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Please visit our previous Seasons in Review by clicking on the "Archives" link on the menu bar to the left.

Captains  (Girls) Briana Gellineau

Lily Lancellotti

Gracie Edmonds

Captains (Boys) Sean Kotch Chris Stange Billy Swartwout

 

GIRLS SWIMMING

Fall Tryout dates and info are coming....

STAY TUNED!!!

 

St. Anthony's Swimming All-Americans

 

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!!!

Congratulations to ALL our FRIARS!!!

  

Freshman Mary McKenna

500 Free  4:51.33

 

Senior Briana Gellineau

200 Free  1:50.18

 

Senior Billy Swartwout

200 Free   1:38.93

100 Back   :50.27  **   NYS Champion

 

200 Free Relay 1:24.33

**  NYS Champions

Chris Stange, Mark Owens, Matt McManus, Billy Swartwout

 

400 Free Relay   3:05.88

**   NYS Champions

Chris Stange, Mark Owens, Matt McManus, Billy Swartwout

 

 

Three-Peat

St. Anthony's swimmers & divers win 3rd consecutive New York State Federation title.

Results Swimming    Diving

 

Our 200 Medley Relay of Caleb Neugebauer, Tim Rupnarian, Owen Glaser, and Matt McManus along with the support and preparation of Trevor Griffin and our distance swimmer Richie Chiarella who were both alternate members of all three relays... the medley relay did their best dropping time on both swims and placing 23rd in the State with a 1:39.34.

Owen Glaser's 1:56.47 200 IM that placed him 14th in NY State!  I'm not kidding, he dropped time and improved every single time he hit the water.  I can't wait to see this Friars' future!

Mark Owens is one of the toughest 50 freestylers the Friars have ever had.... finishing his career with a best 21.02 and 4th in the State!  He also gave his team a huge point boost when we needed it in the fly moving up from 10th to 7th with a 50.98!

Chris Stange was also in the 50 free heat that is so fast you heart pumps even when your just a spectator - and finished 6th with a best 21.23.   Chris then made more Friar history breaking the 100 fly record (yes, held by his brother Andrew) swimming under the 50 second mark with an All American Consideration 49.93!  That beaming smile of accomplishment will be memorable!

Billy Swartwout is as tough as they come.  Hard work, proper preparation, focus, and love for his team and teammates is his recipe for success.  His 200 freestyle was incredible going out in a 47.9 and finishing 2nd in NY State with an All American Consideration 1:38.93!  

Reflecting on last year...  The Friars won both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays - identical to what we have this year.  

Leading us off, Chris Stange swam a 21.27, Mark Owens extended the lead with a 20.94, HUGE swim for us by freshman Matt McManus with a 21.68, and finally the anchor swim of Billy Swartwout going a 20.44 gave the Friars the back to back victory with an All American Automatic, new school record 1:24.33!!    Holy Fast!

After all the previous success of the Friars, we all could taste the possibility of a victory, so Billy was pumped more than ever for his 100 back.  Seeded 3rd, he was out in a 24.6 and in third by about .5 - with one of the greatest 2nd half swims Billy broke the school record and WON the event with a blistering All American Consideration 50.27!  The celebration was incredible as we all immediately turned to Coach John and his famous point calculations.  

Heading into the Granddaddy of all relays, we were down 3 points to the mighty Fordham Prep.  Our top seeded relay knew the stakes.  Win the relay - take home the Championship.  Pressure was immense.  Matt McManus' nerves had him shaking as his teammates were pumping him up.  Chris Stange having the meet of his life with a flat start lead off swim of 46.64.  The sea of alum behind me are already screaming.  Mark Owens kept us within the half a second hanging with Pittford with a 46.66 of his own!  Who flies off the block and starts closing the gap.... ?  you got it - Matt McManus with a personal best by far, 47.71.  Off the block the anchor swimmers of Pittford and Chaminade are even with Billy.  But no one is beating Billy.... not today baby!  With the fastest time of 44.87 Billy's final touch of the pad gave the Friars the 3 Peat State Championship! 

