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Sports

Cape Dolphins Celebrate End of the Season

This year the Dolphins competed against five other teams in the Severn (2nd) Division.

The Cape St. Claire Dolphins Swim Team represents the each summer in the Greater Annapolis Swim League. The League is made up of 20 local teams divided into four divisions.

Division placement is determined by the team’s previous year’s performance. This year the Dolphins competed against five other teams in the Severn (2nd) Division. At the conclusion of the season, each individual swimmer is invited to participate in a Championship Meet, for Gold, Silver or Bronze. The swimmer’s best stroke time determines in which Championship they will compete.

The Dolphins have a large and very experienced coaching staff led by Head Coach Judy Schmid. For over 30 years, Schmid has been involved in swimming either as a swimmer, coach, official, or as a parent. She is just finishing up her seventh consecutive year coaching for CSC and her tenth overall.

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“The team has improved a lot over the season,” said Schmid. “It’s been an incredible summer with the kids and their parents. I couldn’t ask for a better team.”

Schmid’s staff includes Coach Kristin Watson and five assistant coaches, all with an extensive background in competitive swimming and coaching and all the coaches are current in First Aid, CPR/AED and STSC (Safety Training for Swim Coaches) and each have coaching certifications from USAS. (USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States.)

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Assistant Coach Nikki Brandemarte has been coaching for the last three years, competed for Broadneck High School’s swim team and will be swimming for Salisbury University in the fall.

“We have a lot of kids dropping times by five seconds or more, it’s been a great season for the swimmers and the coaches,” she said.

About 100 swimmers and their coaches have been getting up early almost every morning this summer to practice proper stroke technique while increasing their speed and endurance. All are striving as a team to better their individual times while earning enough points for the team to win the meet. With hours and hours of practice behind them it usually comes down to just a couple of intense minutes in the pool in the hopes of outperforming the opposing swimmers.

At Saturday’s Silver Meet, hundreds of parents, swimmers, coaches and volunteers spent five hours at Hillsmere Swim Club as qualifying swimmers of all ages competed in up to five different events.

Debby Aquilar, mother of 16-year-old swimmer Savannah, said “It’s a lot of time in the scorching heat and draining for the swimmers while they’re waiting for their meet, but they all pull together as a team and cheer each other on.”

The season ends for the Dolphins with a big picnic (poolside, of course!) and an awards banquet with some distinguished kudos given out, like Most Valuable Swimmer, along with some funny and unexpected awards for swimmers, coaches and parents. Graduating seniors are given a special blanket from the team.

If interested in swimming for the Dolphins next year, you can e-mail the team at swimteam@capepool.com or check the CSC Swim Club web site.

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