Dominion Hills Diving

Fairfax Station was the site for this year's All Star meet. The diving is always fantastic as the best among the best come together for the all around champion.

The Thunder Ducks were represented by four divers on this day and we're so proud of all the hard work they put in this year to get to this point. There are over 1,500 divers in the NVSL so making all stars and finishing in the top 20 is a major accomplishment! This team is on the rise with all this talent!

Toby Chen finished 8th in Freshman Boys

Savannah Potter was 15th in Junior Girls

Charlie Morrison was 8th in Junior Boys

Luke DiBenigno finished 11th in Senior Boys in his 7th career All Star Meet!

Full results here

Fifteen Thunder Ducks headed out to Tuckahoe to the Division Championship meet trying for a spot in the All Star meet and boy did they have a fantastic day. DH qualified five divers for All Stars and has one alternate!

Savannah Potter earned our only gold medal in a very close Junior Girls event by a mere tenth of a point! (100.35 to 100.25)

Toby Chen, Charlie Morrison, Charlie Gent and Luke DiBenigno all earned spots with their second place finishes! Riley Shelton finished third in Senior Girls and is an alternate if either of the first two finishers are unable to go to All Stars.

Other DH divers earning medals (top 6 places) were Helen Butler (6th) and Joseph Nixon (6th)

Congratulations everyone. That is an amazing All Star team, so the weekly recaps continue one more week!

To view all the results across the league, click here.

To view the DH results, go to the tab for Division 4 called "D4-MeetResults".

It was great to see everyone at the awards banquet Friday night. Celebrating our season and coming together one last time is always bittersweet as it signals the passing of yet another season of fun.

The season's not quite over yet for 15 of our divers who are headed to divisionals. Watch this space for all the updates on that meet on Sunday.

If you missed the event, you missed the handing out of the paper plate awards and the end of year slideshow/video (we'll provide a link to that to all parents later). You also missed the annual trophy awards given to the following.

MVP Awards

These awards are assigned one per age group to the diver that earned the most team points per age group, so this recognizes both attendance and performance.

Freshman Girls - Helen Butler

Freshman Boys - Toby Chen

Junior Girls - Savannah Potter

Junior Boys - Charlie Morrison

Intermediate Girls - Morgan Shelton

Intermediate Boys - Charlie Gent

Senior Girls - Ellie Joyce

Senior Boys - Luke DiBenigno

Rookies of the year

Girls - Sam Heller

Boys - Peter Goehring

Most Improved:

Girls - Morgan Shelton

Boys - Joseph Nixon

Coaches Awards Special awards selected by the coaches for various reasons, including being a good teammate, working hard, being coachable, etc.

Girls - Hannah Ax

Boys - Christopher Crepeau

The Spirit Stick - This is an award that is passed down and carried for a year like the Stanley Cup. This year, the winner was Madeleine Dombrowski.

Congrats everyone!

We use this space to highlight our amazing personal achievements of our amazing divers, and tonight will be no exception. But, at the end of the day, this is also a team sport where anyone from age 7 to 17 has an opportunity to contribute to the team's success. Team standings are kept. We've been holding our own in a very difficult division all season. Entering tonight, we were facing the last undefeated team in our division, the Whomping Turtles of Highlands Swim. By our calculations we were expected to lose by a significant margin, but with a win tonight, we would finish in a tie for the division title (and the 3 foot tall trophy that comes with it).

Our divers really showed up tonight. We had some clutch performances and three divers dove up an age group to fill age groups where Highlands had holes in their roster. I'm so proud of these kids...they came out and dove hard. We ended up falling to them by a 36-35 score, but we certainly made it uncomfortable for them and it was a very exciting night.

The tone was set early by Sam Heller who amazed in her second place finish and picked up three points against their very strong freshman girls. Then Toby Chen followed suit with a second place in Freshman boys, and Zach Mathieson with another point in 3rd. After the 10 and unders, we were trailing 11-7, which was already exceeding our expectations. Sam, Reid Heller and Peter Goehring established new personal bests tonight! We also extend a special welcome to Peter, who made is A meet debut!

