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2017 Lady Friars
Eight Straight!
According to many
writers and scholars, the number 8 represents balance and power.
Spiritualists say it represents infinity.
This year, the Lady
Friars had all that. They
were a team of balance, power, and infinite respect for their teammates.
With all that combined together… this TEAM was again unstoppable.
EIGHT Straight years!!
Is that incredible or what?
Let’s take a moment and think of how incredible:
(What can I say… I’m a coach and my brain works in
numbers and stats)
For example:
Let’s just take our Seniors.
Yes, the 6 who just finished their Friar careers at a perfect
36-0!
Seniors, if a team
wants to beat your current Friar winning streak…
And they started
next year…
They would finish in
the year 2026, and you will all be 27 years old!
Does that put the
Friars 8 Straight into perspective?
We just came off our
two incredibly successful dual meets vs Sacred Heart and The Mary Louis
Academy. They were
monumental dual meets and our team was pushed harder than we have been
since our “streak” started in 2009.
Compliments to our seniors and captains, we talked about how this
would be a tough year and how close those two meets would be way back in
August. Following their
lead, this entire team worked their butts off right from day one.
When it came time to swim those two dual meets: yes, this team
was very nervous… but they were prepared.
We [the coaches] did have to write our lineups around how healthy
Briana’s shoulder was, but God is good to me and answered my prayers and
we had complete lineups with the entire team ready to go.
The end result:
Eight straight Undefeated dual meet seasons!
The Lady Friars were
able to exhale a bit. Before
we even thought about Champs, we were all focused on winning the dual
meet season. Plus, we now
got a good look at just how fast those two teams really were.
So a few new deep breaths… and we look forward to Champs!
Seeing SHA and TMLA,
we [the coaches] knew that our depth was our strength. We had to use
every bit of it for a run at this one.
SHA has the fastest girls in the league, but we knew that TMLA
was going to have the better 4th entry of the two teams.
So we were going to be challenged with two very different teams.
After a beautiful
week, a cold front came in for Champs weekend… but God had the sun poke
out just for my walk across the parking lot to the
Nassau
Aquatic
Center.
I was trying to calm my own nerves so I was still singing Liam
Gallagher’s “Chinatown” in my head
right up until I met Jenn Nagle at the door.
She greeted me with a huge confident smile.
That calmed my nerves just a bit as I entered the building
dripping with a sea of different team colors.
I approached our Black and Gold team area, and I was already all
business. Pulling programs,
watches, etc, from my bag…
My team of Champions
were smiling and hanging posters, calling out “Hi, Coach Dan”,
(Regan, Kate, Skye, Anna, Kiersten, Abby, etc… ) all waving from the top
of our bleacher section. You
know, they teach me as much as I could teach them.
I stopped, put my
bag in the corner and dropped my new team windbreaker on it.
I followed their lead.
I stopped with the paperwork/watch formalities and I said hello
to my team, shaking their hands, patting them on the shoulders and
slapping the “high five” hands that were offered to me. I looked around
at the nervous smiles but saw the excitement in their eyes.
It made me smile back and I hope they saw in my face that I
believed in them.
Our warm up lanes
were packed as always. We’re
used to it. Coaches Liz,
Scott and Gennie were already hard at work keeping the 38 girls
organized while I reviewed all our relay options discussed at our
coaches meeting. Our girls
did a great job qualifying our Medley and 400 Free relays during the
season. With so many
talented girls, we didn’t “tip our hat” to the other teams as to who we
were swimming our Finals relays and used so many Friars in Trials.
We also got to see who was swimming for other teams, so our plan
was executed perfectly.
It’s finally here! After 67 days from the
start of this season’s journey…
it’s finally here! Our 200
Medley Relay is walking together across the bulkhead and the Lady Friars
behind me are on their feet.
The clapping and cheers around the pool area begin to grow as
anticipation of what everyone knows will be a great meet is now upon us.
“Backstrokers, step
in.”
