Anthony Cummin, 9, leads the defending team champion Kaiserslautern Kingfish in singing along with the Village People song, "YMCA", during the parade of teams to open up the 2012 European Forces Swim League championships Saturday at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Anthony Cummin, 9, leads the defending team champion Kaiserslautern Kingfish in singing along with the Village People song, "YMCA", during the parade of teams to open up the 2012 European Forces Swim League championships Saturday at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Mackenzie Burgoyne, 8, with the SHAPE Seals comes up for air during her first place performance in the girls 8-and-under 100-meter Individual Medley Saturday at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Gabriela Ousley-Naseman, 9, with the Stuttgart Piranhas, turns into the backstroke leg of the 100-meter Individual Medley Saturday at Eindhoven, Netherlands. Ousley-Naseman took the top honors in the event for her age group with a time of 1:26.56. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
SHAPE Seal Benjamin Balla, 10, tries to make up ground during the breaststroke portion of the 100-meter Individual Medley. Balla, finishing second with a time of 1:22.75, wasn't able to catch teammate Gregor Heim, who won the gold medal in the event for the 10-year-old boys. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Dominic Scifo, 12, with the Lakenheath Barracudas, cruises ahead of the competition in the 12-year-old boys 100-meter Individual Medley on Saturday during the opening day of the European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. Scifo took first place in the event with a time of 1:12.25. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
James Jones, 14, with the Vicenza Mako Sharks, finishes the 13-14 100-meter freestyle on Saturday during the European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. Jones won gold and shattered the existing league record by almost two seconds, finishing with a time of 56.41. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Vincent de Munter, 11, from the Geilenkirchen Orcas, cruises to a first-place finish and a new league record in the 11-year-old boys 50-meter butterfly during Saturday action at the 2012 European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Brian Burke, 14, with the Sigonella Swordfish, competes in the 100-meter butterfly during Saturday's opening day action of the 2012 European Forces Swim League championships at Eindhoven, Netherlands. Burke finished third in the event, behind Marcello Rossi, 13, from Brussels and James Jones, 14, from Vicenza. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Chantel Wynn, 16, from the Wiesbaden Wahoos cruises to a first place finish in the girls 15-16 100-meter butterfly during opening day action Saturday of the 2012 European Forces Swim League championships. Wynn's time of 1:09.67 was an improvement of her previous best time by almost two seconds. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
Kilian Korth, 16, from the Lakenheath Barracudas looks to see his final time following his gold medal performance in the boys 15-16 100-meter butterfly. Korth's time of 1:02.74 was enough to outlast silver medalist Philipp Langhaeuser, 16, from the Berlin Bear-A-Cudas, who finished the race in 1:06.32. (Mark Patton/Stars and Stripes)
EINDHOVEN, Netherlands - Most talk about aquatic sports lately is centered on the upcoming Summer Olympics.
But for swimmers who attend DODDS and international schools throughout Europe, the place to be this weekend is the Netherlands.
For the third straight year, Eindhoven’s Nationaal Zwemcentrum de Tongelreep is playing host to the annual European Forces Swim League championship meet, which kicked off Saturday. The final two-day competition of the season showcases 587 swimmers, ages 6 to 19, from 19 teams.
In a pool that is already known as “fast,” a whopping 13 league records were set Saturday.
Leading the way on the first day was a newcomer to the EFSL. Eleven-year-old Vincent de Munter from the Geilenkirchen Orcas dominated his competition en route to four first place finishes and two league records.
The Orcas’ budding star bested league marks in the 50-meter butterfly and the 50-meter breaststroke, both of which had been unchallenged since 2007.
De Munter showed a maturity and understanding of the sport during his 200-meter freestyle race, where his split at the halfway mark was 1:12.28. Instead of burning out, he was able to complete a balanced race, finishing in 2:29.77, more than 20 seconds faster than the next finisher.
Another Saturday standout was Chantel Wynn from the Wiesbaden Wahoos. After her 2011 championship performance, where she lost out the top spot on the medal stand three different times by a combined total of seven-tenths of a second, Wynn outlasted Heidi Northshield of the SHAPE Seals in her first race of this season’s championships, the 100-meter freestyle.
“I expected to be much better than last year, but I didn’t expect to win,” the Wiesbaden High School junior said. By the end of Saturday’s races, she had won three times.
A pair of sisters swimming for the Stuttgart Piranhas had no need for sibling rivalry. Nine-year-old Gabriela Ousley-Naseman and her 12-year-old sister, Caroline, each racked up three firsts.
Caroline said her weekend is about more than a medal count.
“It would be an honor to win a lot of golds, but it doesn’t really matter; I just want to drop time and have fun,” she said.
In a league characterized by volunteer coaches, officials and workers at the meets, how the sisters ended up swimming for Stuttgart is characteristic of the sacrifice that many swimming families involved in EFSL make.
Ben Ousley-Naseman, Gabriela and Caroline’s father, is assigned to the U.S. Consulate in Krakow, Poland. But the family makes an 8 ½ to 11 hour commute so their daughters and son – who didn’t qualify for champs - can swim with the Stuttgart team at meets and occasional practices. They chose Stuttgart because they have family stationed there.
Other triple winners in individual events on Saturday were:
Sebastian Lunak, 9, NATO Marlins; Gregor Heim, 10, SHAPE; Niki Buggenhout, 11, Brussels Octopus; Dominic Scifo, 12, Lakenheath Barracudas; Alaina Scifo, 13, Lakenheath; Kilian Korth, 16, Lakenheath ; Helene Seegert, 17, NATO.
Additional league records were set by:
James Jones, 14, Vicenza Mako Sharks (100-meter freestyle); Lunak (50-meter butterfly); Adela Stepankova, 11, NATO (50-meter butterfly); James Anderson, 9, Vicenza (50-meter breaststroke); Buggenhout (50-meter breaststroke); Marina Zielinski, 15, Stuttgart (100-meter breaststroke); Philipp Hegner, 16, Berlin Bear-A-Cudas (100-meter breaststroke); Slater Sabel, 8, Sigonella Swordfish (200-meter freestyle); Paris Binard, 9, Kaiserslautern Kingfish (200-meter freestyle); D. Scifo (200-meter freestyle; Marcello Rossi, 13, Brussels (400-meter freestyle).
Competition resumes at 9:15 a.m. on Sunday.
