For readers who would like to cut right to the chase, here are printable meet results from Saturday's CSL All-Star Meet at Burke Centre. Data coordinators from the various teams will want to download and process this Hy-Tek meet backup file.

An increase in balance across the the league was in evidence at this year's meet. There were somewhat fewer multiple event winners, as thirty-five different swimmers took 1st place medals. More telling, however, is the number of top three medals that shifted out of the Red Division and into the other three Divisions. Here is a chart comparing the 2007 and 2008 All-Star meets:



The top performers at this year's meet were led again by 13-year Christopher Crapco of Hayden Village, who won all three of his events for the third consecutive year -- only one year of which came when Chris was swimming at the top of his age group! The Broadlands Piranhas had three triple-winners -- 8-year old Isaiah Fitzgerald, 12-year old Kristin Haufler, and 14-year old Alli Haufler. And last but not least, 12-year old standout Matt Jones of the Burke Centre Penguins tripled up on gold medals for the second time in his All-star career.

Saturday's double-winners were Madelaine MacPhail of Chinquapin, Andi Mack of Ashburn Village, Vince Marrocco of Cascades, Meghan Thompson of Chantilly National, and Micheal Herrmann of Barrington. Additional top-notch performances were turned in by Rachel Canty of the Burke Centre Stingers (one 1st, two 2nds), AJ Dunn of Fort Myer (one 1st, one 2nd, one 3rd), Emily Ferguson of Hayden Village (one 1st, two 3rds), Matty Ferguson of Hayden Village (one 1st, two 2nds), Luke Jones of the Burke Centre Penguins (one 1st, two 2nds), Dennis Lai of Armfield Farm (one 1st, two 2nds), Chris Marlin of Chantilly Highlands (one 1st, two 2nds), and Lydia Qian of Broadlands (one 1st, two 2nds).

Congratulations to all of this year's All-Stars swimmers!!

Thanks go out to our two Burke Centre teams -- the Stingers and the Penguins -- for hosting yet another great All-Star meet. And special thanks are in order for Stuart Walden of the Penguins for leading this year's effort!!!

Information about the 2008 CSL All-Star Meet at Burke Centre is now available. The timelines, logistics, warm-up times, warm-up lanes, directions, info about officials, parking, shirts, awards, programs, timers and much more can be found in this pretty much All-Encompassing Guide to the All-Star Meet. Additionally, this Pool Layout shows the various areas for teams, seating, awards and so on.



Please note that parking will be different and improved this year. Except for those with parking passes, everyone should plan on parking in the new VRE parking garage. Please consult the guide for appropriate swimmer drop-off points and note the restricted no-parking areas.

Two of the league's best older swimmers shone brightly at the Saturday's Divisionals meets, setting a total of four new League records.

At the Blue Divisionals meet Ellyn Baumgardner of the Chase Club Sharks continued her attack on the Girls 15-18 50M Breaststroke record by lowering it for the third time over two seasons. Her time of 33.07 eclipsed her previous mark of 33.31 set earlier this summer.

(click image to enlarge)

And fans at the Red Divisionals meet were witness to an impressive, three-event Tour de Force as Robert Grimmett-Norris of the Chantilly Highlands Dolphins (above, in gray cap) set multiple league records. In the Boys 15-18 100M Individual Medley, Robert reclaimed the record that he held briefly last summer, his time of 1:01.38 bettering the previous mark of 1:01.47 which was set at last year's All-star meet. In the Boys 15-18 50M Butterfly, he edged the 11-year old record of 26.52 with a time of 26.37. And in the Boys 15-18 50M Backstroke, Robert sped to a time of 27.44, a considerable drop off his own record time of 28.22 from last summer. Over two seasons, Robert has now lowered the backstroke record -- one that had stood for 18 years -- by a total of over 1-1/2 seconds.

Congratulations and way to go, Ellyn and Robert!!!

Swimmers now look ahead to this coming Saturday's CSL All-star Meet at Burke Centre. Stay tuned to this website, more information should become available soon!

This weekend saw the final Dual meets of the season and the culmination of several tight battles for Division titles.

There was not much suspense in the White Division as Cascades surged to another big victory to take the title. The dominant Rapids won their five meets by an average of over 140 points. In the Gold Division, CountrySide won easily at Arlington Knights of Columbus to claim the trophy in a battle of undefeated teams. In the Red Division, Broadlands won the title by thumping visiting Ashburn Village in another showdown of unbeatens.

And in the "another-close-meet?-what-else-is-new?" Blue Division, co-leaders Armfield Farm and Fort Myer both found themselves in tight contests yet again. The Squids had to come from over 30 points down to overtake visiting ManorGate in their meet. Likewise, the home-standing Stingrays trailed by over 20 points in their meet against Chantilly National, and needed to win two of the final three relays for their victory. Both teams ended up with 4-1 records, with Armfield Farm taking the Division crown by virtue of their close week 2 win between the two teams.