** Our medley relay
was swum perfectly by Sydney Berhardt, Jenn Nagle, Hanna Skrodanes, and
Sarah Schatz in Trials.
Feet first… Kayla
Rutigliano jumps in. “Take
your mark…”
Kayla’s kick-out is
EXACTLY on the 15 yard marker, and the Friars already have their first
lead! Kayla has the fastest backstroke split in the field with a 27.93…
and off the block is Danielle Pikulik.
She has been rock solid all season long and she split a 30.5!
She is followed by one of our toughest fighters, Michelle Franco.
So much more consistent this year, she gets off the block with a
great start and splits a 27.53 fly leg!
I’m already so excited I cheered and hit Coach Gennie’s shoulder…
(sorry for the bruise).
Gabby has made her reputation as a tough closer because she has been
doing it her entire Friar career.
Now in her senior year, she did it again with a 25.5 split and
the Lady Friars have their first 1st place finish of 2017
with a State Qualifying 1:51.56!
This relay ignited the Friars… and the energy level is already
exploding!
Freshman Izzy Marone
had her first real pressure swim of the season, the always tough 200
free. Talk about being
thrown into the fire. After
a nervous Trials… Izzy came back to Finals with a vengeance.
She was a whole new swimmer.
(sound like a familiar freshman Champs Nasti?) She was indeed a
confident Friar and ready to go!
She Blew Away her heat by a full 5 seconds… and the cheers behind
me (Izz-ee… Izz-ee…) put a well deserved smile on Izzy’s face.
Her very first Friar points!
Amanda Nasti is now a well seasoned veteran at Champs.
She now rises to the occasion every time.
Nasti’s 7th place, 204.19 200 free brought on the
Friar cheer: A-A-man-da
Nas-ti… Clap, Clap…
Clap, Clap, Clap…
High fives all
around…
Early in the season,
Kiersten Clancy wasn’t too keen on swimming the 200.
But the more experience she got, the hungrier (is that a word?)
she got to really do well in the event.
The result: she kept dropping her time.
So much so, she swam an unbelievable best time 202.57 and
finished in 5th place overall!
For the ultimate
Friar Fan, and those who were at the STA-TMLA dual meet, your eyes were
focused on the two middle lanes.
That’s right… Joanna McNulty (TMLA) and our own Briana Gellineau
are about to go head to head again!
Can we re-live that awesome Briana “touch-out” that we just
jumped up and down for a week earlier?
Oh yes we can!
These two superstars
just go all out. I mean a
thrill to watch. And to make
it really special… Briana
not only won the event with another thrilling half a second touch out,
but she broke a 13 year old record with a:
Ready for this…?
A blazing 1:51.46!
Holy fast! (I
could use that on my boys team!)
I was ready to jump out of my seat as I was typing this again.
**
States edit: Briana
went on to place 3rd overall in NYS!!!
Throughout our
current undefeated run, we have been very dominant in the 200 IM.
This year would be no different.
As the season went on, we did a lot of moving Danielle Pikulik
around deciding on what her second event would be.
She knew all along she would swim just where her team needed her
most. And she was
spectacular as she swam two best times and finished 12th
overall with a 2:23.68.
Right with her was her freshman teammate Sarah Jean Farrell.
This girl has so much potential and I can’t wait to see what her
Friar Future has in store for her.
Her best asset… she can race!
Her Friar Champs individual event debut yielded an 11th
place 2:23.60 swim!
In the Final heat…
dead center…
Two Black and Gold
FRIAR caps. Best thing about
our caps… you can read them from across the pool.
Well, these two caps belong to Emily Bardak and Amanda Heinz.
I actually had to yell at the team behind me because the cheering
at the start of this heat was like being at a high pitched screaming
Nickelodeon concert. Quiet
for the start… (please!)
Amanda Heinz
qualified for States in Trials, so pressure was off, and she could just
concentrate on swimming. As
a result, she went another personal best time of 2:11.84 and finished 2nd
overall! In the lane next to
her… reaching over the lane to congratulate her teammate was Friar Emily
Bardak. She just finished a
blistering State Qualifying 2:07.97 and is now a back to back to back (that’s right… 3 time) 200 IM Champion!
