mattie g

I'm always dubious of being on the SW edge of any outlook category.

Yup - barely any rain during the meet, then it started coming down just as we finished. It was about the most weather-comfortable meet we’ve ever had! First loss of the season. We had a really rough start of the meet, but it we at least finished strong. Some of our kids really struggled today, and we were dealing with some serious teen drama that probably cost us 15 points . No matter…we had some young kids step up and do their part (including swimming way up in the relays)! All in all, it might be better if we end up coming in second and don’t move up too much!

No thanks on 4-7" of rain. I'll take 3" if I have to, but even then it's pretty inconvenient.

I don't know...we swim teams in D13 up to D10 in B Meets, and they have much bigger and deeper teams than we do (we also have have our closest neighbors - D14 and D15 - who are great to swim with). I just don't want to run into a situation in which we can pick up a few wins in meets, but most races are sweeps or multi-places for the other teams. And then there's the dreaded inability to fill a relay! Unless we can build the size of our team, we'll almost always struggle against teams in anywhere above D14. We're going to try to bring some more kids in for next year just so we can be a little deeper and be able to fill lanes when kids are out for vacation or something, but that's much easier said than done. Sounds like yours is a quaint place to hold a meet! I'm sure some of the other pools you compete against are bigger and more modern, but it has to feel good to be able to say that you've gotten where you are despite all that's going against you. And as for the top 3 teams...they're on another planet. They might as well break off and form their own small league because at this point they're never going to drop out of D1. We had some nice capital improvements this year. They were well overdue, but we have a new board (that I'm apparently a part of now that I'm a rep ) and manager that are getting sh*t done. We do have a nice pool though - especially compared to some others we've been to in the last couple years - and I feel very grateful for that. Decent size to hold a good crowd and good views from our upper deck and the terraced seating area under the trees. We have a great place to host divisionals and other bigger events, particularly with the VRE parking lot just up the block. That's awesome to hear that you guys have done your part to help Edsall stay afloat. It's got to be tough for the kids who want to swim, but if they don't have the interest, membership, and/or infrastructure to do it then I agree that their days may well be numbered.

Yeah...drought busted during the meets. It's going to be interesting. We might be finishing these meets sometime in the afternoon.

Another NVSL parent! lol Glad to hear that your kids are out there to have fun first, then compete. That's what we're all about. We'll pop around D16 up to maybe D13, but beyond that is just too much for us...and that's totally fine! We were in D17 a few years ago (before my kids swam), and I heard that we don't want to go back there just because the pools down there are so small, and there's not much competition. We've had a lot of blowouts this year and, quite frankly, those meets can be a bit of a letdown for both teams.

We're proud of who we are, and we know that we're not in any position to fly up the tables. OKM is the closest high-division pool, and that's what they've done the last 5-6 years. From what I've been told, they have an NCAP coach/coaching staff, and they've pulled in lots of NCAP swimmers from our local area because of that. They also have a military family swimmer (one of their best) who swam for us a few years ago before moving out of the area and now swims for them after moving back, so we're a little bitter (not really...but maybe just a little ). After relay carnival, it's pretty much a given that us and CSC will be going up next year - it's just a matter of where. Probably whoever wins the division goes to 14, with the other going to 15, but they're a much bigger team than we are and could probably stand 14 better than we could. I seriously can't imagine what it must be like in those higher divisions. Being a team rep is tough enough down here! Lol on the dumpy pool comments, by the way. Been hearing rumors that one of our closest pools - and one we've swam against a lot over the years - may end up folding in the near future. I really hope it doesn't happen, but apparently it's a membership issue. They've been losing lots of folks to other pools (including ours), so they're really struggling. And it's a wonder that Edsall Park is still a team. Someone told me they had like 8 kids on their team recently. It's great for the kids that they can swim, but how in the hell can they even run a meet?!

I picked up a disposable poncho yesterday. Figure there's no need to invest in an actual rain jacket. We dry.

Are fluid dynamics, mathematics, hydrology, thermodynamics, etc. not science any more?

This is the dumbest thread.

Last year was odd in that we ended at 3-2, but the 2-3 team had more total points than us, and we had more than the 4-1 team. Only the division winner went up, with the 5th and 6th place teams going down. Now it's between us and last year's 4-1 team to see who wins the division. There's a really big gap between us two and the rest of the division this year, so there's no doubt that NVSL will bump us up again. I can only imagine what being in some of those higher divisions must be like. We just have so much fun with everything we do that I just can't imagine that stress. I hear you on how some parents would take going up or down. There are two or three families who would love for us to go up even higher so their very talented kids had stiffer competition, but it's not a point of contention or anything. I understand that, for sure, but it wouldn't be best for our team. The coaches just finished putting together our line up for this weekend, and that was the most focused I think they've been this year ( ). It was fun to put it all together, but doing that on a regular basis with a small team to try to remain competitive in a higher division would be a real pain in the azz! Yup...that pool is tiny. We were there last year for relay carnival, and it was reeeeally tight. Swimming there again this weekend is going to suck a little!

That's a haul to Centreville, so hope the weather stays away and we all get the relays in tonight! Good luck with your last two meets. Looks like your division is really tight, so it's pretty small margins on who goes up, stays, or drops. Ether way, I hope you can get some fun from the rest of the season! We're way down in 16, so even if we go up, it wouldn't be any higher than 14 (more likely 15) just because of our size. It absolutely won't change how we go about our business...and if that means that we went back down, then so be it! We'd still have meet themes and dress up for all of them, dance after meets, etc. I'd like to think that the other teams of our lofty status would be the same!

@H2O...hoping the weather will hold off so we can get Relay Carnival in tonight. Not a huge fan of the pool hosting it, so I hope we can get in and out pretty quickly. Big meet for us this weekend. Likely that the winner wins our division, but in any case both of us are almost certain to move up next season (for good or ill).

Pouring. Drought busted.

I have a feeling it's going to consolidate and intensify just as it hits Rt 15, and that will be the event for the day.

Usual suspects on Ignore.

It was pretty nice at our place for the first 45 minutes or so, then the clouds thinned and the sun popped out with a vengeance. Our deck gets zero shade during most of the day, and the timers have the sun directly in their faces, so they were getting blasted. The team rep area normally has a canopy, but we decided against putting it up to give the live stream a better view. It got toasty. As for the team, we're super proud of all the kids right now. They're really been working hard, and we've had some serious time drops in the last week. We also just finished a string of four straight home meets, so all the main volunteers could use the extended weekend for a rest!

Might have to fire up the drought thread. Ground is pretty hard in these parts.

The bend in Burke Road is around the corner from me. It floods so easily, but it does recede fairly quickly.

MBY is better than YBY

Per CoCoRaHs, the station less than 1/2 mile away has had 6.55” of rain in the last 30 days. Burke drought busted.

Dude…most of us have struggled to get snow the last six years.

That train really ramped up the totals IMBY last night, as it hadn’t rained terribly much during the day and evening compared to some others. Closest CoCoRaHs put me at 2.82” for the event.

Riding that train in Burke right now. Ugh.

It does. And I’m sitting here not at all lamenting being on the edge of that training running through DC. F that.