Temple Hills Swim Club

Temple Hills holds own in first swim meet of the summer.

Despite the looming rain clouds that swept over Saturday’s swim meet and competing against a team that was a full division ahead of them, the Temple Hills Dolphins showed their resilience.  The Prince Georges Council Aqua knights held a significant advantage in outnumbering the Dolphins, but won by the score of 291 to 259.

As soon as the meet kicked off with the Boys 18 and under SC 200 meter medley relay and was beginning the girl’s events, thunder broke the excitement and swimmers were immediately pulled from the pool. Spectators, coaches, officials and swimmers alike watched the rain and thunder delay their meet from the sheltered area of the pool. When the weather became acceptable relays were re-done before moving on to the butterfly events. The Temple Hill swimmers made their mark in these events, taking a slight lead over the favored Aqua Knights. The Dolphins had three first place winners, Gloria Benton, Alia Lawson, and Patricia Kelshaw in their respective events. The addition of eight 2^nd or 3^rd place finishes helped carry the Dolphins.

The freestyle events were not kind to the Temple Hills club, an event they were flat out beat in. Temple Hills only managed one 1^st place victory coming in the boys 8 and under freestyle, won by Miguel Davis Jr. The Aqua Knights not only placed first but had multiple combinations of 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place finishes in events. Coach Gwen Hopkins, one of two, blamed the team’s lack of endurance for her team’s poor performance in the freestyle. They were simply “gassed.” However, there were bright spots for the Dolphins in the form of strong 2^nd and 3^rd places finishes from the following: Ivan Zapata, Gabriela Harmon, Austin Lawson, Julia Czecha, Ariel Meyers, Allen Meyers, Liam Finn, Rachel Harris, Alia Lawson, and Michelle Lechance.

An even heavier blast of thunder and rained rolled in and delayed the meet for a second time, but for a longer period. The Dolphins regained some of their confidence in this “intermission” and came out strong in the breaststroke, recording seven 1^st place finishes from James Harmon, Dominick Summers, Ricardo Summers, Cara Reisman, Nicholas Willoughby, Michelle Lechance, and Gloria Benton, her second of the day. Six 2^nd and 3^rd place finishes closed the point gap and renewed the meet’s interest levels.

The two teams battled back and forth through the final individual events which included the Individual Medleys and Backstroke events. But Temple Hills would shed a few points and find a possibility for a win before more points were won by the home team. Seven Temple Hills swimmers placed 1^st in those final individual events, Julia Czecha, Ricardo Summer, Alia Lawson, Miguel Davis Jr., Gloria Benton, Rachel Harris, and Patricia Kelshaw, in a valiant effort to pull their team in striking distance to the Aqua knights, but it was too little too late.

Swimming, a sport that truly saves the best for last: the freestyle relays. A good relay race can stir the crowd in an instant and pull them into the race. Even the most silent of spectators can be caught in the moment and catch themselves leaning over fences screaming for their team, waking up the next morning with a hoarse voice. A swim meet characterized by chilly winds, rain and thunder, and significant delays, needed to end on a high note. And the Temple Hills Dolphins and Prince Georges Aqua knights did not disappoint. The boys 9-18 200 SC Freestyle relay kicked off the finale with a fast start from the Aqua knights A team, that appeared to be cruising to a win, before Nick Willoughby began his anchor and torn down the lane in chase of PGC’s Daniel Tarbrake. Timers and judges even looked up and noted on the coaches son’s furious freestyle. Nick closed the gap significantly, most likely making his presence known to Tarbrake, before running out of gas in the final leg and taking 2^nd place for his team. The girl’s race, however, made the boys relay seem like a blowout. The race held four teams, but it felt like both teams A squads were the only ones in the pool. Temple Hill’s team of Aurora Meyers, Gloria Benton, Rachel Harris, and Patricia Kelshaw proved to be a team full of heart. Aurora, being used to only 25 meter races, paused at the touch and realized her mistake at the crowd’s guidance to keep going, and gave her team quite a bit of catching up to do, but she finished strong and held her teams 2^nd place. Gloria Benton, for 50 meters put the rest of her team mates on her shoulders and gave all she had; catching PGC’s Taylor Reilly and taking a slight lead and passing it to Rachel Harris who kept pace where she swam deadlocked for 50 meters against Aqua knight’s Courtney Lintner. Both teams’ anchors, Patricia and Melissa Alessandrini, watched with growing nerves as their teammates swam neck and neck. As both shot into the water, the crowds excitement grew tenfold and seemed to grow with every stroke the girls took. The first 25 was impossible to give to one of them and even at the flip did they seem to be in unison. As they sprinted to the end, fences shook, fans screamed and shouted, and one wondered if they were still at a College Park pool or witnessing an Olympic meet. But one also realized whatever the outcome of this race, today had held a great swim meet, one full of excitement, full of drama and sportsmanship, one that would set the pace for the remainder of the year.

It came down to the wire; Melissa out touched Patricia at the wall by the mere time of .32 hundredths of a second. Head Coach Joe Willoughby wouldn’t even regard today’s meet as a loss, having gone toe to toe with larger team, one predicted to beat them by “100 points” felt like a victory to him. He said he was proud of his teams fight and desire, that they really showed their heart. He was also impressed with the team’s quality of swimmers. A team with confident veterans and one dotted with fresh faces to the team and even to the sport of swimming.

June 20th Swim Meet Temple Hills MVP's!

*The following swimmers were chosen based off personal opinion. This is unofficial and were not selected by Temple Hills coaches.*

GIRL'S MVP: Gloria Benton, 12

A Temple Hills Super Winner (3 first place finishes) in last Saturday's meet, Gloria posted immpressive times in the 50 SC meter Butterfly ( 43.64), 50 SC meter Breaststroke ( 50.13), and  100 SC meter IM ( 1:43.50). Her leg of the 200 SC Freestyle Relay, that brought her team back and gave them the lead only solidified her MVP title this week. 

BOY'S MVP: Miguel Davis Jr., 8

Miguel snatched two first places finishes in the 25 SC meter Freestyle ( 27.09) and 25 SC meter Backstroke ( 34.38). He almost clinched Super Winner status, coming in second place in the 25 SC meter Breaststroke. What makes his finishes and times more impressive, clinching him his MVP status, was that Miguel is a first year swimmer. An impressive start, one he can hopefully build on as the summer advances.

 Temple Hills Annual Potluck Sets Tone.