Mill Creek Towne rolled to a 132-point victory in Week 1. This week, they face the Otters of Quince Orchard. (Photo by Bryan Flaherty/The Washington Post)
Division C is the place to be this week in the Montgomery County Swim League. The Week 2 matchup between Quince Orchard and Mill Creek Towne could be one of the closest and fastest meets on the front half of the league’s calendar.
Led by veteran coaches and two sets of unstoppable siblings, this meet is likely to go down to the final relays. Or, as is so often the case, just another week in the MCSL.
In Week 1, the Otters and Marlins crushed their opponents, winning by 139 and 132 points, respectively. Now, the two squads are poised for a thrilling finish in Week 2.
The Otters are led by Diane Charette and Tim Brockway, who have been a dynamic head coach–assistant coach duo at Quince Orchard for over five years. Charette, know for her loud voice and extravagant personality, is an annual fixture at the Coaches Long Course Invite and all-star meets alongside the Otters’ seemingly endless pool of talent. By her side throughout has been Brockway, who could easily assume a head coach role in any division in the league if he chose to leave. The two have chosen to stick with Quince Orchard and finish their tenure with the Otters together.
On the other side of the pool will be Mill Creek Towne’s head coach Dave Kraft, who is running the Marlins for the 17th season. Since his arrival in 1997, he has continued to build them into one of the strongest teams in the county. Kraft is also RMSC’s national training group coach at their Olney location and is known most for his role in producing three-time All-Met Swimmer of the Year Jack Conger.
Alongside the coaches in leading their respective mean are the dynamic sibling pairs of Gabriel Laracumente (12) and Xavier Laracumente (17) of Quince Orchard and Sammy Matusek (12) and Ellie Matusek (14) of Mill Creek Towne, who were big contributors in their team’s lopsided wins in last week. The Laracumentes won four of their eight individual events, while the Matuseks won all eight of theirs.
The younger of the sibling pairs, Gabriel and Sammy, will likely go head to head this week and could give their team the swing points to move to 2-0.
The 9-10 girls’ events will also be closely contested. Rebecca Weiss (10) of Quince Orchard and Kiera Ceely (10) of Mill Creek Towne are separated by only three-tenths of a second in the 25-meter butterfly, an event in which they are both ranked in the top 35 in the all-stars rankings. These two will also battle it out the 14 and under graduated relay where the Otters and Weiss, joined by Andie Weitzman (12), Lauren Dunne (14) and Rachel Katz (8), should have the advantage.
Also of note, this year the Otters are competing without the Zangla family, who moved to Virginia at the end of last summer. The two oldest, Carol (17) and Lisa (15) were big scorers and competed in all-stars last summer.
The virtual meet generator, using last week’s lineups, gives Mill Creek Towne the edge by two points, 397-395, which makes this meet a complete toss up.
Clash of the titans in division A
The league’s previous tsar, Rockville, takes on Division A’s reigning champion, Upper County, this week in a matchup that will pit two of the area’s better classes of 15-18 boys against one another.
The Rays’ potent attack of Harrison Gu, Andrew Gibson, John Jeang, Karl Treichel and Anatol Liu will go head to head with the Dolphins’ Bouke Edskes, Ryan O’Leary, Patrick Hedquist and Brandon Cu. Rockville split their relay last week and went 1:57.30 and 1:58.13, respectively, while Upper County finished in 1:56.25. Upper County will be forced to cope without Daniel Chapman (13), their top 13-14 this weekend and Jason Tang (15) for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury.
Don’t count them out: Division A teams still in the hunt
Although Tilden Woods and Woodcliffe both received devastating blows last week, the season is still early, and both teams have ample opportunity to make up points in the standings and reaffirm their division A status.
Tilden Woods, operating under first-year head coach Julia Von Heeringen, is a veteran of the division and is looking to stay put, while Woodcliffe, the newcomer, will hope to establish themselves as a legitimate threat in the league’s top tier. These two teams lay claim to two of the top 13-14 age groups in the league with five girls already qualified in the 50 freestyle for this year’s all-star meet between them. Tilden Woods has the ability to sweep the event with Celine Nugnet (14), Maya Drill (13), Nicole Lopez (13), Sadie Keller (14), Hannah Gould (13) and Deborah Kaufman (13) all under 32.70, but Candice Lee (14) and Regan Tait (13) from Woodcliffe will be hot on their heels and could spoil their fun.
Division B showdown
Germantown and Tallyho both decimated their opponents last weekend, and even though the season is still young, these are the teams expected to jostle for the top spot in the division in late July. Relays will be the key to pulling out the victory this week, and based on seed times, all of the relays should finish within three seconds of each other. The 18 and under medley relay could be the most exciting, with Eliya Harnood (15), Helen Park (18), Samantha Bischoff (16) and Juliya Harnood (12) from Germantown splitting a 2:18:81 last week and Sophie Bacon (13), Lisa Deng (18), Sarah O’Brien (14) and Rachel Caplan (17) from Tallyho posting a 2:19:40 in their Week 1 meet.
