Dolphins Thriving in the Summer Heat

The Dolphins have been swimming for four weeks this summer and we’re approaching the halfway point of the season. Little Dolphins are improving their strokes, swimmers had success at Fort Hunt Sportsmen Relays, and the Dolphins won their A-Meet matchup. Our Highland Park hosts are planning a special twist for our Monday evening B-Meet. 

This week’s calendar at a glance: 

• Sunday—Last day to order Relay Carnival T-shirts 
• Monday—Indicate availability for Saturday A-Meet 
• Monday—Waynewood @Highland Park (warm-up 5:20pm; no afternoon practices) 
• Thursday—Teen night activity: Book Hunt
• Friday—Cupcake Pep Rally @6pm 
• Saturday—Home A Meet vs. Hunter Mill, Dolphins warmup @8am 

In This Message: 

1. A-Meet @South Run highlights 
2. B-Meet @Highland Park (Monday @6pm, 5:20 pm warm-up) 
3. Little Dolphins practice reminders 
4. Upcoming home A Meet vs. Hunter Mill, Saturday (6/28) 
5. Teen Night, Thursday (6/26) 
6. Cupcake Pep Rally, Friday (6/27) @6pm 
7. Relay Carnival Shirt Orders due today! 
8. Meet Ribbons & Look ahead

1) A Meet @South Run highlights 

Waynewood won Saturday A-Meet at South Run by a convincing margin of 274 to 146. NVSL has meet results here. Highlights of Saturday’s swims: 

• Outstanding meet contribution: Waynewood’s 8 & under girls swept all four individual events taking all 36 points for the Dolphins. Catherine Beaton, Nora Agnini, Libby Clamon, Violet Smith, Cora Thom, Maeve Gannon, and Lane Blackledge all scored for the Dolphins. The girls 8 & under 100m freestyle relay team of Thom, Smith, Blackledge, and Beaton also won their relay race 1:33.75 to 2:08.95. 
• Race of the meet: Waynewood’s Matthew Charipar, Shep Hiler, Luke Morris, and Isaac Exner emerged victorious in the meet’s closest relay contest, the 9-10 boys 100m medley posting a time of 1:24.03 (almost a full second faster than last week’s relay time) to the South Run squad’s time of 1:27.05. 
• Other winning Dolphins relay squads: 
  • Girls 9-10 100m medley relay (1:22.22 vs. 1:29.56) 
  • Girls 11-12 100m medley relay (1:10.87 vs. 1:14.40) 
  • Boys 13-14 100m medley relay (1:02.06 vs. 1:06.32) 
  • Girls 13-14 100m medley relay (1:04.93 vs. 1:10.52) 
  • Boys 15-18 200m medley relay (2:03.93–South Run DQ’d) 
  • Girls mixed age 200m freestyle relay (2:09.88 vs. 2:19.53) 
• We have photos from this meet and other 2025 team events up in our photo gallery. Check them out here.

2) B Meet @Highland Park, Monday (6pm, 5:20 pm warm-up) 

The Dolphins swim Monday (6/23) with the Highland Park Hurricanes. 

• Arrive by 5:10 pm for a 5:20 pm warm-up. The first meet event (boys 8 & under freestyle) starts at 6 p.m. 
• Highland Park’s address: 6406 Telegraph Rd., Alexandria 22310 
• No afternoon practice on Monday (Little Dolphins practice at 12:00 but not 5:30) due to the meet. 
• Notes from Highland Park: Park in their pool parking lot. 
• 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). We still need more volunteers -- please sign up!
• Swim schedule: The meet will follow the standard order of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. 
• Food forecast from Highland Park: “We’re excited to offer Chick-fil-A as our main food option—both sandwiches and nuggets will be available, so tell your families to come hungry! We’ll also have a variety of snacks and drinks for sale.” 
• Meet Twist: Highland Park plans to award the first-place finisher of each heat a rubber duck. The catch: heat winners will need to remember to claim their duck immediately after their race concludes.

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 pm Little Dolphins practice will not take place Monday (B Meet) 
• 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) Home A Meet vs. Hunter Mill, Saturday (6/28) 

The Dolphins’ third Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) meet of the 2025 Division 7 season takes place this Saturday, June 28. The Dolphins will compete with the Hunter Mill Sharks. 

• Waynewood swimmers available for this meet will need to indicate status by 11 pm on Monday, June 23. 
• We can’t yet open the meet for swimmers to indicate availability but we expect that to be up by tomorrow and will send a reminder. 
• The meet is at WRA. Dolphins are scheduled to warm-up at 8 am. Please arrive 10 minutes earlier, at 7:50 am. 
• With the weather heating up, we can’t rule out the possibility the meet start time might be moved up due to heat concerns, but for now it’s still 9 am. 
• 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 (6/26) 

We hear it’s Book Hunt this week! Meet at 6:30 pm @WRA grounds. 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. 

6) Cupcake Pep Rally (6/27) @6 pm 

On Friday, we’ll be answering the age-old question: “Do Dolphins Eat Cupcakes?” I think you know the answer. You also probably know that you can count on cheers and the announcement of the week’s practice monsters … don't miss it! 

7) Relay Carnival Shirt Order Due Today! 

Reminder: Waynewood is hosting Division 7 Relay Carnival on Wednesday, July 2. Next weekend, we anticipate opening availability sign-ups. We are offering a chance to order a Relay Carnival T-shirt online for $19 and orders are due TODAY. 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. 

8) 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. 

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

• NVSL Division 7 Relay Carnival @Waynewood (7/2) 
• July 4 parade and activities (plus no practice or Pep Rally on 7/4) 

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