In the Junior groups, Hannah Ax grabbed a team point with her third place finish. Charlie Morrison (1st) and Christopher Crepeau (3rd) helped our Juniors grab another 7, so now we're standing at 14-22 halfway through the meet. Thomas Dombrowski bravely dove up an age group to help ensure those points. Christopher, Charlie, and Audrey Wheeler all set new personal bests tonight!

We started our comeback in the Intermediate age group. Knowing both teams had gaps in their roster in both genders here, we asked Savannah Potter to dive up and she ended up winning the Intermediate Girls event and setting a new personal best! We knew that they had no Intermediate Boys on their roster, so we asked Logan DiBenigno to dive up and his effort helped us steal another three points with his second place finish. Charlie Gent came out and destroyed his old personal best in his first place finish - nearly setting the pool record! 

So, now we're actually leading 27-26 heading into the Senior groups, but we knew we had an uphill battle ahead of us.

Ellie Joyce won the senior girls group, and Luke DiBenigno fought hard for his 2nd place finish against a focused senior diver making his last attempt at setting his own pool's record. Riley Shelton and Paige Shelton set new personal bests tonight!

All told, we fell just one point shy, but we were expecting to lose by 15-20 points, so everyone should be very proud of the effort tonight. I'm so excited for the future of this team next year!

Full Results Here

Eleven Thunder Ducks took the gigantic Quacker Jack meet by Storm today. In what is a rite of passage for many NVSL divers, our DH future stars had a fantastic day!

This meet provides medals for the top 6 finishers, but we had three divers miss top 6 by the slimmest of margins, so we'll be highlighting the top 8 finishers today. Some of these events had 30 people in them.

Sam Heller was our top finisher today, who finished in 2nd place in the 10 year old girls group!

Thomas Dombrowski earned a third place finish for the second consecutive year! This time in 9 year old boys.

Christopher Crepeau landed in 5th in the 11 year old boys group!

In the 8 year old boys group, Peter Goehring and Reid Heller just missed landing in the medal slots by finishing back-to-back in 7th and 8th, respectively.

And an even closer near-miss, Madeleine Dombrowski missed 6th place by just one tenth of a point in 11 year old girls. Seventh is still an awesome finish, though!

Also joining in the fun were Arianna Potter, Hannah Robbins, Leah Robbins and Clara Zelle James.

Read the full results here and be amazed at our team!

In this crazy, topsy-turvy week, we laughed, we cried, we waited out storms, we bought pizza...so much pizza. At the end of the day, we also WUMBOED! Despite moving the meet to Wakefield Chapel because of a last-minute "water quality issue" at DH, the T-Ducks came out of Annandale (and Manager John Aldonas' home team) with a 39-32 win!

Onto the meet deets!!

First, let's welcome Reid Heller, who dove in his first meet for Freshman Boys. Welcome Reid, and a Wumbo to you!

Helen Butler won the Freshman Girls event! Well done, Helen! Sam Heller finished in a key third place spot to steal a team point. Sam also set a personal best. It's nice when siblings can bond over things like setting personal bests together, don't you think? Lainey Cestaro, Arianna Potter and Emma Perkins all also set new personal bests tonight!

BUT WAIT, how great was Helen's singing of the national anthem at the start of the meet? Which was actually on Tuesday, and would have been great on any day of the week!

In the Freshman Boys event, Toby Chen continued his amazing rookie season with a second place finish. Joe Matheison was third.

Hannah Ax claimed the third place finish in the Junior Girls group. While both Audrey Wheeler and Madeleine Dombrowski set new personal bests!

Charlie Morrison set a new personal best with his first place finish in Junior Boys, while Logan DiBenigno was right behind him in 2nd place!

Our Intermediate Girls swept the event. Savannah Potter dove up and age group and won the event, setting a new personal best! Morgan Shelton was in second.

