Riptide Places Third in Division 4 Relay Carnival

It was an exciting night of fast relays and records being broken at the Division 4 Relay Carnival this past Wednesday evening. Hosted by the Vienna Aquatic team at their facility, the weather was perfect, and the pool was fast as each division put forth their best relay teams and fought for precious points and spots in the All-Star Relay Carnival next week.

Virginia Run came into the event knowing they had some fast relay teams and came away with third place out of six teams competing, earning spots for 11 teams to go to the All Star Relay Carnival, and one new record set by the girls mixed age 200-meter free relay team of Ginny Fitch, Charis Roundtree, Isabelle Cogan and Sarah Boyle with a time of 2:01.01.

The boys free relay event started strong with the 8 and under boys’ team of Matthew Kelliher, Ernesto Garduno, Nathan Tonthat, and Tyler Harris placing second. The 11-12 boys free relay team of Davis Collinsworth, Ryan Friess, Luke Thomas, and Bryan Kim did the same a couple races later. The boys 200-meter mixed-age free relay team of Bryan Kim, Nicholas Harris, Jackson Blansett, and Noah Schettini placed third in their race.

In the medley relay round, the 8 and under boys took third place with team members Ernesto Garduno, Nathan Tonthat, Tyler Harris, and Matthew Kelliher; and the 11-12 boys medley relay of Luke Thomas, Davis Collinsworth, Ryan Friess, and Bryan Kim took second in a nail-biter finish with a time of 1:06.94 to the Fair Oaks team’s 1:06.12. The boys 13-14 medley relay team of William Whitton, Nathan Ryman, Jackson Blansett and Samuel Roundtree also took second.

The Riptide girls had a busy night with many wins. In the free relay round, the 9-10 team of Jenna Van Buren, Charis Roundtree, Caroline Friess, and Anna Kelliher took home first place. Caitlin Kelliher, Neha Srinivasan, Allison Nguyen, and Isabelle Cogan placed third in the 13-14 group; and Allison Hickey, Chelsea Nguyen, Maddie Whitton, and Sarah Boyle placed second in the 15-18 group. The mixed-age relay was a homerun with Ginny Fitch, Charis Roundtree, Isabelle Cogan, and Sarah Boyle dominating the race, placing first more than three seconds ahead of the next team and breaking a Virginia Run Riptide team record in the process.

In the medley round the 9-10 girls again took first place with team members Charis Roundtree Jenna Van Buren, Caroline Friess, and Anna Kelliher. The 13-14 team of Neha Srinivasan, Allison Nguyen, Caitlin Kelliher, and Isabelle Cogan placed third; and the 15-18 team of Chelsea Nguyen, Allison Hickey, Sarah Boyle, and Maddie Whitton placed second.

The Riptide will travel to Hiddenbrook on Saturday for their ‘A’ meet, and the All-Star Relay Carnival will take place next Wednesday.