How incredible is that?
Personally, it was an honor for me to hand out the finals medals
to both Amanda and Emily.
** States
edit: Emily Bardak went on
to finish 9th overall in NYS!
Oh, the crazy 50
free. Twenty-something
seconds of your heart feeling like it’s going to pound out of your
chest. Why does my anxiety
go so crazy? I’m like a
thrill junkie waiting for all the races to start.
For Starters, Deijah
Harris swam the 50 free.
This girl has a heart of gold (Friar gold) and works as hard as any one
of her teammates. I can’t
even put into words how proud I am of her Friar career and all those
personal best times along the way.
Along with Deijah, freshman Anna Descovich, Sophomore Abby
Federlein, and junior Regan Bruno ALL swam personal best 50 free times.
(all 4 grades 9-12 were covered right there! – how cool).
What a freshman
season for Arianna Alladio-Zacpal… this girl is one serious Friar!
To be successful in any sport, sure you need talent, but most of
all you need drive and to be “coachable”.
Arianna has both.
That is what fueled her 26.80 13th place finish in the 50
free! Michelle Franco had an
incredible 2nd 25 and roared up in the field to swim an
awesome 27.23. The top
sprinters in the league this year (all teams) were amazing.
Amongst them were our top two Friar finalists, Gabby Mattutat and
Frankie Pellegrino. As
Joanie Cash (SHA) tore up the league record… along side of her, fighting
like the Friars they are, Frankie finished 4th with a 26.03,
and touching the wall right behind her was Gabby Mattutat with a 26.33!
OK… if you were in
the stands watching and wondering why we were going so crazy on the deck
at this point; we really
needed those huge swims. That was
a tight heat with 7 places separated by less than 1 second…
Whew! That’s why I was having a heart attack and gave a monster
high five to Coach Scott as we celebrated those 50 freestyle swims.
If there is one
event that we dominate, it’s the 50 fly.
How about this… our
Ladies finished 4 of the top 5!
That’s right. A
swimmer with some of my favorite stroke techniques of all time, Sydney
Bernhardt finished 5th (32.14).
Always cheering for her teammates first, Sarah Schatz finished 4th
(31.91). Thank goodness she
got healthy enough for Champs, freshman Bella Filagrossi finished 2nd
(31.06). And finally, I
actually call her a 50 fly specialist, mostly because she almost never
loses… Hanna Skrodanes took 1st with a dominating 30.28!
The 100 fly – Coach
Scott’s favorite! Yeah, it
still is. I can tell because
it’s only event where he paces.
Emily Teplansky is a well rounded swimmer and those are the best
assets a team can have when writing a Champs lineup.
She swam an awesome 100 fly finishing 14th overall.
The rest (3 more) are all in Finals!
That’s right, big event for the Lady Friars.
(can you tell Coach Dan is happy about the much
needed points we are about to get???)
Finishing in 6th
overall with her lightning turns and a blistering 28.7 split was
Michelle Franco and her 1:02.36.
Touching the wall in 4th place and just ahead of her
was Gabby Mattutat with her 1:02.27!
Our top Friar was Air
Force
Academy bound Emily
Bardak! She swam an awesome
58.50 and finished 2nd!
What a Friar performance… and so it began:
Woooh…. Oh, oh, oh- oh…
Oh, oh, oh-oh…
The bleachers were
rocking! The Friars moved up
and down in unison and I almost thought I was back at Shea Stadium when
it used to move! The team is
psyched, and the chanting didn’t stop.
Ever!
Our 100 freestyle
girls are pumped!
Think the 50 fly was
dominant? How about the
timed final 100 free…
The Lady Friars go
1-2-3-4! That’s right Friar
Fans.
