Swim Ninja

With the completion of the 2018 NVSL regular season, the time has come for announcing our All swim Ninja team. Using best times from this season, we have composed 1st and 2nd Team, as well as Honorable Mention, selections for each age group and gender. While many athletes who made our preseason list performed up to expectation, we were excited to see several new names make the final team selection. Because summer swimming is a true team sport, we thought it was important to make our selections based on how athletes performed during the regular season where they competed to score points to win meets. We want to congratulate all the athletes for working hard and making our job of creating these lists a difficult process!

See which athletes landed on our NVSL All Swim Ninja team and why below:

Boys

First Team:

• Blake Madsen (Poplar Tree): Blake finished in the top 10 in all 4 events, landing 1st overall in 50m back and 25m fly, as well as 2nd in breast and 4th in free
• Brandon Lesser (Daventry): Brandon had 3 top 10 times, finishing 2nd in free by .06s, 1st in 50m breast by over 1.60s, and 10th in 50m back
• Alexander Andrews (Hamlet): Alexander had the fastest 50m free time and 2nd fastest 25m fly in 2018
• Hunter Zipperer (Waynewood): Hunter finished with the 3rd fastest 50m free and 25m fly times in 2018
• Charlie Palma (Hamlet): Charlie joins his teammate Alexander on the first team after finishing with the 2nd fastest 50m back behind Blake Madsen by only .21s, and the 7th fastest 50m free

Second Team:

• Chaz Stephens (Villa Aquatic): Chaz had 3 top 10 times in 2018, finishing 5th in 50m free, and 4th in both 50m back (see the swim below) and 50m breast

• Luca Sanchez (Langley): Luca had 3 top 10 times, posting the 7th fastest 50m back and 25m fly, and the 8th fastest 50m breast
• Bruno Haggard (Tuckahoe): Bruno had the 3rd fastest 50m breast and 6th fastest 50m free in 2018
• Ocean Lan (Greenbrier): Ocean had the 4th fastest 25m fly and 5th fastest 50m back in 2018

Honorable Mention:

• Ian Kang (Fair Oaks): Ian posted the 8th fastest 50m back (see vid of swim against Chaz Stephens above) and the 9th fastest 25m fly
• Isaac Rodriguez (Fair Oaks): Issac had the 9th fastest 50m free and 5th fastest 50m breast
• Paul Mullen (Crosspointe): Paul had the 9th fastest 50m back and 10th fastest 25m fly in 2018
• Brogan Buckley (Fairfax): Brogan had the 3rd fastest 50m back in 2018

Girls

First Team:

• Emma Watts (Cardinal Hill): Emma had 4 top 10 times in 2018, finishing with the fastest 50m free, as well as the 2nd fastest in 50m breast, 4th in 50m back, and 5th in 25m fly
• Sophie Fredericks (Kent Gardens): Sophie had 4 top 10 times this summer, posting the fastest 25m fly time and breaking the NVSL 25 yard record as well (see her record-breaking swim below). Sophie also had the fastest 50y free time with a 29.60, when converted to meters puts her in the top 5 overall. Additionally, Sophie finished 3rd in 50m back and 5th in 50m breast

• Morgan Kass (Hamlet): Morgan had the fastest 50m back and 7th fastest 50m free
• Gloria Kuang (Mosby Woods): Gloria finished 2nd overall in 50m free (only .19s behind Emma Watts), 50m back (.56s behind Morgan Kass), and 25m fly (.12s behind Sophie Fredericks)
• Elizabeth Bryan (Ilda): Elizabeth had the fastest yards and meters time for 50 breast this season, breaking the NVSL yard record in the process–she also had the 6th fastest 50m free time
• Esther Swanson (Fox Mill Woods): Esther had the 3rd fastest 50m free (just .20s behind Emma Watts), and tied for 2nd fastest 25m fly with Gloria Kuang

Second Team:

• Catherine Fleck (Lakeview): Catherine had the 3rd fastest 50m breast and 4th fastest 50m free (less than half a second behind Emma Watts)
• Charis Roundtree (Virginia Run): Charis had the 5th fastest 50m free and 50m back in 2018
• Katherine Mcarthur (Sully Station): Katherine had the 4th fastest 25m fly (seen racing neck and neck with Sophie Fredericks in vid above), and the 7th fastest 50m back

Honorable Mention:

• Claire Dobrydney (Sideburn Run): Claire finished 9th in 50m free and 8th in 50m back
• Claire Thompson (Sideburn Run): Claire finished 8th in 50m breast and 10th in 50m back
• Abigail Whelan (Crosspointe): Abigail finished 4th in 50m breast