Waynewood Dolphins Weekly Newsletter - July 13, 2025
Dolphins Win on Senior Day, Head to Final Week of Team Events
The Dolphins are headed into the full team’s final week for Big and Little Dolphins. But we have FOUR meets before our banquet party on Saturday. Speaking of the 7/19 banquet, BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY as sales will be discontinued when seats and the catering order are at capacity.
- Monday—IM Invitational @Waynewood (first event at 5 pm; no afternoon practices)
- Monday—Deadline to indicate availability for NVSL Division 7 Individual Championships
- Tuesday—Regular practice day for Dolphins; Little Dolphins last practice day
- Wednesday—Little Dolphin MiniMeet @9 am (special morning schedule for Dolphins)
- Thursday—Dolphin Duel @6 pm (no afternoon practice)
- Friday—Practice for Divisional Championship Meet swimmers only
- Saturday—NVSL Division 7 Championships @Sleepy Hollow B&R (7/19)
In This Message:
- A-Meet vs. Canterbury Woods highlights
- Senior Day @Waynewood
- Practice schedule this (last) week
- IM Invitational Monday @5 pm
- Little Dolphins MiniMeet (Wednesday @9 am)
- Dolphin Duel (Thursday @6 pm)
- Indicate availability for Division 7 Championships
- Buy banquet tickets TODAY!
- Last call for Divisional Championship meet shirts!
- Consider a year-round swim club
- Look ahead
1) A Meet vs. Canterbury Woods highlights
Halfway through individual events the Dolphins trailed the C-Serpents 94-86 but overcame this deficit during butterfly events and ultimately sealed the win during the relay phase of the meet. While the C-Serpents took first place in 25 of the meet’s 40 individual events, the Dolphins overcame this by dominating with team depth in the meet’s second (27 of 40) and third (30 of 40) place finishes.
The Dolphins finish the season 3-2 in Division 7 and, for the third year in a row, undefeated at home in NVSL dual-team meets. The Dolphins win means the 4-0-1 Sleepy Hollow B&R Seals win the division over the 3-1-1 C-Serpents, who swam to a rare tie earlier this season.
- Outstanding meet contribution: Waynewood’s 15-18 girls, swimming with senior Katie Mortimer and two super seniors (super seniors are a year past H.S. graduation but still NVSL eligible) in their last team meet as Dolphins, won 26 of 36 possible points in individual events, giving Waynewood a decisive edge Saturday. Bella Connally, Hana Keenan (super senior), Maya Dahlberg, Gabi Leth, and Xepher Winkler (super senior) all scored points for the Dolphins. The 15-18 girls 200m medley relay team of Dahlberg, Connally, Keenan, and Leth also won their relay race (2:24.40 vs. 2:34.31).
- Race of the meet: After Canterbury Woods had won four consecutive relay races in a last-ditch comeback attempt, Waynewood’s 15-18 boys 200m medley relay team of Moses Wolf, senior Jonathan Salter, Luke Morris, and Charlie Schourek clinched the meet for Waynewood in a close 1:58.65 to 1:59.63 race win. The comeback race win, and the five points it added to the meet score tally, rewarded the Dolphins faithful keeping score with mathematical certainty of a Dolphins victory in the meet.
- Other winning Dolphins relay squads:
- Boys 8 & under 100m freestyle relay (1:25.37 vs. 1:31.81)
- Girls 8 & under 100m freestyle relay (1:26.33 vs. 1:26.58)
- Boys 9-10 100m medley relay (1:23.12 vs. 1:23.58)
- Girls 9-10 100m medley relay (1:21.05 vs. 1:27.37)
- Girls mixed age 200m freestyle relay (2:09.12 vs. 2:10.51)
- SmugMug: The team is continually uploading new photos from meets and events. Check’em out!
- The full meet results and new Waynewood swim ladder are available here.
- The final 2025 standings for NVSL Division 7 are available here.
2) Senior Day @Waynewood
3) Practice schedule this (last) week
Due to this week’s events, there are significant changes to the practice schedule.
Monday – There are no afternoon practices due to the IM Invitational meet (except for Little Dolphins at noon).
Tuesday – The only fully normal practice day for big and Little Dolphins.
Wednesday – Due to the Little Dolphin MiniMeet starting at 9 am, 9-10 swimmers are invited to join the 11-12 practice at 10 am or the 8 & under practice at 11 am. The 13 & up group will have whatever time remains in their practice hour after the MiniMeet. There are no more Little Dolphins practices after the MiniMeet.
Thursday – Big Dolphins practice as normal Thursday morning, but there is no afternoon practice due to the Dolphin Duel meet (Little Dolphins are invited to swim freestyle at this meet).
Friday – Morning and afternoon practices are for Divisional Championship meet swimmers only.
4) Individual Medley Invitational Monday @5 pm
The 2025 IM Invitational will take place at Waynewood.
- We still have a number of volunteer positions open. Please sign up here if you have a swimmer in the meet OR you have not yet met your volunteer service obligation.
- Warmups begin at 3:30 pm and the first heat will be at 5 pm.
- Swimmers who signed up for this meet should know now if they have made it in. If you are uncertain, please email Team Reps or have your swimmer talk to Coach Dylan at Monday morning practice.
IM Invitational Warmups:
Both the competition pool and the main pool will be open for warmups during the open warm up time. At 4:20pm, the competition pool will close to open warm ups and open for specific age groups to work on starts and turns (we will assign dive lanes). The (main) warm up/warm down pool will be open throughout the entire meet until 7:30pm for continuous warm up (for meet swimmers only). Warm-up times at WW Pool are as follows:
3:30 - 4:20 PM -- Open Warmups in both pools
4:20 – 4:35 PM -- 10 & under Swimmers only competition pool (starts/turns)
4:35 – 4:50 PM -- 11 – 12 Swimmers only competition pool (starts/turns)
Break -- 13 & Over Swimmers competition pool (starts/turns)
The warm up/cool down pool is for swimming only and it is not for playing. A coach must be present for swimmers to be in the pool.