4th –
Kathleen Scanlon (104.09) 3rd – Jenn Nagle – (103.86) 2nd
– Alannah Chernik (103.43), and a dominating event win for Vanessa
Franco who had an unbelievable Champs! (1:01.28)
The 100 free Finals
was thought to be a test for us.
Knowing Joanie Cash (SHA, 50.93) and Orla Egan (TMLA, 51.75) were
going to tear up the pool in the top spots, we’d have to hit ‘em like
the Friars always do:
As a Team and with depth!
How deep? Well how
about Senior Pleasant Palmer who had the swimming weekend of her life
getting into Finals with her 57.88 and finishing 8th!
WOO! Right with
her was teammate Frankie Pellegrino with an awesome 57.90.
(“Clancy…
get that turnover faster!”)
That’s what I’m screaming at that poor girl as we [coaches] try
to rev her up for a big swim.
Well, that she did as Kiersten Clancy places 5th with
a 56.83!
We needed another
big 100 freestyler this season.
Complimenting her backstroke, Kayla Rutigliano was just that
swimmer. She is one tough
competitor and placed 4th overall as a freshman with a 55.16!
What a swim.
Pleasant, Frankie,
Clancy and Kayla just scored 84 points for the Friars in one event!
HUGE!!!
Woooh…. Oh, oh, oh- oh…
Oh, oh, oh-oh…
As a whole, our
league has gotten faster the past few years; but no event has gotten as
fast as the 500 free. The
depth of [league] talent is incredible to watch.
Just for example, the top 6
girls all qualified for States in
Ithaca.
6!
To compare:
the 200 free, 200 and 400 free relays were next with 3 qualifiers
each. The 500 free Finals
was the heat of the meet.
Needing depth for
this one, we called upon two freshmen to step up… and that they did.
Both Sarah Skala (5:47.94) and Catherine Iorio (5:40.05) dropped
two seconds off their prelim times and scored for the Friars in 14th
and 12th place.
Talk about awesome Friar Debuts!
Knowing very well how grueling but satisfying the 500 is… Amanda
Nasti pulled off another awesome Champs swim with a 5:36.04 and finished
10th!
Heading to Finals,
we have to remember the “road to the 500” that Briana Gellineau had this
year. Only two weeks prior,
Briana had to rest a shoulder injury that she was medically cleared for
days before the Sacred Heart meet.
Only able to swim the 50 and 100 free at that point, the lineup
was written around her capabilities.
(Swimmers Amanda Nasti, Sarah Farrell, and Catherine Iorio
stepped up for us there).
The Ladies conquered that challenge.
She was able to swim the 200 free for the TMLA meet.
(Heinz, Iorio and Farrell handled the 500).
Finally, only 1 week later, Briana was again swimming the 5.
She battled with the best of the best and gave the Friars a 4th
place finish with a 5:02.70!
*** States
edit: Both Briana Gellineau
and Emily Bardak swam the 500 at States.
Emily wanted the challenge of making Finals… and as Emily always
does; she embraces every challenge and goes full on.
Goal reached: Emily
finished in 10th in NYS with a 5:02.71!
(Through Emily’s Friar career, she competed in the 200 free, 200
IM, 100 Fly, 100 Free, and now also the 500 free.
INCREDIBLE) Briana
with another two weeks of training under her belt felt great in the
water and was able to give her usual 110%.
She went on to Break a 13 year, (and 17 days to be exact) School
Record held by Jackie Fasano!
Briana Gellineau finished 6th overall in NY State
swimming a blazing 5:00.10!
Big discussions went
into the 200 free relay this year.
For starters, it was the only relay not yet qualified for States.
Normally, I would never turn down an extra shot at making States,
but with the threat of two other strong teams… we had a Championship to
win and needed to play our hand smart.
I went beyond just talking to the coaches and included Emily and
Briana to see where the confidence level was.
We discussed how awesome Amanda Heinz was swimming and that
Kiersen Clancy can handle the pressure. I had no doubt they would
qualify in Finals. Everyone
agreed.
