Teams On Fire – MCPS Divisionals (PHOTOS)

This past weekend after covering an emotional schoolboy hardwood battle between Georgetown Prep and Landon Friday night I picked my cameras back up on Saturday and headed out to Germantown.

Weekends such as this are fun for parents and their student athletes.  It all comes to a fine dénouement – for end of season events known in this county as Divisionals.  Yes for some sports these divisional meets are stepping stones to state playoffs or titles or swimming metros.  But it’s probably the biggest weekend for school spirit display that you will find in this county.

I could not be everywhere with the camera on Saturday – so I picked the Germantown area for convenience since MCPS would hold its Division 1 Swimming championship at the Germantown Aquatic center and then just down the road it was three Divisional Pom team championships (l,ll & lll) at Northwest High School.  I was able to only cover parts of Division ll at Northwest.

I must make this disclaimer now – I am former swim team parent and POM Dad – so I know somethings about both sports.

Here is a collection of my favorite photos from Saturday that I did not tweet out to my followers (@Photoloaf) one of whom are the good folks here at MCM.

Lastly, I  left in a few redo photos with a little charm – see what you think and let me know if it works for you or not.  My favorite is “Poms on Fire”.  I took some liberty with a few of the pom photos to show the fire and electricity that these athletes bring to the sport and to the floor that they are on – it all emanates from the “pom” itself.  Have fun – pick those photos out.

Backstroke from the overlook lane 4

Churchill swimmer Emily Wang

Heading into the Wall

Wet feet for Whitman Vikes

Blair’s Ethan Amitay in the Breastroke

Mirror images Emily Wang (L5) and Hannah Lindsey (L4)

Winner – WJ’s Ashley Piepol (L2) in the 100 YD Breaststroke

Best of the Best – always a hand shake at the end of the pool.

Fluidity in the water – Original Version shot from Dive Platform

Electric Water – Version 2 of previous original photo

Seneca Valley Pom Captain – Amy Ingram with the arm band.

Start and Finish pose routine for SVHS Poms

Quince Orchard Poms out front

Hold that pose for the judges.

My favorite – Poms on Fire

It all starts when they pick up the pom.  Here is where the energy lies – within that pom.

RM poms give the straightest lines of any group IMHO.

Poolesville Falcons – got that Pom Energy

All up in the air – Richard Montgomery

Pom Electricity – Levitates RM Poms

Drum roll please for the Poolesville Pom’s – their fans had to win that Spirit Award

Whitman Vike Pom’s got that look down for the judges.

More Vikes

Alyssa Collins holds a Pom doll during the competition and roots on Whitman where he Aunt Kayla is a coach

About Phil Fabrizio

Phil Fabrizio is an event, news and sports photographer in the Washington D.C. Metro area. He lives in North Potomac and has operated Sugarloaf Photography since 1985. He is a member of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce and serves on the board of the Glen Echo Partnership for Arts and Culture, Inc in Glen Echo. Stop by Phil's PhotoLoaf site or follow him on Twitter @Photoloaf. Find Phil's blog on MyMCMedia here.

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