Event schedule (times listed are "no earlier than")
Event 1: Boys 10 & under -- 5:00 PM
Event 2: Girls 10 & under -- 5:15 PM
Event 3: Boys 11-12 -- 5:30 PM
Event 4: Girls 11-12 -- 5:45 PM
Event 5: Boys 13-14 -- 6:15 PM
Event 6: Girls 13-14 -- 6:30 PM
Event 7: Boys 15-18 -- 6:45 PM
Event 8: Girls 15-18 -- 7:00 PM
5) Little Dolphins MiniMeet (Wednesday @9 am)
- 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!
Little Dolphins who enjoy this meet (or can’t make it but are advanced) may join Dolphin Duel Thursday evening (see below).
6) Dolphin Duel (Thursday @6 pm)
It’s an annual Waynewood tradition—the Dolphin Duel! The meet starts at 6 pm (warm-ups at 5 pm).
- Swimmers may sign up for 2 strokes; all participants may swim in the final relay.
- We’ll open stroke sign up and volunteer roles soon – stay tuned.
Little Dolphins: We’re inviting Little Dolphins to swim freestyle at the start of Dolphin Duel – after they swim they may stay or go home.
- Please arrive by 5:40 pm.
- Little Dolphins don't need to register. They can just show up and find the designated coach.
- If your Little Dolphin is a little skittish about swimming in front of a crowd, we’d suggest waiting a year for swimming in this event and to instead come out and cheer on their teammates.
PLEASE NOTE: This meet is only for swimmers who are not swimming in the Divisional Championship Meet. If you are not sure whether you are swimming Divisionals, sign up for Dolphin Duel. We can scratch you if you make Divisionals.
7) Indicate availability for Division 7 Championships
We’ve opened the swimmer availability indicator for NVSL Division 7 Individual Championships (Divisionals) Saturday, July 19 at Sleepy Hollow B&R (3516 Sleepy Hollow Rd, Falls Church, VA 22042). This is a morning meet tentatively starting the first event at 8:30 am.
- Divisionals is a division-wide meet where swimmers compete as individuals and the meet isn’t scored by teams.
- Teams send the fastest 2 swimmers from each team in each stroke for each age/gender group (e.g. each team gets to enter two 8 & under boys backstrokers).
- Each swimmer is only allowed a maximum of 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 can only swim IM if they qualify as 10 & unders.
- There are no relays.
Selection is kind of like an A-Meet but Coach Dylan talks to swimmers with the fastest times to see what strokes they want to swim and then works down the ladder until all events are full. Last year, our team also received numerous "bid-ins" for additional slots towards the end of the week 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.
Swimmers may indicate their availability to swim here. The deadline to indicate availability is Monday at 11 pm.
8) Buy banquet tickets TODAY!
The deadline to buy banquet tickets for the Saturday, July 19 team banquet dinner is TODAY! Get your tickets to the dinner, awards presentation, and pool party here. Please read the instructions on the page.
9) Last call for Divisional Championship meet shirts
Today is the last two to order Division 7 Championship shirts. There are two available options:
- Division 7 Individual Championships event T-shirt orders: Host Sleepy Hollow’s online meet merch store needs to finalize orders by July 13 to have them in time for the meet. You can check out and purchase meet merch here.
- The Dolphins 2025 Divisional swimmer T-shirt: The Dolphins are again offering a Divisional meet team T-shirt. Delivery should come for the Divisionals meet on Saturday, July 19. Order here.
10) Consider a year-round swim club
Is your Dolphin loving swim and wishing summer swim could continue? If yes, you might want to explore year-round swimming with a club. The Waynewood Dolphins Winter Swim program is awesome for beginners, but if your swimmer really wants to take a step to the next level take a look at club teams – you have a number of choices.
Summer is the primary season for starting with a club for the first time. Many clubs hold open houses or can arrange swimmer evaluations this summer. Waynewood Dolphins swim (or have at least recently swum) with the following five swim clubs (let us know if we missed one club swimmer families):
- Potomac Marlins (*Dolphins Team sponsor*)
- NCAP (Alexandria)
- Arlington Aquatic Club
- Shark Tank Racing Squad
- The St. James Swim Club
Let Team Reps know if you’re interested in any of these clubs and they can connect you with a Dolphins family already in the club.
11) Look ahead
Swimmers who sign up for Divisionals will get much more information about the Saturday event this week, including how the alternate (“bid-in”) process works. Last year, the Dolphins were even calling swimmers during the Divisional meet to see if they wanted to come swim.
Coach Dylan will talk to swimmers with the fastest times who have indicated availability on Tuesday at practice about what they might have the opportunity to swim. The stroke order for Divisionals this year is: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and finishing with IM.
Expect more emails from us this week than usual – with so many meets and events happening this last week can get chaotic. You might also have an individual volunteer trying to reach out so please look carefully at your inbox and please respond, even if it is just to acknowledge the inquiry.
Next weekend (or maybe a maybe a little later), we’ll send a final newsletter that wraps up the season and begins to transition the team into the offseason and Winter Swim program. You’ll still get a few more emails from us after that before the school year starts.
Questions?
Don’t hesitate to contact our Team Reps, James, Genna & Melissa, at [email protected]
Go Dolphins!
Waynewood Dolphins Communications
