Piranha Families,

As we enter our final week of the regular season, the Saturday meets and lip sync battles may be behind us but we still have plenty of excitement ahead! See what’s coming up this week for our swimmers and divers.

🏁 Weekly Recap

Piranhas Take on Hiddenbrook in Season’s Biggest B Meet

Despite a long evening at the pool, Pinecrest showed tremendous spirit during our B meet against Hiddenbrook. As the meet stretched later into the night, our swimmers stayed focused, continued to cheer each other on, and gave their best effort in every race.

Divers Dominate at Mantua

Our diving piranhas had another strong meet, sweeping or placing in each of the categories where we had athletes competing. Way to go divers!

Pinecrest Sends 4 Teams to All Star Relays!

What an incredible accomplishment for Pinecrest! We are thrilled to celebrate our four relay teams that qualified for the NVSL Relay All Stars—an honor reserved for the league's fastest relay teams. These swimmers have worked hard all season, and their teamwork and dedication paid off in a big way.

A special congratulations goes to our 15–18 Boys 200m Freestyle Relay team of David Chan, Ken White, Elijah Koh, and Charles Gibson. They raced to an outstanding third-place finish while breaking their own Pinecrest pool record! Improving on an already record-setting performance is an extraordinary achievement and a testament to their hard work, teamwork, and determination.

Annual Lollipop Meet Sweet as Ever

Thank you to everyone who helped make our annual 8&U Lollipop Meet a success, and a huge congratulations to our brave Pee-Wees and first-time meet swimmers!

Pinecrest Holds Out vs. Hamlet

Pinecrest pulled off an exciting 218-202 victory over Hamlet in a competition that stayed close from the first event to the last. With the outcome hanging on just a few clutch races, our swimmers rose to the occasion, delivering outstanding performances when it mattered most. Every point counted, and the teamwork and resilience shown by our athletes helped us beat the odds and come away with the win. Congratulations to all our swimmers, coaches, and families for an unforgettable team effort. Go Pinecrest!

Piranhas of the Week

🏊 Everly DeMartino (Swim – Girls)

🏊 Vaibhav Boini (Swim – Boy)

🤸 Peyton Davis (Dive)

Piranhas of the Meet

🐟 Bobby Ferssizidis & Natalie Shlesinger

🔜 Coming Up This Week

🏊 Practice Schedule:

• Regular practices Monday–Wednesday
• Thursday & Friday: Divisionals swimmers only
  • 👉 Wondering what Divisionals is all about? Check out our Parent Guide.

Monday – Final B Meet of the Season @ Fox Mill Woods

• Don’t miss our final B Meet of the year as we swim against Fox Mill Woods!
• Please sign up to volunteer! Reach out to Paul Shlesinger at [email protected]

Tuesday – Final Dive Meet Hamlet @ Pinecrest + PIRANHA-THON!

• Our final dive meet of the season is on Tuesday at 6:00pm against Hamlet. Be sure to come cheer on your diving Piranhas! For divers competing at Divisionals, there will be a bonus practice session at Hamlet on Wednesday 7/22 from 6:00pm-7:00pm. Our final practice of the season will be on Friday 7/24. Be on the lookout for information to come about winter dive. And if you have photos of your divers from this season, please upload to the shared Google photo album so dive can be included in the banquet slide show!
• 🐟 Piranha-thon is happening this Tuesday 7/21 for Swim Team and Wednesday 7/22 for Dive Team!
  • During our regular practice times on Tuesday (swim) and Wednesday (dive), Pinecrest will be hosting our FIRST ever Piranha-Thon fundraiser!
  • Swimmers will challenge themselves to complete as many laps as they can during practice, while divers will work to complete as many quality dives as possible. Friends, family, and neighbors can support our Piranhas by making a donation or pledging an amount per lap or per dive.

Why We're Fundraising

This year's goal is to raise funds for:

• New lane lines
• Kickboards and other training equipment
• New dive gear

Every dollar raised helps improve our program and provide better equipment for all of our athletes.

Piranha Pack Challenge 🐟

Think your pack has what it takes? Each swimmer’s and diver's fundraising total will count toward their Piranha Pack's overall total. At the end of the fundraiser, the Piranha Pack that raises the most money will earn bragging rights and a special team reward!

How to Participate

• Share the pledge form and ask family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to sponsor your Piranha. Donations can be made as:
  • A flat donation or
  • A pledge per lap swum or dive completed
• Come to practice ready to give your best effort!

Every lap, every dive, and every donation makes a difference.

Let's work together to make this our biggest fundraiser yet. Go Piranhas!

🏊 Wednesday – Last Day of Regular Practices

🏊 Thursday & Friday – Practice for Divisionals Swimmers Only

🏆 Saturday – Swim Divisionals & End-of-Season Banquet

Swim Divisionals will take place at Cardinal Hill on Saturday morning (beginning with Backstroke events this year), followed by our annual End-of-Season Swim & Dive Banquet that evening. Meet us in the Pinecrest parking lot at 6:00pm for our team celebration, and be sure to bring chairs, dinner for yourself, and a dessert to share!

🏆 Sunday – Dive Divisionals

Cheer on our fearless Divisional divers at Hamlet!

🗓 Stay Tuned: Upcoming Events

🏅 Individual All Stars @ Vienna Woods: Saturday, August 1

Following Divisionals, the top 18 swimmers in each event from the entire NVSL (based solely on times swum at Divisionals) will be seeded to compete in Individual All Stars, with two alternates named. Any Pinecrest swimmers who qualify will be notified directly on Saturday evening.

🏅 Individual Dive All Stars: Sunday, August 2

Based entirely on placement performance at Divisionals, the NVSL will select divers for Individual All Stars. To automatically qualify, a diver must compete in their specific age group at Divisionals, complete the meet without a DQ, and be one of the top two finishers in each event.

📸 Picture Perfect!

Access your child’s photos here using the code provided on picture day. If you lost your code, please reach out to the team reps at [email protected]. To order the team photo only, you can use the access code PINE26.

🏊 Clinics

Monday – IM

Tuesday – Freestyle & Backstroke

Wednesday – Breaststroke & Butterfly

Thursday – Racing & Speed Work

Friday – Starts, Turns & Finishes

👉 Sign up for clinics

🏊 Private Lessons

Just because the season is winding down doesn’t mean you can’t keep developing your swimmer’s skills. Schedule a private lesson with any of our Pinecrest coaches! Call, text, or email the coach of your choice to discuss availability and lesson details.

📸 Relive all the season’s highlights captured in the 2026 Pinecrest Swim & Dive Photo Album. Check out the newest pics and upload your own photos to share.

Follow us on Instagram @pinecrestpiranhas

Thank you for all your support throughout the season and as we finish these final weeks strong! We truly appreciate all the hours volunteered, practice time logged, donuts donated, pep rallies attended, and lip sync rehearsal time put in. We love this Pinecrest community and truly could not do it without you. All those smiles and cheers from the kids on the pool deck make it worth it!

Let’s go, Pinecrest! 🐟💙🐟

Your Pinecrest Swim & Dive Team Reps