Dolphins Head to Season's Final Meets

(7/19/26) 

It’s no wonder the air is smokey … the Dolphins have been on fire to end the season. Waynewood won the final A Meet matchup with the Springboard Barracudas 223-197, their second consecutive win. Swimmers now head to the end-of-season meets: IM Invitational, the Little Dolphin Mini Meet, Dolphin Duel, and NVSL Division 7 Individual Championships. 

This week’s calendar at a glance: 

• Monday—IM Invitational @ Little Hunting Park (first event at 5 pm; no 4 pm or later practices) 
• Monday—Deadline to indicate availability for NVSL Division 7 Individual Championships (11 pm) 
• Tuesday—Regular practice day for Dolphins; Little Dolphins last practice day 
• Tuesday—Pie in the face pep rally make up (6 pm) 
• Wednesday—Little Dolphin MiniMeet @9 am (special morning schedule for Dolphins) 
• Thursday—Dolphin Duel @6 pm (no 4 pm or later practices) 
• Friday—Practice for Divisional Championship Meet swimmers only 
• Saturday—NVSL Division 7 Championships @ Waynewood (7/25) 

In This Message: 

1. A-Meet @ Springboard highlights 
2. Practice schedule this week 
3. Fort Hunt IM Invitational Monday @5 pm 
4. Pie in the face pep rally Tuesday @6 pm 
5. Little Dolphins Mini Meet (Wednesday @9 am) 
6. Dolphin Duel (Thursday @6 pm) 
7. Indicate availability for Division 7 Championships 
8. Buy banquet tickets 
9. Last call for Divisional Championship meet shirts 
10. Consider a year-round swim club 
11. Look ahead 

1) A Meet @ Springboard highlights 

The Dolphins continued their late season surge besting the Barracudas of Springboard 223-197 Saturday for the team’s second consecutive win. Like last week’s win, Waynewood excelled in the freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly sections of the competition while Springboard won the breaststroke. Waynewood finishes its NVSL Division 7 dual-meet season with a record of 2-3. 

• Outstanding meet contribution: Waynewood’s 9-10 girls led all Dolphins age groups on the girls side winning 22 of 36 possible points in individual events Saturday. Violet Dunstan, Catherine Beaton, Helena Paige, Susannah Kadish, and Violet Smith all scored points for the Dolphins. The 9-10 girls 100m medley relay team of Paige, Kadish, Dunstan, and Beaton also won their relay race (1:23.09 vs. 1:31.29). 
• Race of the meet: The race that mathematically clinched the victory for the Dolphins was a close one. Waynewood’s 13-14 girls squad of Abby Minear, Charlotte Dunstan, Cully Rufe, and Annie Popowich took an early lead that Springboard chiseled away into a tight race. But Waynewood swimmers stayed determined to keep their lead, winning out over Springboard’s charge 1:05.81 to 1:06.50. 
• Other winning Dolphin relay squads: 
  • Boys 8 & under 100m freestyle relay (1:20.14 vs. 1:30.47) 
  • Boys 11-12 100m medley relay (1:12.63 vs. 1:14.14) 
  • Boys 13-14 100m medley relay (59.45 vs. 1:04.09) 
  • Boys 15-18 200m medley relay (1:57.02 vs. 1:58.01) 
  • Girls 9-10 100m medley relay (1:21.05 vs. 1:27.37) 
  • Boys mixed age 200m freestyle relay (2:03.33 vs. 2:06.09) 
• 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 standings for NVSL Division 7 are available here. 

2) Practice schedule this week 

Due to this week’s events, there are significant changes to the practice schedule. 

• Monday – There are no practices at 4:00 pm or later for big or Little Dolphins due to the IM Invitational meet. 
• Tuesday – The only fully normal practice day for big and Little Dolphins. 
• Wednesday – Due to the Little Dolphin Mini-Meet 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 13-18 group will have whatever time remains in their practice hour after the mini meet. There are no more Little Dolphins practices after the Mini Meet. 
• 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. 

3) Fort Hunt Individual Medley Invitational Monday @5 pm 

The 2025 IM Invitational takes place at Little Hunting Park (7000 Canterbury Ln, Alexandria, VA 22307). 

• Warmups begin at 3:45 pm and the first heat will be at 5 pm. 
• Swimmers who signed up for this meet should know by 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. 
• Attached is a meet sheet showing heats for swimmers as well as a ranked listing of alternates from across all pools. 

What are the chances for alternates to make it in this meet? 

