This has been a crazy week, so we’re a little late on the recaps, but here we go!

This Week’s Recap

This past Monday’s final B Meet of the season with Woodley was yet another super quick evening with a meet that once again finished before 8:45! As we get to the end of the season, we sometimes see the time drops dip a little bit as things level off a bit, but we still saw lots of great swims on Monday, including first-ever meet participation from Callie Poplin (Free and Back), Deacon Spainhour (Free…and Back?), and Frannie Niebauer (Free)! We also had our deep-end dash with Anika Harkisandas, Amelia Gomez, and Emma Hojnicki all making their first swim across the deep end with their coaches!

We had one team record set on Monday night, as well. Joey Hanik swam the 100M IM in 1:28.03, which edged out the 9-10 Boys record set in 2017 by just 0.10 seconds! More to come on that…

Just two days after that meet, we hosted our annual IM Carnival at BSSC with Lake Braddock, Holmes Run, Parliament, and first-time participant Newington Forest all taking part. It was a hot one, but the pool was REALLY fast, with kids dropping time up and down the meet sheet, from 8&U Fly to 15-18 IM. The number of time drops (and some HUGE drops) was so impressive, with the coaches stunned (though in many cases not surprised) with what the kids were able to do! We ended up in 2nd Place in this meet, with Holmes Run proving to be a little too strong for the rest of the field, but we put on a great show both in the pool and out. We also had another record on Wednesday, with Joey Hanik leaving his Monday time in his bubbles by going 1:25.96 in his 100M IM. Congrats to Joey on a big week!

At around midday on Wednesday, our 13-14 Boys 200M Freestyle Relay team of William Penwell, Chris Garzlaff, Franklin Brenholt, and Lawrence Penwell swam at the NVSL All Star Relay Carnival. The boys were seeded 12th, but ended up finishing in 10th place, beating their seed time and their own team record in the process! They swam their race in 1:52.35, which beat the record they set a week prior in the Division 13 Relay Carnival by 1.31 seconds. That’s an amazing time drop in an incredibly fast field. Amazing work, boys!

Friday Breakfast and Pizza Party/Chalk the Walk Pep Rally

Tomorrow morning we will be having our regular Friday breakfast after each practice. There are still a few spots for 9-12 and 13-18 breakfast items, as well as 912 drinks. As always, head to the BKS Friday Breakfasts 2026 SignUpGenius to sign up!

Tomorrow is our Pizza Party Pep Rally! We’ll have all-you-can-(reasonably)-eat cheese and pepperoni pizza, as well as drinks, available for everyone. The cost is $5/person, and can be paid via cash, credit, Apple Pay, or Google Pay on arrival. We’ve created a Pizza Party JotForm so that we can get a good estimate on the number of pizzas we need to purchase. Please submit your feedback by 10:00 am tomorrow (Friday) so we can get our pizza order in!

We’ll also be chalking the walk during the pep rally in preparation for Brookfield’s arrival on Saturday!

A Meet (Home) v. Brookfield: Saturday, July 18

It’s true…we’ll be swimming in our final A Meet of the season this Saturday against Brookfield (weep). The meet will start at 9:00 am, with warmups starting at 8:00 am. Please have your swimmers arrive by 7:50 am so they can be ready to start warmups on time!

Tomorrow’s meet theme is Tuxes and Tiaras, so get decked out in your finest attire for a day of high fashion and high speed at BSSC! We’d love for everyone to go all out for this final dual meet and put on an impressive show for our guests, so don’t be shy about getting dolled up in some fancy garb!

We’ll be sending out the meet sheet and any follow-up info tomorrow.

Meet setup will be handled by families of the 13-18 age group families after the pep rally and when the pool closes. Since the weather looks good and this is a group with a lot of kids in it, we’re expecting a big turnout and quick setup!

Meet tear down will be handled by the 8 & Under and 9-10 families after the meet. Again…this should go quickly with plenty of people there for the meet!.

A Look Ahead

We’ve made it through the crazy part of the season, and with this being the final week of dual meets, our schedule is getting pretty sparse. There’s still plenty going on, so here’s what we have coming up.

• July 17: Friday Breakfast and Pizza Party/Chalk the Walk Pep Rally at BSSC
• July 18: A Meet (Home) with Brookfield
• July 23: Lollipop Meet and Community Relays
• July 25: Divisionals and End-of-Season Party at BSSC

We’re coming into the wall…we’re almost there. See you all soon!

- Deirdre, Mike, and Matt