.50)? The team is considering a second order, but needs to meet a two-dozen shirt minimum order. If you want to purchase a shirt(s), please email Team Reps by Thursday, July 24 at 9 p.m. ([email protected]).

3) Award banquet summary 

The Dolphins celebrated in style Saturday night at our annual banquet. 

• Over the course of this season, 92 of our swimmers earned yellow four-stroke caps. 
• As a team, the Dolphins dropped 35 minutes of time from strokes. 
• Across NVSL meets this summer, 70 different Dolphins swimmers scored points by finishing in the top 3 of an A Meet event. 

In other words, there was much to celebrate! Team Reps and coaches also presented several individual awards to our volunteers and swimmers. 

2024 Service Awards 

• Bobbi Erb Award (tireless, dedicated volunteer): Katie Wolf 
• Alan Schaffter Award (committed official): Carrie Henderson 
• Tammy Mannarino Award (outstanding service): Karin Dushaw 

2024 Team Awards 

• Coach Madsen Award (most improved swimmers): Laurel Blackledge and Abram Morris 
• Coaches Award (hard working, dedicated swimmers): Nora Agnini and Gage Butler 
• Waynewood Dolphin Award (swimmers demonstrating the best attributes of an amazing teammate): Hana Keenan and Max Rufe 
• Lois Sanderhoff Award (spirited, selfless swimmer): Gabi Leth 
• Tommy Smithwick Award (elected by swimmers): Caleb Wolf and Joshua Wolf 
• Gosnell High Point Award: Abigail Minear and Luke Morris 

2024 New Individual Records 

• Boys 13-14 50m Freestyle: Luke Morris, 25.66 (June 24, 2024) 
• Boys 13-14 50m Butterfly: Luke Morris, 27.51 (July 20, 2024) 
• Boys 13-14 100m IM: Connor Minear, 1:04.69 (July 15, 2024) 
• Boys 15-18 50m Freestyle: Joshua Wolf, 24:14 (July 20, 2024) 
• Boys 15-18 50m Backstroke: Caleb Wolf, 26:92 (July 13, 2024) 
• Boys 15-18 100m IM: Joshua Wolf, 59.14 (July 15, 2024) 

2024 New Relay Record 

• Boys 15-18 200m Medley Relay: Caleb Wolf, Moses Wolf, Marshall LoCascio and Joshua Wolf, 1:51.90 (July 6, 2024)

4) Ribbon, award, and SmugMug reminder 

Please remember your meet ribbons in the file folders on the shelves near the pool sign-in area. We’ve also added uncollected awards and medals (with names on back) to that area as well. 

Finally, our awesome photographers have and will continue to add photos to the 2024 SmugMug team photo library. Even if you’ve previously looked through a past meet, we’d encourage you to scour it again (and maybe one last time a few weeks from now) as our photographers often update them with new photo batches. These are professional quality photos of your swimmers in action made available to you gratis for being part of our team. 

5) Winter Swim: information and coach applications 

Registration for Waynewood Winter Swim will be opening in August. We expect Waynewood will again return to the George Washington Rec Center at 8426 Old Mt Vernon Road in Alexandria on Sundays but our practice time has not yet been finalized As in years past, coaches will group swimmers by age/ability. 

• The season will begin Sept. 8. 

We are currently accepting coaching applications now through Aug. 16. For those interested, the time commitment is every Sunday. You must be at least 14 years old as of June 1, 2024 to apply. Aspiring coaches should send an application (instructions here) to our Team Reps ([email protected]) by Aug. 16.

6) Team sponsors recognition 

The Waynewood Dolphins would like to again thank the following local businesses who sponsored the team for the 2024 season: 

• Absolute Tree 
  
• Frida Hopper – TT Sotheby’s International Realty 
  
• Honeygrow 
  
• Hughes Orthodontics 
  
• Master Roofing 
  
• Northside 10 and Southside 815
• Potomac Marlins
• Springfield Lorton Dental Group
• Sunstone Counseling
• Village Hardware

These businesses supported our kids this summer, underscoring their commitment to our community. Please consider them for your business as Dolphins partners when your needs arise. Also, a big Dolphins thank you to Dolphins Sponsorship Coordinator Melanie DeMaria for managing our team sponsorship program!

7) Call for 2025 volunteers 

The Dolphins are blessed to have a magnificent group of core lead volunteers who help organize, manage logistics, and run meet operations. Many volunteers return year after year, but every year the team has openings to fill. 

If you’d consider helping in one of these roles, please send the Team Reps a note letting them know what kind of opportunity might interest you. The team has roles that only require work at meets and others that are very flexible about how and when work is completed. It will be more work than just signing up for your family minimum shift requirement, but it’s also a great opportunity to meet neighbors and learn about the Dolphins team. 

Shadow Team Reps: James and Genna just completed their first season as Team Reps (thank you and congrats). By Waynewood tradition, they’ll lead the team for another season but they would love to have some interested candidates shadow them next season to learn about the position with an eye to summer 2026. There’s no obligation in reaching out and our current Team Reps would love to start a conversation if you have an interest.

8) Just keep swimming 

Looking toward summer 2025, some final tips for swimmers and parents as we wrap up the 2024 season: 

• Involve your kids in year-round swimming. It will help them keep in shape over the winter and move their swimming forward. There are several winter programs in the area that run the spectrum from competitive to recreational with different price points. 
• Spread the word. Brag to your WRA friends and neighbors about how much fun you had with the Dolphins this summer. Encourage them to join us next year! 
• Plan your vacation for August next year. Enjoy every Dolphin moment without interruption. Our team needs your swimmers in June and July – showing up is important! For aspiring coaches, availability for all of the swim season is an important factor in team hiring decisions. 
• Make plans to volunteer. Volunteering is an integral part of being on the swim team—please arrange your summer plans for 2025 accordingly if you’re planning to be with us again next season. If you know this is going to be an issue, reach out to Team Reps before the summer begins to see about flexible ways you might help the team. 
• Mark your calendar. Super Sunday will tentatively be on May 4, 2025 (feel free to come dressed as a Star Wars character). Expect our swimsuit vendor Sport Fair to be on hand to sell suits, likely the same model as this year. We plan to open registration in April. 

Questions? 

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

Go Dolphins! 

Waynewood Dolphins Communications