So we chose our
Trials swimmers wisely, and got incredible swims from Frankie Pellegrino
(26.96 flat start), Freshman Arianna Alladio Zacpal (26.83), Freshman
Izzy Marone (28.67) and Pleasant Palmer (27.16).
On to Finals, these
relays are going to be FAST!
But that’s ok… so
are Friars!
Our girls needed a
25.5 average for us to be under the State cut.
If this relay sees Emily split under that… they will be psyched
and follow. Emily’s flat
start split… 25.18! Way
under! Amanda Heinz is
tearing up the pool all weekend and is also under with a 25.41!
Clancy had great swims in the 200 and 100 free and earned a spot
on the Finals relay. She
swims a 25.98 and we are still in good shape because our anchor is
Briana. She splits a 24.19
and the Friars finish 3rd overall AND qualify for States with
a 1:40.76! Whew…
that was awesome.
States
edit: At States, with Gabby not having her extra events, she swam in
Finals where our team dropped again to a 1:40.36 where Briana anchored
with a 23.92! (yes, one more
time… a 23.92!)
In the 50 back,
** I have to give a
special shout out to Kate McKevitt.
For four years this girl was willing to swim anything to help her
teammates. She finished her
Friar career in the 50 back and of course a personal best time.
Way to go Kate! Our
other 3 backstrokers were all on top giving the Friars a 1-2-3 sweep.
Alannah Cherink (34.75) in 3rd, Skye Bates (34.14) in
2nd, and our 50 back champion is Vanessa Franco blowing away
the competition with a 31.63!
I pulled Vanessa aside to give her a special congratulation.
She really had an amazing swimming weekend and was a double
winner. Vanessa is one Tough
Friar.
The 100 back was
going to be a nail biter.
From what I’ve heard, parents in the stands were feeling the pressure as
much as I was. (I actually
enjoyed hearing all your post-Champs “stands stories”.)
With Lily getting
sick… we were only down to 3 scoring Friars.
(and let’s not forget Beth Caruana, our backstroke champion, had
graduated). Well, our
Backstroke event is now in the hands of not 1, not 2, but 3 freshmen!
I’m pacing.
(And I have to watch out for Michelle Wolf right next to me on
her crutches screaming her head off all day… and I don’t want to nock
her over! Ugg!)
Well, with SHA and TMLA each having 3 swimmers in finals, our 3
freshmen did incredible.
Sarah Skala had a monstrous swim as she WON the consolation heat and
placed 9th with a 1:05.47.
Sarah Farrell moved from her 7th seed to 6th
overall as she dropped another second and swam a 1:04.96.
(that was Big!)
But… out in front of
‘em all was the awesome Black and Gold Friar Cap on the head of Kayla
Rutigliano. That girl hates
to lose and thank God for that because her swim sparked her team right
back up.
Woooh…. Oh, oh, oh- oh…
Oh, oh, oh-oh…
Kayla finished with
a State qualifying 58.82!
State
edit: Kayla went on to
finish 19th overall in NY State!
Our 50
breaststrokers were another young group; 2 sophomores and 2 freshmen.
Jenn Nagle, Maria Hernandez, Olivia Ramos, and our top 50
breaststroker Sofia Marinucci did an awesome job.
Heading into the 100
breast… the Friar “chants” continued:
**
Louder:
Woooh…. Oh, oh, oh- oh…
Oh, oh, oh-oh…
Danielle Pikulik
actually said how it was getting her so psyched.
There’s no power on the pool deck like teammates pushing each
other to go beyond what they believe.
Woooh…. Oh, oh, oh- oh…
Oh, oh, oh-oh…
Freshman Emily
Teplansky actually had a great meet and swam a second personal best
1:17.53 in the 100 breast finishing 14th.
Gracie Edmonds had an incredible season.
I personally put a lot more pressure on her during the season to
prepare her for Champs.
Gracie was all smiles after her 1:15.44 10th place finish!
As the Friars chant
their way into the 100 breast, we have two of the top breaststrokers in
the middle lanes. The team
was juiced, and down on the deck by the Friars…
it was LOUD.
