The schedule is set and the eight divisions of teams have been arranged for the start of the summertime’s diving competition in the Northern Virginia Swimming League.
The five-week regular season begins with evening meets on Tuesday, June 18, concluding on July 16, followed by divisional and individual all-star meets.
Among the NVSL’s 48 teams are many from the GazetteLeader's coverage areas.
The two-time defending champion Oakton Otters return in the top Division I, looking to win a third straight title.
Oakton will begin the summer campaign having won 15 straight NVSL matches. The Otters won Division II with a 5-0 mark in 2021, then moved up to Division I for the 2022 season.
Joining Oakton in Division I are Arlington teams Donaldson Run and Overlee, Vienna Woods, Old Keene Mill of Burke and Fairfax.
Donaldson Run and Overlee tied for last summer’s Division II championship, and have moved up to the top division for the 2024 campaign. Those Arlington rivals meet at Overlee in a July 9 meet.
Falling out of Division one this summer are Lee Graham, now in Division II, and Sleepy Hollow Recreation, in Division III.
In those opening June 18 meets, Donaldson Run will visit Fairfax, Overlee travels to Vienna Woods and Old Keene Mill hosts Oakton.
Kent Gardens of McLean is expected to be a top team in Division II, having finished 3-1-1 in that spot last summer. Highlands Swim Club of McLean and Dominion Hills of Arlington are other local teams in Division II. Highlands was the Division III champion last summer, with Dominion Hills second.
Highlands and Kent Gardens meet in the opening week of the 2024 season.
Dunn Loring of Vienna is the one local team in Division III.
Division IV includes local squads Chesterbrook of McLean and Great Falls, while Vienna’s Cardinal Hill is in Division V. Chesterbrook won Division V in 2023.
McLean’s Tuckahoe dives in Division VI this summer, Arlington Forest is in Division VII and McLean’s Hamlet in Division VIII.
A number of top high-school divers compete in the NVSL’s summer season, like 2024 girls standouts Michayla Eisenberg (private-school state champion) for Overlee, Norah Kissinger (top private-school finisher) for Highlands Swim Club, Class 6 2024 girls public-school state champion Marleigh daSilva for Vienna Woods, Class 6 state runner-up Jocelyn Brooks for Kent Gardens, Class 6 third-place finisher Katie Li of Kent Gardens and fourth-place state finisher Isabelle Whang for Oakton.
During the high-school season, Eisenberg dives for Flint Hill School, Kissinger for Oakcrest School, daSilva for Madison, Brooks for McLean, Li for Thomas Jefferson and Whang for Oakton.
McLean High's Nick Wanzer of the NVSL (Vienna Woods) was third in the 2024 boys Class 6 state meet and Lede Thibault of both Oakton teams was fifth. McLean High's Noah Wanzer has also competed for Vienna Woods.
NOTE: Eisenberg will dive in college at Virginia Tech and Brooks at the University of Pittsburgh.