Interested swimmers and fans will want to visit the Latest Results and the popular-beyond-anyone's-expectations League Leaders areas on this website. You can also consult the following printable ladders:

Individual Meters
Individual Yards
Relay Meters
Relay Yards

Barrington standout swimmer Michael Herrmann bettered his record-setting performance of just three weeks ago by driving more time out of the Boys 13-14 50-yard Backstroke record. In today's meet against Cascades, Michael set the new mark at 27.30 seconds, cutting more than a half second from his 'old' (ink barely dry!) standard. Congratulations on a great swim, Michael!

With four weeks of meets now in the books, one Division race appears nearly decided while the other three races are still up for grabs, two of them via face-to-face matchups.

In the Gold Division, top seeds Arlington Knights of Columbus and Countryside, both of whom are undefeated, will face off at the Holy Mackerels home pool this coming weekend for the title. And Red Division power Ashburn Village takes its undefeated record on the road against unbeaten Broadlands in the meet that will decide their title. In the White Division, Cascades now stands alone and in control at the top with an away meet at Barrington left on the schedule.

And it was another exciting week in the "thrill-a-minute" Blue Division. All three meets were close again, the most nerve-wracking of which was Manorgate's 223.5 to 220.5 home win over Chantilly National in which the Marlins needed a very narrow 0.03 second win in the Boys Mixed Age relay to secure the win. Fort Myer and Armfield Farm now lead the Division with 3-1 records, trailed closely by Manorgate and Sequoia Farms. And with the top two teams having already faced each other, this potentially puts four teams still in the mix for the title.

Interested swimmers and parents will want to check out the popular-beyond-belief Latest Results and League Leaders.

Or you can check out these printable ladders:

Individual Meters
Individual Yards
Relay Meters
Relay Yards

In yet another smoothly run CSL Relay Carnival today at Sugarland Run, Ashburn Village swam to an impressive win, easily out-distancing defending champion Franklin Farm. The AquaJets won eight events and finished second in two others in scoring 456 points. The runner-up Froggers won three relays and scored 386 points for a strong second place finish. In third place were the Burke Centre Penguins with 310 points, Cascades took fourth with 302 points, and South Riding rounded out the top five with 252 points.

Also notable was Armfield Farm from the Blue Division, which outscored three White Division teams and one Red Division team for their seventh place finish.

One league record was set today. In the Mixed 9-10 100Y Freestyle relay, the Ashburn Village relay consisting of Helena Wang, Will Sherman, Austin Chen, and Andi Mack swam to a terrific time of 2:08.00, easily bettering the existing mark of 2:10.57 which was set in 2004.

For more details please check out these printable Relay Carnival meet results. And data coordinators from participating teams might want this Hy-Tek Meet backup file.

We had two more cliff-hangers that came down to the last event today. In the meet between Franklin Farm and Ashburn Village, four out of six boys relays were decided by less than a second and, trailing by 20 or so for most of the meet, the Froggers won the last of those four to pull within 1 point with only the Girls Mixed Age relay remaining. However, the visiting AquaJets swam to a convincing win in that event to take home a 226 to 218 win.

South Riding and Barrington were both involved in their second consecutive tight meet, this one a see-saw battle that had five lead changes in the relays alone. However, after the Stingrays used a late surge to lead by 17, the home-standing Blue Fins needed to win the last three relays -- which they did -- for a 224-220 win.

As usually happens this time of year, most of the Division races have started to take shape. In the White Division, Cascades and the Burke Centre Stingers are both undefeated and will meet next week in the meet that could likely decide the champion. Ashburn Village and Broadlands have now taken charge of the Red Division and appear headed for a Week 5 Showdown^TM. Likewise, Gold Division super-powers Countryside and Arlington Knights of Columbus seem to be on a Week 5 Collision Course^TM, with Saratoga still in the mix.

And then there is the wild Blue Division -- actually, today it was wet-and-wild -- where the six teams are separated by a single meet and all six are averaging between 199 and 240 points per meet. This might be one of those Divisions where every team is arguably the best team.

Take Manorgate, for example, one of the teams that is in a three-way tie for 4^th place. The Marlins beat Armfield Farm. In turn, Armfield Farm has beaten Chase Club and Fort Myer. Since Fort Myer has beaten Sequoia Farms and Sequoia Farms has beaten Chantilly National, it follows that Manorgate is the best Blue Division team!

