Waynewood Dolphins Weekly Newsletter - July 22, 2025
Dolphins Win NVSL Division 7 Sportsmanship Award, Celebrate Completed Season
What a finish to the season! Our Dolphin swimmers rocked it at the Little Dolphin MiniMeet, Dolphin Duel, and Division 7 Championships. We then gathered together to celebrate at our team banquet, awards, and slide show. 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 us this summer but we are wrapping 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:
- Division 7 Championship Meet Achievement
- Award banquet summary
- Thank you Genna!
- Ribbon, awards, and Smugmug reminder
- Winter Swim: information and coach applications
- Team sponsors recognition
- Call for 2026 volunteers
- Just keep swimming
1) Division 7 Championship Meet Achievement
During the awards ceremony at Saturday’s Division 7 individual championship events at Sleepy Hollow Bath & Racquet, the Waynewood Dolphins were awarded the Division 7 Sportsmanship Award as voted by the team reps, coaches, and 13 & older swimmers from all six teams in the division. Congratulations to all the Dolphins on recognition for carrying yourselves with class!
Dolphin swimmers also showed off their speed Saturday winning first, second, or third place finishes 27 times during the 48 events held at Saturday’s Divisionals meet:
1st place finishes
- Michael Salter, boys 13-14 50m freestyle
- Davis Rukenbrod, boys 8 & under 25m backstroke
- Oz Hiler, boys 8 & under 25m breaststroke
- Vera Hill, girls 9-10 50m breaststroke
- Davis Rukenbrod, boys 8 & under 25m butterfly
- Beau Gibson, boys 13-14 50m butterfly
2nd place finishes
- Chris Herbert, boys 8 & under 25m freestyle
- Violet Farris, girls 11-12 50m freestyle
- Luke Bluey, boys 13-14 50m freestyle
- Moses Wolf, boys 15-18 50m breaststroke
- Jack Morris, boys 10 & under 100m individual medley
- Abigail Minear, girls 13-14 100m individual medley
- Moses Wolf, boys 15-18 100m individual medley
3rd place finishes
- Catherine Beaton, girls 8 & under 25m freestyle
- Vera Hill, girls 9-10 50m freestyle
- Lydia Schourek, girls 13-14 50m freestyle
- Luke Morris, boys 15-18 50m freestyle
- Helena Paige, girls 8 & under 25m backstroke
- Matthew Charipar, boys 9-10 50m backstroke
- Abigail Minear, girls 13-14 50m backstroke
- Darien Hill, boys 8 & under 25m breaststroke
- James Gallagher, boys 13-14 50m breaststroke
- Sasha Hill, girls 13-14 50m breaststroke
- Laurel Blackledge, girls 9-10 25m butterfly
- Macy Beizer, girls 11-12 50m butterfly
- Luke Morris, boys 15-18 50m butterfly
- James Gallagher, boys 13-14 100m individual medley
Based on Division 7 Championship swims, six Dolphin swimmers earned invitations to the 2025 NVSL All-Star Meet on Saturday, July 26 by achieving top times across all NVSL divisions. Congratulations to our Dolphins All Stars!
- Vera Hill, girls 9-10 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke
- Michael Salter, boys 13-14 50m freestyle
- Davis Rukenbrod, boys 8 & under 25m backstroke
- Moses Wolf, boys 15-18 50m breaststroke and 100m individual medley
- Luke Morris, boys 15-18 50m butterfly
- Abigail Minear, girls 13-14 100m individual medley
Like the NVSL All-Star Meet, making Divisionals itself is an accomplishment. Congratulations to all the Waynewood swimmers who participated! Results for the full Divisionals meet are available here.
2) Award banquet summary
- Over the course of this season, over 100 swimmers earned red four-stroke caps.
- As a team, the Dolphins dropped 32 minutes from their collective stroke times.
- Across five NVSL A-meets this summer, 69 different Dolphin swimmers scored points by finishing first, second, or third in an event and helping the Dolphins to a 3-2 finish in Division 7.