**  I told those guys that 4 Friars need to swim as one.  One team in perfect sync.  They certainly did that with a new school record, 2nd fastest relay in state history and All American Automatic 3:05.88!!  

How incredible is that!

The deck surrounding me exploded into pure jubilation!  

Never count out the Friars....  we come back stronger every time!  Of all our championships, there is something about how hard the climb was that makes it most special.  CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL!

I am one proud coach right now.  I could not me more grateful for the help of Coach John, Coach Ashley, Coach Garret, and Coach Kyle.  You are all the BEST!  

To all the parents cheering in the stands and praying for the team at home.... Thank you!  

More to follow...  stay tuned!

GO FRIARS!!!

 

We are ONE Team...

We are ONE Family...

We are the FRIARS!! 

 

Lady Friars

Champs Review:  2019

 

IT’S CHAMPS WEEKEND BABY!!

The weekend’s partly cloudy skies in no way put a damper on my mood for Championship weekend.  This team had so much to be proud of, and I felt as though we were already successful.  The amount of personal goals achieved and this year’s team camaraderie couldn’t have been better.  We [coaches] enjoyed every second spent with this team.   From the beautiful morning skies at Hidden Pond Park, to this final weekend at Eisenhower Park.  All the smiles, laughter, and cheers have been memorable!

A tough loss to Sacred Heart and a close victory over The Mary Louis Academy had us well prepared for what we would see at Champs.  We are battle tested and ready go!  It was great to see other teams besides the top 4 also have swimmers who will fill the final heats.  Competition will yield some incredible races this year.

We swam exceptional at Trials and these Lady Friars had a new goal.  It required a second day filled with personal best times again.  I’m always amazed at what the Friars can do.  They will out perform other teams – period.

 

I was able to print out my heat sheets at home and circle all our names ahead of time.  I felt as prepared as my team of Friars…. and yeah, I’m pretty psyched!  Luke Combs came out with his new album on Friday, so I still had it cranked on repeat in my truck.  (truth – I sang along the entire drive)  Ok - Give me my stopwatch and let’s do this!

I usually go with some type of speech to get my team’s adrenaline going before a big meet.  This year was an easy one.  Typically, what’s said in a team huddle stays in a team huddle, but this year the message was simple.  I had to remind this team of how proud we [the coaches] are of this team of ladies and how they came together in times of both victory and defeat.  Hey, that’s ok.  That’s how life goes.  You don’t go through life undefeated… but facing challenges and coming together as a team and a family, that’s always a victory!

Here I am… my 31st time of having the privilege to be front row and center in a sea of black and gold to cheer on the Lady Friars at Champs weekend.  With all the cell phones put away, the spirit and focus on the meet couldn’t have sprouted more energy.  Right at the start of the 200 Medley Relay, you can feel it… the clapping, the teammates of Lily, Bakke, Izzy and Erin tapping them on the shoulder to let ‘em know they are with them as they approach the bulkhead.  We’re getting ready to go here! (my adrenaline starts pumping like I’m swimming…. geez, I can’t help it).

 Announcer:   and in Lane 4… St. Anthony’s

**  cheering all around me  **

Lily – feet first - jumps into the water.

We have an awesome relay.  Not just talented, but Coach Liz, Coach Kylie and I discussed how technically sound these 4 girls are.  Relay starts were worked on to where my confidence level was at its peak.  Tri-captain Lily Lancellotti nails two perfect kick-outs and swims an outstanding 30.69 split.  Bernadette Bakke, who is one tough competitor, splits a 33.1 breaststroke!  One of our most improved sprinters Izzy Marone goes a personal best 27.22!  After a 3 ½ week absence due to injury, Erin Johannsen made it back to us in time to anchor with a 25.10!  A season best time for our relay with a 1:57.06!

