The FISH

The FISH Pursuing excellence since 1991. The FISH swim team is a USA Swimming Club, founded by Executive Director Ray Benecki.

Coach Ray started the team with a small, dedicated group of swimmers in 1991at Spring Hill RECenter in McLean, VA. Spring Hill has been the home of the FISH team ever since. In 2009, the team added a second site - Audrey Moore at Wakefield Park - to its program. Since then, the team has grown to over 300 members. Most families live in the greater Washington, DC Metropolitan area. In 2009 the team

received the highest honor of Gold Medal Club status awarded by USA Swimming, a status reserved to only very few clubs in the country.

-The FISH Mission-

The team's mission is to encourage the pursuit of excellence, while nurturing a love for the sport of swimming, and developing the values and skills for success in life along the way.

Another LC Super Sectionals is in the books! We had a great weekend in Richmond highlighted by fast swimming, endless ga...
05/19/2026

Another LC Super Sectionals is in the books! We had a great weekend in Richmond highlighted by fast swimming, endless games of Uno and BS, laughs over mad-libs, and even some homework on deck at finals! Full statistics and highlights coming soon!

Registration for the 2026-2027 season is now open! Secure your spot today - we look forward to having you join us. (New ...
05/14/2026

Registration for the 2026-2027 season is now open! Secure your spot today - we look forward to having you join us. (New swimmers must complete try-out assessment prior to registration, follow the link in our bio to try out today!)

The FISH Sectionals Team is back at it - this time at the 2026 Eastern Zone LC Super Sectionals. The competition kicks o...
05/14/2026

The FISH Sectionals Team is back at it - this time at the 2026 Eastern Zone LC Super Sectionals. The competition kicks off Thursday morning in Richmond, VA. Good luck to Isaac, Sarp, Leah, Carter, Hunter, Henry, Luca, Lila, Maddie, Emma, and Marcus!

Last weekend our very own Henry Cooper was able to attend the first ever PVS Select Camp. Henry qualified for this oppor...
04/26/2026

Last weekend our very own Henry Cooper was able to attend the first ever PVS Select Camp. Henry qualified for this opportunity by placing top 3 at an event at the 2026 PVS 14&U Champs - specifically 3rd place in the 11-12 Boys 50 Back! The camp, held at Stone Ridge High School in Maryland was powered by Fitter and Faster who brought in clinicians Destin Lasco and Atiba Wade. The swimmers worked on streamlines, underwaters, starts and turns - but Henry would say his favorite part was meeting Destin (as a fellow backstroker!). Congratulations to Henry for qualifying for this amazing experience!

Congratulations to our March FISH of the Month, Riley Pelaez!Riley is an 8-year-old swimmer in the Audrey Moore Age Grou...
04/22/2026

Congratulations to our March FISH of the Month, Riley Pelaez!

Riley is an 8-year-old swimmer in the Audrey Moore Age Group program. Now in her third year with the team, she began as a 6-year-old in Mini FISH. Riley has been selected as our March FISH of the Month in recognition of her outstanding attendance, consistent work ethic in both practice and dryland, and her exceptional performances at Mini Champs, Spring Championships, and the ISCA Elite Showcase.

At Mini Champs, Riley scored the highest number of points of any FISH swimmer and was a member of the record-breaking 8 & Under 100 Freestyle Relay. Notably, she was the only FISH swimmer to surpass 100 points at the meet.

She continued her success at Spring Championships, where she earned top-three finishes in three events to qualify for finals. Riley was the highest-placing 8-year-old swimmer in the 50 Backstroke, 50 Breaststroke, 50 Freestyle, 100 Freestyle, and 200 Freestyle. She contributed 103 points to the team’s first-place finish and achieved personal best times in all six of her events.

At the ISCA Elite Showcase—a national-level meet featuring top 14 & under swimmers—Riley once again delivered an impressive performance, recording six additional personal bests. Her preliminary swim in the 100 Backstroke earned her a spot in the 9 & under final, where she was the only swimmer under the age of nine. She also continued to improve in the 100 Freestyle, dropping another four seconds and bringing her total season improvement in the event to 13 seconds, narrowly missing the team record in the 8 & Under age group.

Riley’s accomplishments are a reflection of her dedication and drive, and this is only the beginning of what promises to be an exciting swimming career. We look forward to seeing her continued growth and success. Congratulations, Riley—and keep up the great work!

