Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times

Alex N. Vance competes in the boys' 13-14 50-yard breaststroke at the RVAA City-County championships at the Salem YMCA.

Elly Goldstein competes in the girls' 11-12 50 breaststroke.

Nancy Baar (right) dives in just ahead of Kelsey Holmgaard at the start of the women's 17-18 100-yard freestyle at the RVAA City-County championships at the Salem YMCA on Saturday. Baar, who swam this year for Virginia, edged Holmgaard by .07 seconds.

Mary Delaney (center, hand raised) of Roanoke Country Club celebrates winning the women's 50-over 50-yard breaststroke at the RVAA City-County championships on Saturday at the Salem YMCA swimming pool.

A public address system operated full blast for nearly two days at the Roanoke Valley Aquatic Association's City-County championships at the Salem YMCA, muted only by two burial services across the street at Sherwood Memorial Park.

Indeed there are certainties in this corner of the world: death, taxes and Hunting Hills Country Club's swimming juggernaut.

Winning 15 of 65 events Saturday to go with a decisive edge in depth, Hunting Hills claimed the meet championship for the sixth year in a row, bettering runner-up Roanoke Country Club by more than 4,800 points.

Adjusting the totals to include regular-season meets, Hunting Hills won the overall 2008 title with 12,598 points to 9,476 for second-place Forest Hills.

Mixing adults and youth, Hunting Hills has 215 swimmers on its roster. The club has an ongoing streak of 39 consecutive victories in dual or tri-meets on Monday nights.

"We keep getting more kids [to] join the team because they want to be a part of it," said Hunting Hills coach Sheri Vaughn, who during the winter is the varsity coach at Hidden Valley High School. "We have a great group of adults. We get a lot of points from the older swimmers and the older teenagers."

Hunting Hills' lineup Saturday included former All-Timesland prep swimmers such as Kelsey Webb, Brett Fonder, Kevin Munson and J.R. Lystash -- who certainly could have been elsewhere on a perfect July day.

"The older kids love it," Vaughn said. "It's a tradition for them to come swim summer league. They don't necessarily practice, but they come and swim in the meets. It's like reunion time."

Winning is only part of the tradition at Hunting Hills. A healthy dose of fun is a key ingredient to success.

"We usually have one fun night at the pool," Vaughn said. "The favorite thing of the kids is the Wednesday before City-County, they get to throw pies at the coaches. The way they earn their pies is by coming to practice. We use it as incentive. More practices equals more pies and more fun for them."

So, how did it taste?

"It's just whipped cream," Vaughn said.

The two-day meet -- which was held at the Salem Y for the first time after a 15-year run at Radford University's Dedmon Center -- featured more than 1,000 swimmers ranging in age from preschool to 70-plus.

The men's 50-over 100-yard freestyle race included Virginia House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, Salem High School athletic trainer Chris Tucker and Roanoke Times assistant sports editor Doug Doughty.

A swifter duel took place between younger swimmers in the girls' 100 freestyle where former Patrick Henry star Nancy Baar edged Roanoke high schooler Kelsey Holmgaard by .07 seconds with a time of 53.86

Holmgaard is home-schooled and is entering her senior year. She lives in the Northside attendance area and admits to having considered attending a public school in order to swim competitively in high school.

"I have a couple times, but I really like home school," she said. "I can focus on my school and also focus on swimming. It's like a balance. I really like swimming. The more meets, the more fun I have. I really want to try and swim in college."

Holmgaard, who made a junior national cut in the 100 free last week in Cary, N.C., set a meet record for North Lakes on Saturday in the 17-18 girls' division with a time of 31 seconds flat in the 50-yard breaststroke. She already has scholarship offers from Virginia Tech, William and Mary, and UNC Wilmington.

Baar completed her freshman year at Virginia this spring, placing ninth in the 100 backstroke as UVa won the ACC championship in Atlanta. The former PH star said she is taking a leave of absence from the team in 2008-09.

"I am technically a redshirt next year just to take a little time," Baar said. "I went to ACCs. I scored and we won and it was an awesome year, but it was a lot.

"It's hard to say my heart wasn't in it, but it was taking up a lot of my life. I just want a chance to experience a little bit more of college. I just fell into a routine of morning classes, swimming, studying ... and then do it all again. I know there's more out there in college, so I'm going to get out there a little bit."

Baar, who won the 2004 Group AAA pole vault championship, might wind up being a two-sport athlete at UVa.

"That's another thing I'm maybe playing around with, maybe going over to the track team," Baar said.

Tom Knisely, a physician for Carilion in his first City-County meet, won four events with gold-level times in the men's 40-49 division while his 6-year-old daughter, Brooke, competed in her age group.

"It's been a pleasure," Knisely said. "It's been a lot of fun. It's special to be able to do this with my daughter."

A Pennsylvania native, Knisely moved to Roanoke two years ago after a stint at Wurzburg Army Hospital in Schweinfurt, Germany, a facility that closed in 2007.

"It's fun to be back in Americana as I call it," he said. "I was attracted to the area. It's so quintessential America."

Now the question for the RVAA is whether the event will return to Salem next year, go back to Radford where the Dedmon Center has been undergoing renovations or move to another location.

"I think we're going to have our summer directors send out a survey or ask for feedback," co-meet director Alan Criss said.

"Personally I like it here in Salem because of the time. It's in the [Roanoke] Valley as opposed to being in the New River Valley. People liked the fact they weren't driving 45 minutes to an hour, spending $4 a gallon for gas.

"It certainly would be nice to have as much room as we had a Radford but the Salem Y was very accommodating. We made the best of the situation."

Meet records

Besides Holmgaard's record, five other old marks were broken: Noah Bowers of the Elks Club in the 6-under boys' 25 butterfly (17.54), Keith Myburgh of Spring Run in the 7-8 boys' 25 butterfly (15.53) and 50 free (31.19), Alex Vance of Castle Rock in the boys' 13-14 50 breast (28.07), and Callie Summerlin of Roanoke Country Club in the girls' 6-under 25 butterfly (20.38).

Five first-golds

Eight swimmers won five events with gold-level times: Myburgh, Vance, Angelo Russo of Hunting Hills (boys' 9-10), Matt Doughty of Hunting Hills (boys' 11-12), Ali Horn of Hunting Hills (girls' 15-16), Lauryn Childress of Spring Run (women 19-24), Shannon Summerlin of Roanoke Country Club (women 25-29) and Kirsten Erwin of Roanoke Country Club (women 40-49).