Find out what club has finished in first place the most times, what is the oldest standing record and when was the last time a host team has won the prestigious meet.
For more than 50 years, Cherry Bowl has brought young swimmers from across Cherry Hill together to compete for their home swim club, with the winning club bringing home the now iconic Cherry Bowl trophy.
On Saturday, Cherry Valley Swim Club will host the 57th annual Cherry Bowl. New records will likely fall and new memories will be made, as 13 Cherry Hill swim clubs battle it out to be crowned the top swim team in the township for 2016.
Before heading to Cherry Valley to take in this year’s meet, here are six historical questions answered from the first 56 editions of Cherry Bowl.
Who has won the most Cherry Bowl titles overall?
Old Orchard Swim Club leads the way with 20 Cherry Bowl championships, the most for any single team in the meet’s history. Old Orchard was dominant in the late 1970s and 1980s, winning a record 12 consecutive Cherry Bowls from 1978 to 1989. The last Cherry Bowl title for the Otters came in 1997.
The only other club close to Old Orchard’s 20 titles is Kingston Estates. The Seals have won 17 Cherry Bowls all-time, with the last coming in 2011.
What was the last swim club to win three straight Cherry Bowls?
Since the turn of the century, the only team to win three straight Cherry Bowls has been Covered Bridge Swim Club. The Crocodiles were Cherry Bowl champions from 2002 to 2004. On Saturday, Erlton will try to be the first club since 2004 to win three consecutive Cherry Bowls. The Gators enter Saturday as the two-time defending Cherry Bowl champions.
What are the most points a team has recorded in a single Cherry Bowl?
During the 2008 Cherry Bowl at Old Orchard, Kingston Estates easily outdistanced second place Covered Bridge Swim Club to win the title. Kingston Estates’ 1,086.5 points was a half-point better than Covered Bridge’s total of 1,086 points from 2007 and remains the record for the most points a team has scored in a single Cherry Bowl.
How many Cherry Bowls has Cherry Valley hosted?
Cherry Valley is one of only four swim clubs that has competed in every Cherry Bowl dating back to 1960. This year is the sixth time Cherry Valley is hosting the meet. The club hosted for the first time in 1963 and would host again in 1968, 1980, 1991 and 2003. It has been a while since Cherry Valley won its only Cherry Bowl. The club won the 1973 Cherry Bowl at Erlton, edging Downs Farm Swim Club by 11Â points.
When was the last time the host won Cherry Bowl?
This year’s Cherry Bowl marks the 20th anniversary of the last time the host club won the event. In 1996, host Old Orchard Swim Club won a thriller, besting Cherry Valley in the final event to win the meet by one point. Four other clubs also won Cherry Bowl the same year they hosted, including Woodcrest in 1960, Kingston Estates in 1967, Old Orchard in 1984 and Barclay Farm in 1990.
What is the oldest Cherry Bowl record?
One record in the Cherry Bowl record books still remains from the 1970s. In the boys’ 11–12 50-meter butterfly in 1978, Dave Carey of Barclay Farm won with a time of 0:29.15. Carey’s time was also the Tri-County Swimming Pool Association record for more than 30 years until Alex Martin of Sunnybrook Swim Club in Moorestown broke it in 2010.