In this tight meet, one key to our team victory tonight was Ellie Potts' gutsy second place finish by just 4.5 points over their third place finisher. Ellie Joyce was in first. Congrats to Paige Shelton for setting a new personal best tonight!

Our Senior Boys picked up second and third place finishes from Luke DiBenigno and Joseph Nixon, respectively. Joseph also set a new personal best.

Full Results Here

In summary: 

Yay a pool with a three meter springboard! Can't we just get through this meet because that looks like so much fun!!

Yes, Donaldson Run has a three meter springboard, and maybe some of our death-defying feats will make the end of year video, but first, the recap.

This is the county-wide B meet involving each of the four Arlington NVSL team (Overlee, Donaldson Run, Arlington Forest and Dominion Hills). We called it the "Almost All Arlington" this year because Overlee had a scheduling conflict.

In the 8 and under boys group, Peter Goehring finished an impressive 2nd place!

In the 9-10 year old boys, Thomas Dombrowski also finished in 2nd! Great work to you both!

In the 9-10 girls group, Hannah Robbins finished 9th

Madeleine Dombrowski won the 11 and up girls group! Leah Robbins finished 5th.

On to the 3 meter springboard!

A group of intrepid Thunder Ducks made their way to Oakton for the annual Wally Martin Memorial meet. A large meet that has been crowning a 3 meter champion since 1968 and Synchro Champs since 2016. As one of the oldest teams in the NVSL, it makes sense to continue the tradition, despite having neither a 3 meter board nor a twin 1 meter board. On to the results.

Ellie Joyce won the 3 Meter event for Senior Girls (her third win at this event). Riley Shelton was 13th and Ellie Potts was 16th.

On the Synchro side, we were represented by four teams:

The team of Savannah Potter and Helen Butler finished 2nd in the 12 and under girls competition. Amazing work!

In the 12 and under boys group, Zach Matheison and Thomas Dombrowski finished in 10th.

In the 13 and Up girls event, Ellie Joyce won the event with her partner from Sideburn Run, Amanda Stalfort. This is Ellie's fourth synchro win.

Ellie Potts and Riley Shelton finished in 14th.

Full 3 Meter Results Here

Full Synchro Results Here

It was a lovely night for diving and pizza and diving again as the T-Ducks hit the boards against our friendly neighbors from Arlington Forest. We don't track team scores in B meets, so both teams were winners tonight! But we do celebrate our divers' amazing individual accomplishments. Lots of first-time divers tonight, so let's get right to it.

In the 7 year old girls group, Arianna Potter earned first place!

Reid Heller took home a blue ribbon in the 8 year old boys event in his first ever meet!

In the 10 year old girls group, Sam Heller (1st) and Hannah Robbins (3rd) brought home some hardware. This was Hannah's first meet.

For the 10 year old boys, Jude Erickson and and Thad Odderstol finished first and second, respectively in their debuts!

in the 11 year old girls group, Audrey Wheeler won first place. Meanwhile, June Odderstol (2nd) and Shea Erickson both dove in their first meets!

Clara Zelle James took home the blue ribbon in the 12 year old girls group in her first meet.

Finally, in the 13 and up group, Olivia Tighe finished in second and Leah Robbins finished in third in her first ever meet!

Full Results Here

After threatening to storm all day, the weather held up just fine and it was a beautiful night for diving. In what was a very close meet throughout between two very evenly-matched teams, the T-Ducks fell just a hair (feather?) short to Crosspointe by a score of 35-33.

Despite this result, there were some fantastic individual efforts tonight. Let's start off with a warm welcome to Christopher Crepeau who competed in his first A Meet and set a new personal best!

For the Freshmen, Helen Butler grabbed a second place award for the girls and so did Joe Mathieson In the Boys. Zack Mathieson got third.

Our super Junior Girls swept their event again and have still not given up any team points in that age group to the opponent. Congrats again to Savannah Potter (1st), Hannah Ax (2nd) and Olivia Maco (3rd) for sweeping the podium there.