In other words, there was much to celebrate! Team Reps and coaches also presented several individual awards to our volunteers and swimmers.
- Bobbi Erb Award (tireless, dedicated volunteer): Frederick Hill
- Alan Schaffter Award (committed official): Matt Rufe
- Tammy Mannarino Award (legacy of service to the team): Ed & Coleen Mortimer
2025 Team Awards
- Coach Madsen Award (most improved swimmers): Isla Exner and Gavin Cooper
- Coaches Award (hard working, dedicated swimmers): Charlotte Luher and Alexander Mamienski
- Waynewood Dolphin Award (swimmers demonstrating the best attributes of an amazing teammate): Maya Dahlberg and James Gallagher
- Lois Sanderhoff Award (spirited, selfless swimmer): Delaney Adams
- Tommy Smithwick Award (elected by swimmers): Logan Allgeyer
- Gosnell High Point Scorer Award: Beau Gibson and Vera Hill
2025 New Relay Records
- Boys 8 & under 100m medley relay: Bear Bowman, Oz Hiler, Davis Rukenbrod and Chris Herbert; 1:37.56 (July 2, 2025)
- Girls 13-14 100m medley relay: Abigail Minear, Sasha Hill, Lydia Schourek, and Lucinda Keenan; 1:03.13 (July 5, 2025)
3) Thank you Genna!
After completing a full two-year service term as Dolphins Team Rep, Genna Dahlberg is stepping back. James Connally will serve a third year as Team Rep in 2026, joined by Melissa Bluey who served as a shadow Team Rep in 2025.
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 2025 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. Winter Swim for ‘25-’26 will be at Mount Vernon Rec Center (2017 Belle View Blvd.) on Sundays from 6-7 pm.
- As in years past, coaches will group swimmers by age/ability. The season will begin Sept. 7 and go until May 17, 2026.
We are currently accepting coaching applications now through Aug. 15. For those interested, the time commitment is roughly an hour every Sunday. You must be at least 14 years old as of September 1, 2025 to apply.
Aspiring coaches should send an application (here) to our Team Reps ([email protected]).
6) Team sponsors recognition
The Waynewood Dolphins would like to again thank the following local businesses and organizations who sponsored the team for the 2024 season:
- Absolute Tree
- Amy Shibilski, Reach for the Magic Destinations
- Frida Hopper, Realtor
- Grit and Grace Counseling Group
- Hughes Orthodontics
- Kristin Try Interiors
- Lyssa Seward, Realtor
- Master Roofing
- Paul Krizek, Delegate
- Potomac Marlins
- Senator Scott Surovell
- Southside 815
- Springfield Lorton Dental Group
- Sunstone Counseling
- The Cut Butchery
These sponsors supported our kids this summer, underscoring their commitment to our community. Please consider them as Dolphins partners. Also, a big Dolphins thank you to Dolphins Sponsorship Coordinator Melanie DeMaria for managing our team sponsorship program!
7) Call for 2026 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.
8) Just keep swimming
Looking toward summer 2026, some final tips for swimmers and parents as the team wraps up the 2025 season:
- Involve your kids in year-round swimming. It will help them keep in shape over the winter, move their swimming skills forward, and you will see performance improvement when practice starts again in late May. 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.
- In 2026, the Dolphins will have an A-Meet on July 4. Please keep this in mind as you make plans. This will likely impact Dolphin participation in the WRA July 4 parade and festivities.
- Make plans to volunteer. Volunteering is an integral part of being on the swim team—please arrange your summer plans for 2026 accordingly and maybe even plan to take a couple half-days at work to volunteer if you’re planning to be with us again next season. If you know availability 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 3, 2026. Expect our swimsuit vendor Sport Fair to be on hand to sell suits. We plan to open registration for summer 2026 in April.
Questions?
Don’t hesitate to contact our Team Reps James Connally & Melissa Bluey at [email protected]
Go Dolphins!
Waynewood Dolphins Communications
