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Montgomery County boasts some of the country's top swimming talent. The Rockville-based Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club and Damascus-based Curl Burke are the nation's No. 1 and No. 2-ranked club teams, according to USA Swimming's Virtual Club Championship rankings.
Club swimmers train upward of 15 hours per week, year-round, and travel the country to swim at the highest level. Yet year after year, the majority says the highlight of their summer is returning to where most of them got started: the Montgomery County Swim League (MCSL).
The league comprises 89 summer swim club teams from all over Montgomery County, divided into 15 divisions. Swimmers' ages range from U-8 to U-18.
On Saturday, MCSL kicks off its 51st season, which includes five division dual meets, a division championship, relay carnival and relay and individual all-star meets.
"As a [former] MCSL swimmer myself, and I swam at Bethesda since I was like 6 or 7, there is a huge sense of community," third-year Bethesda head coach Sofie Sokolove said. "You see the same faces every year, and it is nice. Club swimming is so competitive, the summer swimming takes some of the pressure off. It is competitive in a more friendly and fun way."
To ensure balance and fair competition, MCSL's divisions are divided according to teams' results. Teams move up and down, but not necessarily each year. There is a precise formula: Dual meets are used to come up with a set of times for each team that represent the median time for every entry in every event for that team. Teams' times are then ‘swum' against every other team in the league to determine overall standings.
Led by rising Poolesville senior Cara Chuang, who set a Washington Metropolitan Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championship record in the 100-yard backstroke in February, Rockville has finished atop the Division A rankings in each of the last four years.
Hallowell, led by University of Virginia-bound Georgetown Prep star Brady Fox, was the top team before that, in 2004, and is back in Division A this summer after dropping to Division B in 2008. Fox set two MCSL records at last year's individual all-star meet.
Tilden Woods finished second in Division A last year and, led by former Walter Johnson standout Eric Friedland (now swimming at Texas), will make a run for No. 1 again this summer. Friedland also set two MCSL records at the 2008 individual all-star meet.
This winter's Gazette Girls Swimmer of the Year, rising Good Counsel sophomore Sarah Haase, set MCSL records in the first three dual meets last season. She leads a Flower Valley team looking to push itself back into the upper echelon of summer swimming after dropping to Division B this season.
Swimming is singular in that it is simultaneously individual and team-oriented. But MCSL, which pits schoolmates and club teammates against each other in friendly neighborhood competition, brings out the spirited team aspect of the sport. And that is what draws everyone back each year.
"You talk to the kids about starts and finishes, but then you also have to emphasize that winning is not everything," Sokolove said. "It is about spirit and fun. When I reflect back on the season, I care more about the kids' experience than I do about winning or losing."