And thus began Doug’s membership of the NorthWest Branch Dolphins, a team and a club that would play an important part in his life for a decade and a half to follow.

His early swimming for NWB also would launch Doug into year-round swimming with RMSC. In his young career, Doug would set and break numerous records – more than a couple of dozen at NWB alone, probably the most ever by one swimmer in almost half a century. Doug would break other records with RMSC and at high school, swim in the Junior Nationals in 2008 and 2009, get numerous National Age Group awards, qualify as an All-American and make a U.S. Open cut.

Equally as important, however, he made numerous friends in swimming and he will be the first to tell you that records are made to be broken.

Many good people had a positive influence on Doug and helped in his swimming the past 15 years – not the least of them other NWB coaches, Martin Young and Geza Illes.  Doug first learned of Gonzaga High School -- where he would he himself would excel -- from Geza, a young man we were blessed to know and who set an example of how to live life.

All of which is a long way from a four-year-old boy gazing out at those big kids from behind the ropes, who was recognized as a “swimmer” by coach with an eye for talent. She certainly wasn’t wrong on that count.

Haley Crock

Haley began swimming for NWB when she was nine, and has always been enthusiastic about the Dolphins. The Dolphins also seem to like her -- she won the Gaza Illes Award in 2005 and the Jason Trapp Award in 2000 as a young swimmer. This year she has been lucky to make a lot of new friends as the coach of the Pre-Team.

She had such a good time swimming in the summer that she has also swam for her high school team, St. Johns College, all four years.  She was the captain of the SJC Girls' Swim Team for her last two years and received the Coaches Award in her Senior Year.

In May Haley graduated from Saint Johns where she participated in the De La Salle Scholars program.  In addition to swimming, she played flute and piccolo in the Wind Ensemble and Regimental Band, and sang in the a-capella vocal group "Grace Notes".   The honors that Haley earned during her four years at SJC include:

Membership in the National Honor Society,

A Music Award for Vocal, Instrumental and Composition Achievement, and

SJC's "Citizenship" award to recognize Leadership, Patriotism, Service and Loyalty to Saint John's.

She will attend the University of Maryland in the fall majoring in Electrical Engineering, and plans to participate in the Marching Band also.

Claire Murphy

Claire joined the swim team when she was 6 years old, and swam every year until she was in 10th grade, when she decided to take a break from swimming. After a boring summer, she decided to return to the team last year. During the summer off, she was a member of multiple soccer teams which unfortunately conflicted with swim team. In addition to swimming for Northwest Branch, Claire was a member of the Blake High School swim team for two years and a four year member of the Blake soccer program. Claire has always enjoyed the social aspects of being on the NWB team, especially when she reached the 15-18 age group and could make late night visits to other teams and decorate their pools. Claire will be attending the University of Maryland in the fall, majoring in marketing and Romance Languages in the Smith School of Business.

Andrew Padgett

Andrew, the last of five brothers, arrived on a snowy day in Berlin, Germany, in April of 1991, just after the two Germanys reunified.  By 1992 he and his family had returned to the States and have lived in Silver Spring ever since. 

After attending French Immersion classes until 8th grade, Andrew registered at Blake High School.  There he swam for the swim team and even studied AP Statistics in a class taught by his Northwest Branch swim coach.  A member of the National Honor Society and the French National Honor Society, Andrew graduated this past June with a top-notch academic record.  Now, as he leaves Northwest Branch, he wants to thank Mr. Fribush and all the coaches who have helped him. Always a leader in cheers, Andrew looks forward to supporting the team in the coming years. This fall, Andrew is off to study English at Tufts University in Boston, so send him your warm thoughts in January and February as he adjusts to New England winters. 

Melanie Snail

Melanie joined Northwest Branch when she was eight years old and instantly fell in love with the pool.  Over the years she has made many friends at NWB and created too many good memories to count.  No matter where she makes waves in the future, NWB will always have a special place in her heart. 

One of her biggest achievements while swimming for the dolphins has been obtaining and retaining the 8 & under 25 fly record (hahahaha).  It’s a feat of which she is extremely proud.  Her biggest aspiration for the remainder of the summer is to beat the fourteen year-old team record for 15-18 50 fly.   

Ever since she was a young dolphin, she has dreamed of being a coach.  This summer, Melanie’s dream finally came true and she can’t wait to return to NWB again next summer.  It has been a truly memorable experience being able to lead a team she loves so much. 

This year, Melanie graduated from the Communication Arts Program at Montgomery Blair High School.  She graduated with a 4.0 GPA, completed 9 AP classes and started a successful mentoring program for elementary school children.  In the fall, she’ll be heading to the University of Virginia, where she plans on continuing club swimming and studying languages, international relations, and archaeology.

Nicole Wannen

Nicky has been a member of the NWB Swim Team since 1996. She wasn’t given much of a choice – her older brother Kyle and older sister Molly were already swimmers and Saturday mornings just meant the family was at NWB or some other pool, and swimming was better than having to be there anyway and not swimming. Nicky pretty quickly became a Saturday swimmer too, usually freestyle and backstroke. And younger sister Caroline will be around for a few more years.  

Our favorite memories include freestyle relays with Molly and Nicky on the same relay team and that very short time on the NWB record board. Movie day, the pancake breakfast and camping sleepovers are a few of her strong memories.  A new dress for the Banquet and the highly anticipated slide show were always a great way to end swim season.  And don’t forget the time dad had to paint fingernails on all three girls because mom was out of town for the Banquet. 

In the early days, Nicky was always in the company of Sarah Garza or Melanie, Claire or Melissa Mergner. Swimming was usually an afterthought for the girls though. From the first meet they were always thinking about choreography and what song they would perform at lip-sync night.  

Nicky swam for Blake High School freshman, sophomore and junior years. Nicky was also a student in my AP Statistics class, and was a student aide for me at Blake during her senior year. In addition, Nicky also excelled at other sports, lettering three years in Field Hockey and four Lacrosse at Blake, captaining both the varsity field hockey and lacrosse teams her senior year. She earned a number of nominations to All-Gazette and All-County teams.   

Nicky will move to Winston Salem, NC next month to attend Wake Forest University where she says she might become an accountant like her old man. Or maybe psychology so she can figure the rest of us out. 

Thanks to all her teammates and coaches and the parents who made NWB Swimming so much fun. 

Nicky is accompanied by her parents, Mark and Lois.

Footnote From Coach Jared Fribush...

The coaches, swimmers, and parents at Northwest Branch would like to congratulate all of the graduating swimmers. We hope that each of you has gotten as much out of your experience with the Dolphins as we have from watching you grow as swimmers and people. We would like to wish you the best as you continue your successes in college and life, and we hope to see you back at Northwest Branch cheering on the Dolphins next year.