• It’s hard to say but there are almost always alternates who make it in this meet, but usually not from every gender/age group. 
• The meet has substitution rules, so it is possible Team Reps might reach out to an alternate before the meet with news about an opportunity to swim. 
• In our view, if your swimmer is one of the two highest ranking alternates across all pools it’s a judgment call on coming out to LHP not knowing if it will result in a swim or not. The chances are still probably less than 50%, but not negligible. Your swimmer will report to clerk of course, mention alternate status, and see if just one of the perhaps 40 swimmers in the event doesn’t appear. 
• If you’re not this high on the list, we generally don’t recommend coming just for the purpose of swimming unless your family may be at the meet anyway for a sibling or other reason. But keep your phone and swimmer’s suit close as we might reach out if it’s clear there will be scratches. 

Warm ups: 

Warm-up times at Little Hunting Park will be by age group as follows: 

• 3:45 – 4:05 PM: 11-12 Swimmers 
• 4:05 – 4:25 PM: 9–10 Swimmers 
• 4:25 – 4:45 PM: 13-14 Swimmers 
• 6:00 – 6:15 PM: 15-18 Swimmers (During break) 

Arrival: 

Please aim to be at the Waynewood team area at least 10 minutes before your warmup and be sure to allow time for the possibility of a longer walk to the pool. LHP’s lot is only open for permit holders. Families are recommended to seek parking at nextdoor Bucknell Elementary School as well as neighborhood streets—but are asked NOT to park on Coventry Rd., which is the road immediately adjacent to and running east and south of the LHP entrance. Please be respectful of driveways, do not block them! 

Swimmer drop off: 

Swimmer dropoff will be in the Bucknell Elementary school parking lot directly adjacent to LHP. Bucknell’s lower parking lot next to LHP includes a roundabout that we suggest using for dropoff. Swimmers may carefully walk from the parking lot to LHP without needing to cross Canterbury Lane. 

Event schedule (times listed are "no earlier than") 

By “no earlier than” the direction is not an estimated start time but rather means that an event will not swim any earlier than this. It is most likely events, especially later ones, will swim meaningfully later than these times. 

• 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 

There are both team and individual awards at this meet. Teams and individuals compete in three different divisions so it can be difficult to know exactly how Waynewood or even your swimmer may be doing at this meet. This year, Waynewood is competing in the Colonial Division along with Little Hunting Park, Mount Vernon Park, and Virginia Hills. 

4) Pie in the Face Pep Rally—Tuesday at 6 pm 

This season favorite, cancelled due to air quality, has been rescheduled. A timeless classic involving trivia questions and lots of whipped cream. We’ll also announce practice monsters and fill the grounds with Dolphin spirit! 

5) Little Dolphins MiniMeet (Wednesday @9 am) 

Finally, the Little Dolphins get to swim in a meet. The annual MiniMeet is the culmination of the Little Dolphins’ hard work this summer. Please arrive at 8:45 am. The meet will begin at 9 am. There is no need to sign up or register – just show up. 

• 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 (warmups at 5:15 pm, please aim to arrive at 5:00 pm). Signup for swims and volunteering here. 

• Swimmers may sign up for 2 strokes; all participants may swim in the final relay. 

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 will scratch you if its clear you made Divisionals. 

7) Indicate availability for Division 7 Championships 

We’ve opened the swimmer availability indicator for NVSL Division 7 Individual Championships (Divisionals) Saturday, July 25 here at Waynewood. 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"bid-ins" for additional slots towards the end of the week in some age groups beyond the initial allocation of two per team. 

From time to time the number of bid-ins is significant, so if your swimmer is interested and available please go ahead and mark him/her as such even if he/she hasn’t been to an A Meet this season. Otherwise, the Team Reps won't be able to ask for his/her inclusion as a bid-in should a slot become available. 

Swimmers can indicate their availability to swim here. The deadline to indicate availability is Monday at 11 pm. 

8) Buy banquet tickets TODAY! 

Get your tickets to the dinner, awards presentation, and pool party here. We’re trying to make sure our food order matches attendance so please help us out by buying your tickets no later than Monday. Please read the instructions on the page. This is a can’t miss fun event for big and Little Dolphins as well as their families. 

9) Last call for Divisional Championship meet shirts 

Tuesday is the last two to order Division 7 Championship shirts. There are two available options: 

• Division 7 Individual Championships event T-shirt orders: The official event shirt is here and made available to all six Division 7 teams. The team plans to distribute shirt orders before or at the meet. 
• The Dolphins 2026 Divisional swimmer T-shirt: The Dolphins are again offering a Divisional meet team T-shirt here. 

Swimmers should have a good idea about their Divisionals chances after practice on Tuesday. Email Team Reps if you have questions. 

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: 

• Potomac Marlins (*Dolphins Team sponsor) 
• NCAP (*Dolphins Team sponsor) 
• 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. 

• 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: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, IM, and finally freestyle.
• Expect unexpected emails from us this week – 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 Monday/Tuesday), 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 & Melissa, at [email protected] 

Go Dolphins! 

Waynewood Dolphins Communications