Preseason
Practice has begun. Time trials are on June 9, warmups start at 8:30 am. The website has awakened from deep slumber. Since we are now in F Division, attending practice is more necessary than ever. * * * Time trials have happened. There were some notable performances. It would, however, be anticlimactic to discuss them before our first meet on Saturday. This site has a new feature, Meet Entries, which says which events everyone is swimming in the upcoming A meet. (See the link above).
Week 1
The Little Falls Penguins defeated Tally Ho, 390 to 371, in our Division F debut. This is especially promising considering that Tally Ho was ranked second in the Division. Speaking of debuts, new head coach Jon Austrian now has a perfect career record of 1 win, 0 losses. Additionally, 15 - 18 girl Emily Young swam for Little Falls for the first time in three years, earning nearly half of the point-swing between victory and defeat. The 15 - 18 boys, with contributions from David Benjamin, Chris Hewes, Sean Leaman, Brian Moyer, and Joe Norton, swept the IM, breaststroke, and butterfly and won the medley relay, outscoring Tally Ho 57 to 18. The 13 - 14 girls, consisting of Yasmine Ahmad, Brynn Duncan, Carrena McHugh, Sara Lundblad, and Annie Norton, combined to outscore Tally Ho 52 to 28, with first place in every event and second in three events. Little Falls' all - star times for the meet were as follows: Ethan Benjamin, 11 - 12 boys freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly; Sara Lundblad, 13 - 14 girls backstroke and breaststroke; and Annie Norton, 13 - 14 girls freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and IM. Ethan Benjamin set his first team record with a time of 35.13 in the 11 - 12 boys butterfly and was only .01 seconds shy of the backstroke record with his time of 37.46. Annie Norton broke the 13 - 14 girls free record from 1981 with a time of 30.25 (coincidentally breaking the record by .01 seconds). She also broke the IM record with a time of 1:17.50. Both Ethan and Annie also won all of their individual events. Two final notable performances were the first and second place in the boys 8 & under breaststroke of 6 - year olds Benjamin Berenson and Russell Petty, respectively. Remember: further Division F success depends on attendance at morning practice (which begins Wednesday).
Week2
Little Falls lost to Potomac 407 - 365. Nonetheless, there were a few highlights. Annie Norton starred again, swimming against Potomac's formidable Sayaka Hino, winning the 13 - 14 girls IM and butterfly. She lowered her own team record in the IM to 1:16.70 and set a new record of 40.08 in breaststroke. 8 & under boy Patrick Hearle recorded his first all-star time with a 23.45 in 25 meter backstroke and narrowly missed the all-star time in breaststroke, winning both events. As expected, the 13 - 14 boys, consisting of Andy Aronoff, Josh Leaman, Dan Pomeroy, Kirby Rootes-Murdy, Stephen White, and Joseph Young, dominated the competition. They convincingly swept freestyle, IM, and butterfly, with first and second in breaststroke. Kirby also came from behind in the graduated relay with a blazing 50 free to win by six seconds. In the same relay, Dan Pomeroy's 50 sprint at the end gained 20 meters on the Potomac B relay, nearly making up Potomac's one-length lead. The division standings are now Bethesda leading with 2 wins and no losses, Little Falls tied with Manor Woods and Tally Ho with even records, and Franklin Knolls in last place. Wins against Manor Woods and Franklin Knolls would give Little Falls a once-unthinkable winning record in F Division.
Week3
Little Falls lost Week 3 to the Franklin Knolls Gators. The meet was still very exciting. The boys graduated freestyle relay of Patrick Hearle, Ben Cimons, Ethan Benjamin and Kirby Rootes-Murdy continued its undefeated reign, giving hopes for a victory at next week's relay carnival and a trip to all-star relays. In that group, each swimmer did well individually. Patrick Hearle dominated the 8 & under boys, winning freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke, lowering his all-star time in backstroke and coming a mere .2 seconds from the freestyle all star time. Ben Cimons won the 9 - 10 boys backstroke and butterfly, with second place to Little Falls swimmer Nathan Epstein in breaststroke. Ethan Benjamin again won freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly with all-star times and for the second time this year missed the team 11 - 12 bacstroke record by one hundredth of a second. Kirby Rootes-Murdy broke the elusive 30 second barrier with 29.95 in the 50 freestyle. 9 - 10 boys Jeffrey Aronoff and Reid Lawrence swam up in 11 - 12 events, together scoring points in every stroke. (9 - 10 boy Ben Cimons also scored against 11 - 12 boys in the IM, which is all but an 11 - 12 event). The 15 - 18 girls won an event for the first time this year thanks to Karin Lundblad, who won the 100 backstroke. Annie Norton surpassed her previous stellar performances of the year. She broke 30 seconds in 50 freestyle and 40 seconds in 50 breaststroke, lowering those records in addition to the 100 IM record. She also broke a record from 1975 in the 13 -14 girls 50 butterfly. Next week the Penguins face the mighty Bethesda team.
Week4
The mighty Bethesda Barracudas beat Little Falls 315 to 460. In the process, an astonishing 5 Little Falls pool records were set. Fortunately for Penguin pride, one of those records was set by our own Ethan Benjamin, lowering his own team and pool record in boys 11 - 12 50 butterfly to 34.81 seconds. In addition, Annie Norton lowered her own team record in girls 13 - 14 50 breaststroke to 39.63 seconds. Patrick Hearle swam an all-star time in his second stroke this year, with 18.65 seconds in boys 8 & under 25 freestyle in addition to his previous all-star time in backstroke. Little Falls faces the weak Manor Woods team next week in our most winnable meet since Tally Ho.
