Undefeated Season intact as Russett finishes Div. D dual meets 5 and 0

RUSSETT 10 AND UNDER SWIMMERS WIN

KNIGHTS OF COL. PGC MINI-MEET FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR

  JULY 16, 17  -- Showing resiliency from Race 1 through Race 46 and all the relays, the Russett Sharks swim team polished off a perfect 2011 regular season of dual meets with a 300-269 victory over a tenacious and unyielding Fort Washington team.

Russett Triple winners included the Ritter sisters, Allie and Lauren (Allie in 9-10 free, breast, back; Lauren in 11-12 butterfly, back, and IM); Taylor Hicks (15-18 butterfly, breast, and IM); Everett Butler (Boys 13-14 butterfly, backstroke and free); Fort Washington's Akeyla Holley was a triple winner , capturing Girls 13-14 fly, free and IM, as was Alex Tompkins, capturing girls 8 and under free, breast, and backstroke.

Other highlights included: 

Madewa Adeyemo coming up just shy of  setting a Russett record in the boys 10 and under butterfly. Madewa won in 20.40 , just .25 shy of Alex Cartron's record set in 2004.

The powerful boys triumverate of Aaban Syed, Imaad Syed and Dominic Kazzi again dominating the boys' 8 and under races. Aaban won the backstroke, Imaad won freestyle and Dominic captured breaststroke to give some much needed first-place points to Russett.

The girls 200 meter freestyle relay (Allie Ritter, Simone DeSouza, Taylor Hicks, Paris Hicks) making it 5 for 5 with victories this season, winning the race by 14 seconds in 2:14.75.

And the following day at the PGC mini-meet in College Park, the fried egg sandwiches werent the only things that were HOT !!!

Russett's 6,7,8,9, and 10 year old swimmers lit up the pool with incredible performances as Russett won the team title, beating out Greenbelt, Silver Spring, West Arundel, West Laurel, Cheveryl and a host of other pools. CONGRATS RUSSETT SWIMMERS on a tremendous win !

Allie Ritter was a triple winner with victories in the breast, back and free, with her freestyle win in the meet's final race a thrilling 25-meter dash to the finish. She won in 16.20 seconds, just less than a quarter-second in front of her second-place rival.

Big time PROPS to Kylie Ritter for swimming the 6 yr old girls freestyle race with a broken arm. Her casted arm was wrapped up and secured tight in plastic  by dad Al Ritter and Kylie gave it her all in that 25-meter race, pulling her cast up the whole way down the course.

This Saturday, Russett looks to capture the Division D Divisionals Meet as all 6 squads gather at New Carrollton for the 2011 Division D Championships. A first or second place finish will mean Russett will move up to Division C next season !!

Russett goes to 4-0 with convincing 331- 231 victory over

New Carrollton, setting up showdown with Fort Washington

this coming Saturday

 JULY 9 -- The Russett Sharks kept their undefeated season intact with a 331-231 victory over New Carrollton on Saturday in Laurel. Triple winners for the Sharks were Paris Hicks, Tayor Hicks, Allie Ritter, Madewa Adeyemo, Everett Butler, and Simone DeSouza. Congrats on those superlative performances. Taylor set a new POOL RECORD in the girls 15-18 butterfly with a time of 31.71 seconds

More props and kudos to some other Russett swimmers :

 -- Elanna Bellofatto and Maddie Bonanno for a 1-2 finish in the girls butterfly U-10

-- Aaban Syed, Imaad Syed, and Dominic Kazzi for dominating all the 8-and-under boys races: Dominic won the breastroke, Imaad won freestyle, Aaban won backstroke

-- Sophia Bellofatto for her FIRST EVER 1st place finish, winning the girls 8-U breastroke. Way to go, Sophia !

-- Tomisin Sobande with wins in the girls 8-and-U free and backstroke

-- Alex Bowman settiing a NEW POOL RECORD in the girls 13-14 backstroke. Way to go, Alex !

-- Girls 18=and-under 200m Medley Relay team (Alex, Tomiya, Megan, and Asha) winning a super close race at the wire, finishing 1.5 seconds ahead of NCR in 2:33.25

-- Girls 9-18 200m freestyle relay (Allie, Simone, Paris, Taylor), once again dominating the event in winning by a whopping 21 seconds in 2:12.50, just a few seconds shy of the Russett record that they set back on June 18.

Russett remains undefeated in Prince Mont D;
Ritter sisters, Hicks sisters, Syed brothers dominate as Russett takes down Smallwood Village

 JULY 2 -- Russett wins again, goes to 3-0 with 299-279 win over Smallwood Village. This was a close meet the whole way through, with Smallwood in the lead after 20 events, then Russett jumping in front and maintaining a slim lead. The outcome was not decided until those finals relays. Smallwood has some talented swimmers and will be tough at divisionals.

On the girls' side, Paris and Taylor Hicks were solid again, with Paris winning the 13-14 butterfly and freestlye, and Taylor taking home wins in the 15-18 breatstroke, butterfly, and freestyle. Taylor just missed breaking her own pool record in the butterfly by .07

The Ritter sisters Allie and Lauren also had a great meet (and we wish little Kylie a SPEEDY and FULL recovery from her broken arm -- get well soon, Kylie !) with some big wins. Lauren took home first place in the 12-U girls 100 IM, winning by 5 seconds, and Allie continued her solid season with first place finishes in girls 9-10 breast, back and freestyle.

How about those Syed brothers? !!!  Aaban and Imaad were the talk of the boys' 8-U races, finishing 1-2 in backstroke, freestyle, and breastroke for the rare "Brothers Triple"

And talk about one of the most EXCITING races of the day? With the crowd screaming his name as he came down the final 25 meters, Alex Cartron edged out his Smallwood rival Alex Chung by .02 (two-HUNDRETHS of a second) to win the 15-18 breastroke. Now THAT was a thrilling race !

Also, props to Elanna Bellofatto for notching her first career FIRST PLACE finish by capturing the 10- and -under Butterfly in 20.81 seconds. Way to go, Elanna.

And props to Tomisin Sobande as well, as she rocked the 8-U division girls races, winning the freestyle, backstroke, and breastroke for the big Triple.

Next week, Russett takes on New Carrollton at HOME. New Carrollton is seeking its first victory of the season, while Russett tries to make it 4 in a row !

 Russett bowls over Pointer Ridge; Ritter, Hicks sisters, Cartron each win 3 events

 JUNE 25 -- The Russett Sharks made it two straight wins to open up the 2011 season with a 332-240 victory over Pointer Ridge (Bowie)

Russett led from wire to wire, getting big swims from the sister duos of Allie Ritter and Lauren Ritter, Tomiya Sabande and Tomisin Sobande, Paris Hicks and Taylor Hicks, along with Simone DeSouza, Alexandra Bowman, Megan Reyda, and Kenni Patrick.

On the boys' side, Russett got big swims from brother teams of Gabe Cox and Hunter Cox; Aaban Syed and Imaad Syed, as well as Alex Cartron, Noel Vazquez, Dominic Kazzi, Malewa Adeyemo, Tyler Reyda, Chris Marx, and Tavon Thompson.

Triple winners in Saturday's meet included Allie Ritter  (10 and under 50 free; 25 breast; 25 back); Taylor Hicks (16-under 100 IM, 50 fly, 50 breast); Paris Hicks (14-under 50 back; 50 fly; 50 free); and Alex Cartron (18-under 50 breast; 50 back; 100 IM).

Several pool records and Russett team records were set at the meet as well.

Russett gets back into action this Saturday, July 2 with a road meet against Smallwood Village, which is still seeking its first win of the season after falling to Roger Carter last week.