Reach for the Wall releases Summer League All-Area Records list

As part of our on-going efforts to provide the best coverage of summer league swimming, Reach for the Wall has created an all-area record board to recognize the historic performances by swimmers across the region.

This new record board, which can be found under Rankings at the top of your page, will be updated throughout the summer season with the latest records posted by area swimmers from the CSL, DCCL, NVSL, MCSl, PMSL and PWSL. If a swimmer from your team breaks a league or all-area record, please e-mail us or connect with us on Twitter.

The records list was compiled by Bradley Phillips.

Notes:

• Ed Moses’s 1998 record in the boys’ 50-meter breaststroke of 28.81 has a special place in NVSL mythology. For years, the record has persisted despite challenges from the area’s (and nation’s) elite breaststrokers, including Rick Eddy, Chuck Katis, Andrew Seliskar, Brandon Fiala and others. However, Carsten Vissering (Old Georgetown) opened his record-breaking 100 breaststroke at last summer’s MCSL individual all-star meet with a 28.7-second split at the 50-meter mark, which would have broken Moses Record.

• Moses is one of two Olympic gold medalists on the list. Katie Ledecky of Palisades (MCSL) is the other.

• Another mythical record by area standards is Roger McLeod’s 8&under boys’ 25 freestyle NVSL record of 15.10 that has stood since 1965. Every so often, a swimmer begins approaching the mark — most notably, Tim Ellett of the MCSL’s Tilden Woods in 2009 (15.16), Will Koeppen of the DCCL’s River Bend in 2010 (15.44) and David Fitch of the MCSL’s Potomac (15.46). The closest an NCSL swimmer has come is J.T. Ewing of Tuckahoe when he posted a 15.50 midseason in 2013. Stunningly enough, McLeod isn’t the fastest all-time from the D.C. metro area. That honor belongs to Johnny Bradshaw, formerly of Mount Vernon County Club (DCCL) and currently competing for Hamlet (NVSL). He broke the mark in at the 2012 DCCL all-star meet during prelims, which is why the time was not recorded in our database. Bradshaw, who will compete as an 11-year-old this summer, has six records between the 8&under and 9-10 age groups, most coming as a Hamlet swimmer.

• Bradshaw isn’t the only swimmer appearing multiple times on the list with more than one team. Lindsey Ertter holds the 50 breaststroke records for the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups in the NVSL. She broke the former as a member of the Great Falls team and the latter with Tuckahoe, making her the only swimmer on the all-area record board appearing for two different teams in the same league.

• The NVSL’s Janet Hu (Mosby Woods) tops the record board with an astounding eight all-area marks, coming in every stroke except for breast but including IM. She’s followed by Cassidy Bayer‘s six — tied with Bradshaw, Seliskar’s four and Darius Truong‘s three. Of note, Ledecky and American record holder Jack Conger only have one apiece.

If you have an interesting factoid about the record board, please leave it in the comments section below.

8&unders

9-10s

11-12s

13-14s

15-18s

*achieved prior to Reach for the Walls records
**historical team