FHS Relays Wednesday, Little Dolphins swim test

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dolphin dads! This week, in addition to all our usual activity, we start our Little Dolphin development program and take our team photo. It’s a packed week. Let’s dive in! 

This week’s calendar at a glance: 

• Monday—Indicate availability for Saturday A Meet & FHS Relays (deadline Monday at 11 pm) 
• Monday—Home B Meet w/Hollin Meadows (warm-up 5:00 pm; no afternoon practice) 
• Tuesday—Little Dolphins season begins (swim test) 
• Tuesday—New volunteer signups open 
• Wednesday—Fort Hunt Sportsmen Relays, no pm practices 
• Thursday—teen night activity 
• Friday—Team photo, abbreviated morning practice schedule 
• Friday—Can-struction pep rally 
• Saturday—A Meet @South Run, Dolphins meet in WRA parking lot @7:30 am 

In This Message: 

1. A Meet @Dunn Loring recap + NVSL 101 
2. Home B Meet w/Hollin Meadows pool, Monday (6/16) 
3. Little Dolphins kick off 
4. Upcoming A Meet @South Run, Saturday (6/21) 
5. Teen Night, Thursday (6/19) 
6. Team photo and special practice schedule, Friday (6/20) 
7. Can-struction pep rally, Friday (6/20) 
8. Relay Carnival T-Shirts 
9. Fort Hunt Sportsmen Relays Wednesday (6/18)

1) A Meet @Dunn Loring recap + NVSL 101 

Waynewood and Dunn Loring were tied 90-90 halfway through the individual events and Waynewood finished strong winning five of the final six relay races. But it wasn’t enough as Dunn Loring took the win 232-188 on Saturday. Dolphins meet highlights: 

• Outstanding contribution: The Dolphins’ 13-14 boys squad dominated, taking 35 of 36 points awarded for individual events at the meet. Beau Gibson, James Gallagher, Michael Salter, Luke Bluey, Mason LoCascio, and Connor Simonelli all scored points for the Dolphins. The 100 medley relay team of Bluey, Gallagher, Gibson, and Salter won their relay race 1:02.84 to 1:10.32, which uplifted the Dolphins faithful and started the aforementioned relay win streak to end the meet. 
• Race of the meet: This meet saved the best race for the final event. Wins any closer than the photo finish 2:09.58 to 2:09.59 race the Waynewood Girls Mixed Age 200m freestyle relay team of Cully Rufe, Vera Hill, Abigail Minear, and Bella Connally achieved Saturday are called ties. This race was neck-and-neck with nearly evenly matched swimmers throughout the relay race. Waynewood eventually pushed out a narrow–but visible–lead and held off a late push by Dunn Loring to close out the meet with a win. 
• Other winning Dolphins’ relay squads: 
  • Girls 13-14 100m medley relay (1:05.01 vs. 1:09.41) 
  • Boys 15-18 200m medley relay (2:02.64 vs. 2:09.93) 
  • Boys Mixed Age 200m freestyle relay (2:09.57 vs. 2:16.63) 

NVSL 101: Interested in learning more about the 2025 season or how individual Dolphin A Meet swimmers’ time compares to others, present or past? The Northern Virginia Swimming League maintains comprehensive records with helpful sorting tools of race results. Some things you might check out on their website: 

• Schedule/Results: See every NVSL (A Meet) result going back decades. 
• Leaders: Search any swimmer in an A Meet by name to pull up his/her NVSL career results. See how swimmer results in particular events rank across the league or division. 
• Virtual meet: Ever wonder how the opening week results of this year’s team would have stood up in a hypothetical matchup with the 2005 Waynewood Dolphins squad in their opening week two decades ago? NVSL offers a tool that let’s you see how the Dolphins might have fared in different divisions or eras – check it out! 

Dolphins photo gallery: We now have extensive photo collections from the Dunn Loring A-Meet, Time Trials, the MVP B Meet, and other events. Check them out here. 

2) Home B Meet w/Hollin Meadows, Monday (6/16) 

The Dolphins swim Monday (6/17) at WRA with the Hollin Meadows Barracudas. 

• Arrive @WRA by 4:50 pm for a 5:00 pm warm-up. The first meet event (boys 8 & under freestyle) starts at 6 p.m. 
• Please don’t park in the WRA lot on Monday. By tradition, NVSL pools leave lots for visiting teams and home pool families walk or utilize street parking. 
• 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. We still have open roles for this meet so please help us out by signing up. 
• Swim schedule: The meet will follow the standard order of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and IM. 
• Food forecast: We’ll have pulled pork, pizza, and an assortment of snacks. 
• No afternoon practice on Monday due to the meet (there is morning practice). 

3) Little Dolphins kickoff 

We love our Little Dolphins and our coaches can’t wait to start working with them this Tuesday, June 17! 

• Quick note: there will be no 5:30 pm practice on Wednesday due to FHS Relays (but swimmers are welcome at the noon session). 