Swimming through the
cheers… it’s a 1-2 Friar finish
with 2nd place Danielle Pikulik with a 1:07.86 and putting
her hands on the wall first was Amanda Heinz!
What a swim! Second
fastest 100 breast in Friar history with a 1:06.83!
That event pretty
much put us over the edge to secure the Championship… but there is one
more event left. The Granddaddy!
(isn’t that right, Coach Scott?? Haha)
The play here is to
not false start. We must be
safe off the block and we once again make history.
But these Friars, especially these 4, want to leave with a
statement. They, as well as
their teammates, want to cheer and celebrate their victory… Friar Style!
The anticipation of
the race had us all on edge.
The Friars behind us are standing on the bleachers.
The parents across the pool are either holding their breath with
their fingers interlocked… or cheering out loud because even they can’t
take the pressure anymore.
Woooh…. Oh, oh, oh- oh…
Oh, oh, oh-oh…
Emily Bardak is
shaking out her legs and arms.
Half is nerves, half is preparing to race.
Of course Emily knows her teammates behind her want to see a
great split show up on that board.
As Emily goes… the relay goes.
Admittedly, I’m a
little choked up and emotional this being Emily’s final Champs swim.
For 4 years she has been an inspiring spirit making everyone
around her including me, better.
I peek over at Coach Liz and her eyes are watered up and that was
the last thing I needed to see. Putting
my head down to clear my eyes, I do my nervous “circle walk” that I
apparently do in these situations.
Inhale… exhale…
Ok, I’m ready.
I hope this relay is!
Emily takes off and
we [the team] erupt! Awesome
as always… she touches out the incredible Joanna McNulty (TMLA) by .6
seconds and splits a 53.16!
What a swim (what a career!).
Here is where the
race surprises… Kayla
Rutigliano takes off: and
takes off like a rocket! She
out splits everyone by over a second and a half and the Friars are way
out in front with Kayla’s 54.65 split!
Amanda Heinz just swam the 200 free relay, 100 breast, and now
right back on the block in the 400 free relay.
She empties the tank.
Amanda is lighting with a 54.38 split!
True, SHA and TMLA
have two of the best anchor swimmers there are…
But we have Briana
Gellineau! Briana will NOT
be out split… not today.
All the girls are
tearing up the pool, but Briana can not be caught.
Especially because she swims the fastest split of the meet with a
51.64! (are you kidding me?!?)
Briana’s hand on the touchpad made it official.
All of it:
The Friars have Won
the 400 free relay with a State Qualifying final time of 3:33.83 AND
once again make League History with EIGHT Undefeated Championship
seasons! This team surely
Earned this one!
State
edit: This same relay
went on to be 3rd overall in NY State with a NEW St.
Anthony’s school record with the following splits:
Check
these out: Bardak (52.48)
Rutigliano (53.95) Heinz (55.18) and Gellineau (51.16) for a relay time
of…
3:32.77!
Holy Fast!
768.5 Championship points,
and it took a TEAM to EARN every one of them.
(and the .5 too!). I
couldn’t be more proud.
Neither could our
Captains as they presented the Championship Plaque to their fellow
seniors and Friar Teammates.
As all the phones come out so that the social media world can instantly
know we are Champions, I took a moment to look around at the faces.
The season’s roller coaster of emotions has all ended in just
one… pure elation. I am so
Blessed that I was again front and center to witness and cheer for it
all.
Team chants finally
fizzled into team photo time.
Each Lady Friar then walked off the pool deck tall and proud.
A feeling that will last a lifetime!
Special thanks to
all my coaches. You know how
special you are to me.
Thanks to all the
Friar Parents and Friar Fans.
Without your continued support none of this is possible.
To anyone I forgot
to write about… I’m so sorry.
I promise you a standing ovation when this team celebrates at
their Championship Award Dinner
J
Blessed
to be called your Coach,
-Coach
Dan
GO
FRIARS!!!
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