The Herrmann family swimmers were out in force today, as brothers Ricky and Michael each set new League Records. Ricky swam 26.50 seconds in the 15-18 Boys 50-yard Backstroke to better the previous record of 26.57 set by Drake Miller of Sugarland Run in 2005. His younger brother Michael conquered the 13-14 Boys 50-yard Backstroke in a time of 27.87, which eclipsed the prior record of 27.89 held by C. Cline of AAC, a record which had reigned unbroken for the last 25 years! Great swims, gentlemen!

The weather may have been steamy and sultry today but it certainly didn't prevent us from having several really good meets. The battle between Chantilly National and Sequoia Farms featured five lead changes, two ties, and a final score of 223-221. This one came down to the final two relays, with the Stingrays taking the Mixed Age Boys to ensure the victory.

The Burke Centre Stingers, in front for most of the meet, fell behind late and needed to sweep the Mixed Age relays to win at South Riding. They did so comfortably to secure their victory on the road by a score of 228-216, in one of three meets that came down to the final event.

Having battled to a tie score heading into the relays no one was surprised when Hayden Village and home-standing Barrington were still tied with three events remaining, and still tied again with only the Mixed Age Girls remaining. The visiting Villains sped to a three second win in this event to take the meet, 221-214.

And finally, for the second consecutive week Armfield Farm needed both Mixed Age relays to win their meet, and this time the Stingrays got them both to win 227-217 against Fort Myer, including a 0.5 second win in the decisive Girls Mixed Age. The visiting Squids had trailed by 30 or so most of the meet, but closed to within 10 at the end of Fly, and crept to within 3 several times during the relays before taking their only lead of the meet at 217-213.

Standings-wise, the Red Division has taken some shape. Ashburn Village, Broadlands, and Franklin Farm are tied at the top and will face each other over the final three weekends. In the White Division, Cascades seems to be cutting quite a swath, but the Burke Centre Stingers are also undefeated and these two teams will meet in week 4.

Top seeds Countryside and Arlington Knights of Columbus lead the Gold Division, with Saratoga and Sugarland Run nipping at their heels. And the Blue Division is up for grabs as all six teams are tied with 1-1 records! Check back in two weeks -- maybe they will all have 2-2 records by then.

Interested swimmers and parents will of course want to navigate to the Latest Results and the astoundingly popular League Leaders pages on this website.

You can also download these printable ladders:

Individual Meters
Relay Meters

We're still waiting on some corrections for one of the yard pool meets. We'll post ladders as soon as the corrections are received.

Enjoy!

Standout swimmer Ellyn Baumgardner broke the first league record of the young 2008 season before the home crowd at Chase Club. She lowered the mark in the 15-18 Girls 50-meter Breaststroke with a time of 33.31 seconds, eclipsing the old mark of 33.64 previously established in 2007 by ..... Ellyn Baumgardner!

Congratulations on a great swim, Ellyn!

The Colonial Swimming League opened its summer 2008 season on this day that saw perfect weather and plenty of fast times.

Today in the Red Division, the Burke Centre Penguins' amazing four-year Dual Meet winning streak finally came to an end, as they lost to a strong Ashburn Village team by the score of 263 to 181.

Just to provide some perspective on the streak, in addition to the 20 consecutive head-to-head victories BCP also won four Division titles, three Relay Carnivals, were the highest scoring team at four Divisionals meets and four All-star meets from 2004 through 2007, and won who-knows-how-many age group trophies. Very impressive.

In another noteworthy meet -- a back-and-forth Blue Division barnburner between visiting Armfield Farm and Manorgate -- the home-standing Marlins held a 10 point lead after the individual events, which included five lead changes and one tie score. The Stingrays responded by winning 5 of the first 6 relays to take a commanding 18 point lead, but Manorgate countered by winning the next 4, thereby regaining their 10 point lead with only the two Mixed Age relays remaining.

Armfield Farm could still win the meet by winning both relays. The first was decided by less than a second, the second by only one hundredth of a second, with the Marlins taking them both for a final score that belies the closeness of this meet.



Interested swimmers and parents will of course want to navigate to the Latest Results and the amazingly popular League Leaders pages on this website.

You can also download these printable ladders:

Individual Meters
Individual Yards
Relay Meters
Relay Yards

Enjoy!

New electronically fillable Officials Test forms are posted to the website. See full story for quick links and complete details of the new streamlined certification process.

Swimmers! Coaches! Parents! A new starting protocol was adopted by the League that will be used at all meets this summer. It is consistent with the 'whistle start' protocol adopted by USA-Swimming several years ago, and which other summer leagues have adopted as well. Read the full story for all the details....

The 2008 CSL meet schedule was approved at the March meeting. Interested swimmers and parents should download this printable version.

If you haven't taken the quiz yet, please do so before consulting the answers.