Long Course
Ethan Benjamin and Annie Norton both swam in Long Course for the first time. Annie came in ahead of her seeding with 6th place in the 13 - 14 girls 100 freestyle. Ethan tied his seeding with 7th in the 11 - 12 boys 100 butterfly, but he was expecting to come in last. Thanks to Andy Aronoff, Jeffrey Aronoff, Sara Aronoff, Jon Austrian, David Benjamin, Colleen Hamm, Sean Leaman, Sara Lundblad, Carrena McHugh, Brian Moyer, Joe Norton, Dan Pomeroy, Kirby Rootes-Murdy, and Christie Tomlin for showing up to cheer.
Week5
Little Falls lost to Manor Woods by a healthy margin. Hopefully the Penguins can defeat Manor Woods at next week's Divisionals as they did at Relay Carnival. The star swimmers of the meet were our two Long Course swimmers, Ethan Benjamin and Annie Norton, who each won all their events. Ethan was first in 11 - 12 boys freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and IM and lowered his butterfly team record by nearly a half second. Annie won 13 - 14 girls freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, and IM. Brian Moyer and Joe Norton shared all of the first places in 15 - 18 boys events, with support from David Benjamin, Chris Hewes, and Sean Leaman producing a win in the open medley and sweeps in backstroke and IM. The boys graduated freestyle relay continued its undefeated season but does not yet have a faster time than Bethesda. A special Tuesday relay practice may give the relay, consisting of Patrick Hearle, Ben Cimons, Ethan Benjamin, and Kirby Rootes-Murdy, the edge at Divisionals and a trip to all-star relays. Divisionals should have some other close pursuits, as we have several swimmers who are very close to all-star times. Nathan Epstein is only .12 seconds off the 9 - 10 boys breaststroke all-star time, Kirby Rootes-Murdy is a mere .11 seconds from the 13 - 14 butterfly time, and, closest of all, Patrick Hearle is a razor-thin .02 seconds off the 8 & under boys breaststroke mark. * * * This site has added a photo section (see the new link at the top of the page), which is not yet complete. Thank Chris Curl for his digital photography.
Relays
Little Falls came in a proud fifth place at Relay Carnival, beating Manor Woods, who we swim next week. There were two first place finishes. Starting off the meet, the undefeated boys graduated freestyle of Patrick Hearle, Ben Cimons, Ethan Benjamin, and Kirby Rootes-Murdy won again. However, this is one of a few relays which are seeded for all-stars by dual meets and Divisionals as well as Relay Carnival. Bethesda's relay is currently ahead by a few hundredths of a second. The 9 - 10 boys medley of Ian Glennon, Nathan Epstein, Ben Cimons, and Nick Procelli also won their event, with an assured spot at all-star relays. The 13 - 14 mixed free of Sara Lundblad, Annie Norton, Kirby Rootes-Murdy, and Stephen White has a chance of being an alternate at all-star relays. At the end of the meet, head coach Jon Austrian, a member of our team record Open Age relay in 1995, led off the coaches relay to lead after the backstroke leg. (Little Falls finished with third place).
Divisionals
Little Falls came in sixth at Divisionals by a very narrow 4 points. According to the MCSL website, we are going to H Division next year. We will share the division with Regency Estates, Rockshire, Manor Woods (again), Potomac Woods, and Wheaton Woods. In our last hurrah as a Division F team, there were many personal best performances. Annie Norton led the team with first place in the highly competitive 13 - 14 girls freestyle and IM with seconds in breaststroke and butterfly. She lowered her own team records in each of those events except butterfly, dramatically breaking the breaststroke record. Ethan Benjamin was the second most decorated Divisionals swimmer. He came in second in freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and IM and broke his team record in 11 - 12 butterfly. Unfortunately, Jeffrey Rubin, the best 11 - 12 boy in the county, was also in our division. The only swimmer other than Annie Norton to win individual gold was Joe Norton, who had his best time of the season in the boys 15 - 18 breaststroke. In all the Penguins had 8 individual medal winners. Ben Cimons came in third in boys 9 - 10 backstroke; Nathan Epstein was second in boys 9 - 10 breaststroke; Sara Lundblad took second in the girls 13 - 14 backstroke; and Kirby Rootes-Murdy was third in 13 - 14 boys freestyle. The eighth swimmer was Brian Moyer who had third places in 15 - 18 boys butterfly an IM. His personal records in freestyle and butterfly were .22 and .30 seconds off all-star times, respectively. The most exciting race of the meet was the long-awaited boys graduated freestyle relay. The two special relay practices of last week paid off as Patrick Hearle, Ben Cimons, Ethan Benjamin and Kirby Rootes-Murdy showed precision relay starts to win by two seconds. Ethan and Kirby each swam their fastest freestyle splits of the season to lead the relay to all-stars after an undefeated regular season.
AllStars
Ethan Benjamin, Patrick Hearle, and Annie Norton represented Little Falls at MCSL All-Stars in the 11-12 boys, 13-14 girls, and 8 & under boys, respectively. Annie came in 7th in the county in 50 freestyle, 11th in 100 IM, and 13th in 50 breaststroke, nearly beating her own team record in IM. Ethan finished 7th in 50 butterfly, 10th in 50 freestyle, and 14th in 50 backstroke. In the cold and rain, most swimmers had slow times, but Patrick Hearle dropped an amazing 1.5 seconds in 25 backstroke to finish 4th. Little Falls sent two relays to All-Stars. The boys graduated freestyle and 9-10 boys medley relays each finished 8th in the upper divisions (12th and 13th overall).