Tuesday swim test: 

• All Little Dolphins will be tested on their first day, Tuesday, June 17 (choose 12 pm or 5:30 pm) to see if they can swim the length of the pool without touching the side or a lane line. 
• No kickboards or flotation devices will be permitted. 
• The stroke or how they accomplish it does not matter. Safety is our No. 1 concern. 
• We will be cheering for everyone to pass this test, but if they don't, we will cheerfully retest them when ready – this can be done many times until successful. 
• Private lessons or sessions with parents is sometimes all it takes to get there. 
• Test day isn't a normal practice. The entire session will be tests so once swimmers have taken it, they're free to go home on this first day. 
• For swimmers who can't come Tuesday, drop the Team Reps a note to let them know when you plan to join the team (if you haven’t already). This notice will help our coaches plan for when they need to administer later tests. 

About Little Dolphins practice: 

• During the Little Dolphins practice season, you don't need to let us know when swimmers will miss practice. 
• Our awesome coaches will be in the pool during practice and great lifeguards on the side. 
• Little Dolphins should only attend one session per day – it’s good to have some consistency for your swimmers but you can definitely switch sessions from time to time if it helps your schedule. 
• On Mondays, the afternoon Little Dolphins practice session usually does not happen due to the team’s B Meet. 
• Let our coaches or Team Reps know if your young swimmer is feeling especially anxious or just isn't enjoying practice. This helps our coaches know where a little extra attention may be needed. 
• We encourage swimmers to bring goggles to practice and a one-piece swimsuit works best. 
• Little Dolphins practice in the rain, but not during lightning or weather that closes the pool. We try to send out messages when practice is cancelled, but it’s often last minute. If you don’t hear from us, assume practice is on. 

4) A Meet @South Run, Saturday (6/21) 

The Dolphins’ second Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) meet of the 2025 Division 7 season takes place this Saturday, June 21. The Dolphins will compete with South Run. 

• Waynewood swimmers available for this meet will need to indicate status by 11 p.m. on Monday, June 16. NVSL hasn’t yet given us the file to start signups so please keep an eye open – it’s possible we’ll extend the sign-up deadline but we aren’t there yet. 
• South Run’s address: 9908 South Park Circle, Fairfax Station. 
• The Dolphins will meet in the WRA parking lot to caravan at 7:30 am. The first event is at 9:00 am. 
• Volunteer sign ups for this meet open Tuesday at 7 pm. There will be an optional team lunch immediately after the meet – details to come. 
• 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. 

5) Teen night, Thursday (6/19) 

The teens are headed to an evening at Top Golf. They’ll meet at the WRA lot at 6:30 pm. Please be advised, this is not an official team activity – it’s organized by coaches and sometimes parent volunteers as something of an extracurricular but all teenage team swimmers are welcome to join. Please note it is only for registered Waynewood team members who have already turned 13 – no requests for exceptions please.

6) Team photo and special practice schedule, Friday (6/20) 

Dolphins team and individual picture day is this Friday: 

• If you want individual pictures, please arrive by 7:30 am 
• Little Dolphin swimmers are asked to arrive for the team photo by 8:20 am. Big Dolphins team members need to arrive by 8:30 a.m. We suggest swimmers wear their team swimsuits. If you don’t have one a blue or black swimsuit will look best. 
• You’ll receive an email from the photographer after the picture about purchase options. 
• 9-10 swimmers whose practice is disrupted may join either the 11-12 or 8 & under practice on Friday. 
• More details from the photographer in the attached flier. 

7) Can-struction pep rally, Friday (6/20) @6 pm

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! 

8) Relay Carnival T-Shirts 

Waynewood is hosting Division 7 Relay Carnival on Wednesday, July 2. We are offering a chance to order a Relay Carnival T-shirt online for $19 and orders are due Sunday, June 22. Shirts will be delivered to each team's Team Reps at the Relay Carnival. Shirts will NOT be on sale at Relay Carnival and we are not currently committed to a second, post-meet order — so this could be the only chance. 

• Very optional: The makeup of the Relay Carnival team is similar to an A-Meet but a bit more selective with a little extra opportunity for strong freestyle swimmers. You don't need a shirt to be on Waynewood's team and ordering one has no bearing on team selections, which won't happen until 6/30. But we're sharing the information for families who want to order one. 

9) Fort Hunt Sportsmen Relays 

Indicate availability and volunteer (here) by 11 pm Monday for the Fort Hunt Sportsman Relays meet taking place on Wednesday, June 18 at 6:00 pm (warm-up at 5:30 pm) at Little Hunting Park (7000 Canterbury Lane, Alexandria 22307). 

It is a seeded meet (swimmers are selected by the head coach, like an A meet). However, Coaches try to focus on B meet swimmers and don’t work off the ladder in seeding this meet. 

• This meet is ALL relays. 
• Instead of swimming against just one team, there are a bunch of area teams represented (MVP, Stratford, Riverside Gardens, Little Hunting Park, Mansion House….) 
• There are relays where boys and girls swim together, ones that include different aged swimmers 
• Attached is a rundown of the meet events. Selected swimmers will be notified via email no later than Tuesday, June 17. 

Questions? 

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

Go Dolphins! 

Waynewood Dolphins Communications