The FISH Alumni were at full force representing their college club teams at the 2026 College Club Swim Nationals in Gree...
04/12/2026

The FISH Alumni were at full force representing their college club teams at the 2026 College Club Swim Nationals in Greensboro, NC! Congratulations to Clara Do (UMass), Paige Murray (Michigan State), Meghan Murray (Pitt), Sofia Creeks (George Mason), Sydney Guthrie (WashU), Abby Stein (NC State) and Timmy Adye (UVA)! We are proud of you for continuing your swimming beyond your high school years and love to see you still connected on deck together. Once a FISH, always a FISH

It’s time! Our final post-season meet kicks off today in St. Petersburg, Florida. We are sending all of the luck to our ...
03/31/2026

It’s time! Our final post-season meet kicks off today in St. Petersburg, Florida. We are sending all of the luck to our 29 Athletes, Coach Curtis and Coach Brady as they take on the 2026 ISCA Elite Showcase. The team will compete over the next 4 days against 1700 athletes aged 14&U from across the country in the Florida sunshine! We are looking forward to all of the fun and updates from the ISCA crew throughout the week!

And that’s a wrap on the 2026 Eastern Zone Short Course Sectionals! We finished our final day of racing with our highest...
03/30/2026

And that’s a wrap on the 2026 Eastern Zone Short Course Sectionals! We finished our final day of racing with our highest number of best times from the weekend, 2 more relays, 8 individual finals swims, and 2 more broken team records!

We kicked off our final finals with the 200 Free Relay. The team of Marcus Young, Hunter Guthrie, Luca Sanchez, and Carter Godlove finished below their entry time and moved up to a 20th place finish.

Moving into our individual swims, we had 3 athletes in the finals heats of the 200 Backstroke. On the ladies side - Lila Sherman competed in the A Final, placing second with a new best time of 1:57.70, breaking her own team record of 1:58.01 which was set in December! The boys then hit the pool, with Carter Godlove racing in the C Final, and Luca Sanchez racing in the A Final. Both finished with new best times, Carter placing 5th in his heat (21st overall) and Luca also placing 5th!

Emma Watts hit the water in the B Final of the Girls 100 Free, earning a new best time and a 12th place finish - up 8 spots from her original 20th seed! Lila Sherman took on the A Final of the event, finishing 3rd with a new best time of 50.94, breaking another team record! The previous team record of 51.21 was held by Kate Zeigler since 2005!

Luca Sanchez returned to the pool in the C Final of Boys 200 IM, joined by Henry Rossman racing in the B Final. Both gentlemen raced well, placing 13th and 19th overall.

Emma Watts swam her final event of the meet in the B Final of the Girls 50 Fly, finishing 11th with another new best time!

We closed our evening with the Boys 400 Medley Relay. The team of Luca Sanchez, Marcus Young, Hunter Guthrie and Carter Godlove finished 11th - our highest relay placement of the meet!

And after point totals were calibrated, we were thrilled that Lila Sherman took home third place High Point on the ladies side!

(Caption continued in comments below)

Day 3 in the books and it proved to be just as exciting as the first two days! All 12 of our athletes hit the water this...
03/29/2026

Day 3 in the books and it proved to be just as exciting as the first two days! All 12 of our athletes hit the water this morning and walked away with some new best times and 11 finals swims!

The evening began with the Men’s 200 Medley Relay of Luca Sanchez, Marcus Young, Hunter Guthrie, and Carter Godlove. Luca opened with a best time in his lead-off 50 Backstroke split and the boys earned a very respectable 17th place.

Moving into the individual events…
Emma Watts raced hard in the 200 Fly B Final, placing 12th with a time just off her lifetime best.
Luca Sanchez and Sarp Dilber then hit the water in the Boy’s 200 Fly B final, placing 11th and 14th respectively, also just off their lifetime bests.
Lila Sherman took to the water for the first of her triple - in the A final of the 50 Freestyle, placing 8th. After a quick recovery she returned for her second A final of the evening in the 100 Backstroke, winning the event and earning herself a new best time! She closed the evening with a second place finish in the 500 Free, just off her best - an incredible showing after 3 back to back races.
Luca Sanchez returned for his second swim in the A Final of the 100 Backstroke, finishing 7th.
Sarp Dilber finished his night in the B Final of the 500 Free, placing 14th.
Henry Rossman rounded out the night’s individual swims with a 4th place finish in the A Final of the 500 Free. His time of 4:31.27 sets a new FISH Team Record! The original record of 4:34.49 belonged to Adam Pennington (set in 2009), which Henry broke in February with a time of 4:33.24.

We closed out the evening with a very fun and fast 400 Freestyle Relay with the team of Carter Godlove, Hunter Guthrie, Luca Sanchez, and Henry Rossman.

One more day to go, and we are excited for our final races of the weekend!

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McLean, VA
22101

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