Lee Graham’s finest swimmers put a frustrating season behind them, and had a collectively solid day against some of the best competition in the area at the Northern Virginia All-Stars Swim Meet on Saturday. Lee Graham had a top-three finisher in nine of the 40 events, including two first place finishes.
The meet featured the best swimmers from nearly every pool in the Northern Virginia Swimming League, all competing for bragging rights as the best in the region. Each event had 17 to 19 swimmers, which allowed for a lot of parody as no pool took more than four victories. Local powerhouse, and undefeated Division I champion Overlee had four wins, as did Mosby Woods and Mount Vernon Park.
The first Dolphin to take the water was Lucas Cherry in the 11/12-year-old 50-meter freestyle. Cherry placed fifth in the event with a time of 28.88 seconds, a mere .03 behind the fourth-place finisher.
On the girls side, Logan Moore came in second in the same event with a 29.76 clip. This however, would not be the last time Moore took the silver. She followed up her second place finish in freestyle with another one in backstroke, just minutes later.
No other Lee Graham swimmers were able to place in freestyle, but Natalie Leake finished sixth in the 15-18 age group. She was just hairs away from placing though, as only .4 seconds separated her from third place. Leake however, got her revenge placing second in the girls 15-18 breaststroke later in the afternoon.
Like Moore, Cherry would duplicate his freestyle finish in backstroke. In another close race Cherry finished fifth, hundredths of seconds behind the mark.
More notable performances in backstroke were in the 15-18 age group by sisters Anna and Maggie Macedonia. Anna placed third with a time of 31.16, and her younger sister Maggie was just .4 seconds behind, taking fourth.
The youngest Lee Graham all-star was 8-year-old Elena Summers. Summers, the only Dolphin showcased in the eight-and-under group placed second in 25-meter breaststroke, and ninth in butterfly which is commonly known as the most difficult stroke.
Ben Southern was the only Dolphin to place in butterfly. Southern earned a bronze in the 11-12 age group.
The most impressive individual performance by a Lee Graham swimmer was 10-year-old Miller Surette. He was the only Dolphin to win a race, and he won two. He squeaked by Great Falls swimmer Max Wingo by a tenth of a second for the win in breaststroke, and also won the 9-10 category in the 100 meter individual medley (IM).
Surette and Maggie Macedonia were the only Dolphins with notable performances in the IM. The fore mentioned Surette earned his second gold, and Macedonia placed third in the girls 15-18 group.
While Lee Graham did go winless this year in the fiercest division of the NVSL, their young All Stars showed that the Dolphins have no plans to remain the doormat of Division I.