In the Junior Boys, Charlie Morrison returned to practice just this week from injury and still managed to walk away with a first place finish and set a new personal best!

In the Intermediate Girls, Morgan Shelton finished in third place and set a new personal best!

In the Senior Girls, Ellie Joyce (1st) and Riley Shelton (3rd) earned 6 team points.

In the Senior Boys, Joseph Nixon earned a first place finish!

Full Results Here

Twenty eight Thunder Ducks showed up tonight for our first home meet of the season and boy did they bring all their thunder to this one. DH stormed out with a 47-23 victory on the strength of another dominating performance by our Junior Girls, one diver making her team debut and a team record was set for the second consecutive week. Read on to learn more.

Things were all tied up after the first two freshman rounds after Helen Butler (2nd), and Eleanor Goehring (3rd) racked up 4 team points. On the boys side, Toby Chen won the Freshman boys event, which got us another 5 points. Boys Thomas Dombrowski, Zane Neckel and Babi Aldonas all set new personal bests. A special welcome to Arianna Potter who dove in her first meet tonight, and set a new personal record!

With the score knotted up at 9, our Junior Girls swept their event again and remain undefeated on the season. Every single one of them came out and set new personal bests tonight. Way to go Savannah Potter (1st), Olivia Maco (2nd), Hannah Ax (3rd), Madeleine Dombrowski and Hayden Shelton. Way to go Junior Girls!

DH had just one Junior Boy tonight: Logan DiBenigno took home the blue ribbon and set a new best along the way!

Morgan Shelton established a new personal best while finishing second in Intermediate Girls!

Charlie Gent started practice only this week and still managed a fantastic performance by winning the Intermediate Boys event!

In both senior events, DH took home 1st and 2nd places. For the girls, it was Ellie Joyce (1st) and Riley Shelton (2nd). For the Boys, it was Luke DiBenigno (1st) and Joseph Nixon (2nd). Luke and Riley joined Dakota Bannach, Paige Shelton and Abby Putnam in establishing new personal bests!

Luke's personal best also shattered the Dominion Hills Senior Boys record which had stood since 2007. Amazing diving Luke! Luke now owns three of the four pool records for boys.

This team continues to amaze me and I can't wait to see what the next three weeks bring.

Full results can be found here

This 2022 season started off great. The weather was perfect, the host pool was fantastic, and many personal bests were set...so many personal bests...and oh yeah the Thunder Ducks walked away with the convincing win, 44-19. But the highlight of the night was the impromptu synchronized diving practice at the conclusion of the meet.

The T-Ducks swept the first three events of the swiftly-moving meet, leading 27-0 before 6:30. We have so many enthusiastic younger divers that make this team fun and the future is indeed bright for this team.

All told, we had four first place finishers, 6 second place finishers and 6 third place finishers, each earning valuable team points.

Helen Butler(1), Eleanor Goehring(2) and Emma Perkins(3) swept the "podium" at the Freshman Girls event while setting new personal bests along the way. Sam Heller and Lainey Cestaro joined Emma in competing in their first ever A meet and setting personal bests! Awesome job!

Our Freshman Boys also swept their events. Congrats to Joe Mathieson(1), Zach Mathieson(2) and Thomas Dombrowski(3). Joe and Zach also established new personal bests in the event.

Sweeping was contagious among the Junior Girls as Hannah Ax(1), Savannah Potter(2), and Olivia Maco(3) all set new personal bests.

In the Junior Boys event, Logan DiBenigno set a personal best in his second place finish and Toby Chen dove up an age group on his first year on the team in his A meet debut while setting a new personal best.

Morgan Shelton established a new personal best with her third place finish in Intermediate Girls.

In the senior events, Ellie Joyce broke her own pool record with a score of 263.35 in her first place finish. Dakota Bannach earned a second place spot. Luke DiBenigno (2) and Joseph Nixon (3) earned top three finishes and Joseph established a new personal best. Kian McMahon set a new personal best in his first year in this highest age group.

Final results here