The Swim team left campus at approximately 2:00 pm Thursday. There was a lot of positive chatter and excitement in the 4 hour trip to Sterling, VA. They arrived at the Claude Moore Recreation Center that evening and participated in a 25-minute warm-up to become familiar with the venue. They then headed to Chipotle for some carbs! The boys wanted to stop at the local GameStop and Target afterward, and they spent most of their time in the toy section before coming away with Pikachu slippers, Hot Wheels sets, and RC cars!

Friday morning, it was a complete madhouse! Over 670 swimmers from 49 teams were competing. This venue was not big enough even for the number of people present. The boys complained that the water was very cold and shivering was an issue. But they put on their brave faces and did their absolute best under the extreme conditions.

In his first individual event, Sebastian Medina (Danville, VA ’23) competed in the 200 Individual Medley. Sebastian did not beat his Personal Best, but he did finish 23rd out of 35 competitors. In his only individual event, John Wall (Mount Juliet, TN ’24) competed in the 50 Bonus Freestyle and set a Personal Best by 0.32 seconds. In the final event for us of the day, Sebastian Medina competed in the 100 Butterfly. Sebastian was just 0.10 seconds off setting a new Personal Best.

On Saturday, the boys were scheduled to warm up at 7:05 am, but with our relay not competing until 11:15 am, the tea decided to leave the hotel at 10:00 am and use an available warm-up lane. Five swimmers qualified for States, and we entered the fastest 4 out of the team. That meant that Junior Verwest (Fort Myers, FL ’26) would not compete, and he accepted the decision graciously. As an 8th grader, he has many years to return and qualify outright. He was very mature and supportive of his teammates.

The relay consisted in order: Sebastian Medina (Danville, VA ’23); Bryce Adkins (Gretna, VA ’23); Aiden Dykstra (Ten Sleep, WY ’23); and John Wall (Mount Juliet, TN ’24). The boys dug deep and set a new team relay Personal Best by 1.53 seconds. Additionally, Sebastian Medina dropped 0.41 seconds to set a new 100 yard Freestyle and Aiden Dykstra unofficially dropped 4.96 seconds and swam for the first time in under 1 minute!

The team then headed to the local bowling alley, and the boys spent nearly 3 hours bowling and eating while the adults hung out! Obviously, it had been a while as they eventually had to set up the rails due to the number of gutter balls! There was a lot of laughter and quality memories being made. From there, the team made their way to The Pure Pasty Company in Vienna, VA. Mr. Bolz kindly treated the boys with English sausage rolls and an English chocolate easter egg. There was a lot of positive feedback about the new experience and the differences from one type of food to another depending on the country. The rest of the trip back flew by in a blur as the team had many in-depth and quality conversations across many diverse topics.

Overall, feedback from the guys was extremely positive. They thoroughly enjoyed the trip and are already talking about qualifying for next year!

Coach Weishaar would like to thank everyone for their support this year. She is looking forward to beginning again in the fall with our returnees and conditioning swimmers, and the winter for our competitive team.