Riptide Wins Final Meet, Roundtree Lowers Record

The Virginia Run Riptide wrapped up its regular season with a final home meet against the Oakton Otters on Saturday. The meet was close throughout, with the Riptide cementing their win during the relay portion of the meet. Forty-four personal bests were achieved, Charis Roundtree lowered her 25-meter 9-10 girls butterfly record to 15.36, and the team honored their senior swimmers and families in an emotional ceremony.

The competition began with Matthew Kelliher and Tyler Harris placing first and third in the boys 8 and under group, and Caitlin Do placing first for the girls. Ethan O’Connor and Charis Roundtree both finished first for the 9-10s with Mary Schaad placing third. Bryan Kim and Ryan Friess came in with the two-three finish and Montse Garduno Estrada brought home second for the girls in the 11-12 group. William Whitton and Nathan Ryman placed first and second, Isabelle Cogan took third for the 13-14s, and William Beamon brought home third for the 15-18 boys; while Sarah Boyle, Allison Hickey, and Maddy Whitton dominated with a 1-2-3 sweep for the girls 15-18 group.

The score after freestyle was a close 48-42 in favor of the Riptide. Moving into backstroke the Riptide saw the 8 and unders put points on the board with Nathan Tonthat taking first, and Sawyer Flynn and Emma Wall placing third. Nicholas Harris took first place for the 9-10s while the girls brought home another sweep with Anna Kelliher, Carson Coughlin, and Caroline Friess putting nine points on the board for the team. Davis Collinsworth and Luke Thomas took first and third and Montse Garduno Estrada and Ginny Fitch placed first and second in the 11-12s. William Whitton and Sam Roundtree placed second and third for the 13-14 group, as did Isabelle Cogan and Neha Srinivasan. The 15-18 group saw Anthony Tonthat taking second and Chelsea Nguyen and Emily Jon placing first and third.

As the Riptide headed into the breaststroke round, the score was 100 to 80 in favor of the Riptide. Strong swims were made by Matthew Kelliher and Alden Conlon both placing third for the 8 and under boys and girls, Ryan Garcia took home second for the 9-10s, and the 11-12s put points on the board with Davis Collinsworth and Christopher Lee placing second and third, while Angela Thomson and Elizabeth Schaad bringing home first and third place. The 13-14 boys brought a sweep by Jackson Blansett, Nathan Ryman, and Sam Roundtree; and Allison Nguyen earned third for the girls. William Beamon placed second and Allison Hickey placed first for the 15-18 group.

The Otters pulled ahead after breaststroke with a score of 137 to 133 making the butterfly and relay rounds key to the win.

The fly round saw Tyler Harris and Nathan Tonthat placing second and third, while Caitlin Do placed first for the 8 and unders. Charis Roundtree, Caroline Friess, and Anna Kelliher swept the event with a first, second, third finish for the 9-10s (and a new team record for Roundtree). Bryan Kim and Ryan Friess placed second and third, and Angela Thomson placed second for the 11-12s, while Jackson Blansett and Sean Gunn took home first and third and Caitlin Kelliher placed third for the 13-14s. Anthony Tonthat took third place and Sarah Boyle and Maddy Whitton earned first and second place for the 15-18 group.

The action paused for a bit after the butterfly round to honor and recognize the senior swimmers on both teams, with a special ceremony for Riptide seniors Sarah Boyle, Christina Nguyen, Harry Schlatter, Jack Tweddle, Joel Cheifetz, Rebecca Matthews, and Jack Metcalf. Metcalf and Schlatter were unable to attend because they are currently in their plebe summer at the U. S. Naval Academy.

The relay round began with both teams ready to swim hard for every point. The score was 179 to 181 with the Otters in the lead.

The boys 8 and under relay won with the team of Matthew Kelliher, Nathan Tonthat, Ernesto Garduno, and Tyler Harris and a time of 1:16.53. Both the boys and girls 9-10 medley relay teams dominated with wins by Nicholas Harris, Ryan Garcia, Christopher Thomson, and Ethan O'Connor with a time of 1:18.01, almost five seconds faster than the opposing team. The girls’ team of Charis Roundtree, Jenna Van Buren, Caroline Friess, and Anna Kelliher took home the win roughly three seconds ahead of the competition and a time of 1:14.34.

The 11-12 teams both won their medley relays with Luke Thomas, Davis Collinsworth, Ryan Friess, and Bryan Kim winning with a time of 1:06.81 and Ginny Fitch, Angela Thomson, Megan Marco, and Montse Garduno Estrada winning with a time of 1:07.57. The 13-14 boys medley relay won with the team of William Whitton, Nathan Ryman, Jackson Blansett, and Sam Roundtree and a time of 58.17 and the girls 15-18 200 medley relay won with the team of Chelsea Nguyen, Allison Hickey, Sarah Boyle, and Maddy Whitton and a time of 2:11.39.

Down to the last two relays, the Riptide had the meet won, but both teams swam hard and the competition continued. The boys mixed age relay of Bryan Kim, Nicholas Harris, Jackson Blansett, and Noah Schettini won with a time of 1:59.53, and the girls mixed age relay team of Montse Garduno Estrada, Charis Roundtree, Isabelle Cogan, and Sarah Boyle won with a time of 2:02.85 giving the Riptide the meet win.

The Riptide ends the regular season with three wins and two losses. They placed third at the Division 4 Relay Carnival and eleventh overall at the All Star Relay Carnival, putting them third out of six in the Division 4 standings. The team celebrated their win over the Otters and a great season by jumping into the diving well and cooling off after a long, hot morning of competition.

Next week, selected swimmers will participate in Divisionals and the following week, some swimmers may be seeded into the Individual All Stars meet. The team had a successful year under new Head Coach Patrick Kearney and new Assistant Coach, Nick McGrath, both former Riptide swimmers. Kearney, reflecting on the regular season said, “This season has been incredible! Our hard work at practice has been paying off with hundreds of personal bests at meets. Our Junior and Senior coaches have kept our team spirit and energy high at meets which has helped us pull out several close wins. Summer swim is always the fastest couple of weeks out of the whole year and I’m so glad it was a successful and fun season. Out of the 17 years that I have been a part of Virginia Run Swim Team, this season has definitely been one of the most memorable.”