One of the reasons this year was so special was due to the amount of girls who had to step out of their comfort zone and swim events they aren’t used to.  But we are a team…  we are a family… and Friars do whatever needs to be done to help their team.  There are so many examples in this 200 freestyle event.  Frankie Pellegrino spent her first three years as a top sprinter for us.  Now, in her senior year, with other sprinters available, she swam an incredible 2:09.60 and finished 13th overall!  Our second success story… Sofia Marinucci.  Holy cow did this girl step up or what??  She can actually swim multiple events for us, but the 200 was new.  Well, that tremendous smile on her face said it all after her 2:09.48 12th place finish!  One Friar who can definitely handle pressure is Cat Iorio.  Her outstanding 2:06 in trials had her as the top seed in consols.  She kept her Black & Gold Friar cap out there in front the whole race and took that heat with an even faster 2:06.04!  Those three Friars were awesome. 

 

Two of the top swimmers in NY State are right here on the Friars.  (oh yeah!)  Briana Gellineau and Mary McKenna.  We were fortunate to spread their talent out across 4 events and they had no problem with the events they needed to swim.  The respect these swimmers have for each other is amazing.  I love it!  Its how is should always be!

How about you have to break 2 minutes just to make it into finals… I mean C’mon, that’s fast!  So once again we have Briana going against the best our league has to offer.  She’s used to that.  She’s been doing it for the past 4 years for the Friars! 

Briana swam a blistering 1:53.18 and finished in third place!  Hallelujah that’s amazing!

States edit:

Think that’s fast?!?!?   How about Briana swimming a 1:50.18 All American Consideration time and a 3rd place finish in NY State!!  Yowza, that’s fast! Man, I love watching her swim.

Our 200 freestyle turned out to be a great scoring event for us. Congrats to all!

 

The 200 IM was one of our youngest events of the weekend.  Freshman, Freshman, Freshman, Sophomore.  Cool, right?

And, we placed awesome too.  Freshman Teagan Scanlon, always so tough on herself but did her best to swim through the nerves and placed 11th with a 2:25.09.  Tough as nails Olivia Glaser made it to finals and placed 8th with a 2:20.05.  (good things come is small packages… great swim Olivia!).  Elena Cunneen was right with Olivia placing 7th with an outstanding 2:19.84. 

Finally at the top: 

Ok listen: this is Champs finals… where the best in the league compete.  Winning this event isn’t easy, but… can you say Blow Out?!?!?!  I’m not kidding; Mary didn’t swim one of her best events, the 200 free, and still completely blew away the competition in the IM with a blistering 2:05.68 setting a New School Record! 

 

Side note on that record:   

Mary broke a record held for 15 years by the Friars most decorated swimmer, Caitlin Napoli.  Caitlin went on to swim for Fordham University where in her senior year as captain of the team, along with Friar freshman at the time, Alana Biagioli, won the Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship… the first EVER female team Championship of ANY SPORT in Fordham University history!   Caitlin Napoli (now married, Caitlin Dam) is being inducted into the St. Anthony’s Hall of Fame in June.

Congratulations to Caitlin… and Congratulations to freshman Mary McKenna on the milestone swim!

 

That blowout swim (actually it was at Saturday trials) sparked the chant “It’s Mary Time!” began by [I’m pretty sure, because they are loud J ]  teammates Kyleigh McNulty and Cailinn Kiley…, joined in by Hope “best cackle laugh ever” Sandoval, Caitlyn McCourt (you may think she’s quiet….. wrong, not at a swim meet! Haha).

The “Its Mary Time” was carried up to Ithaca by Erin Johannsen… who didn’t miss a single time to yell that out every time her teammate was behind the block.  I loved it!

Mary went on to place 10th overall in NY State!  Outstanding!

 

The 50 free turned out to be a spectacular event for us with so many best times.  It was started off with 4 outstanding swims by Anna Descovich, Hope Sandoval, Abby Federlein, and freshman Bridget Darcy.  These hard working teammates brought on so many cheers from their teammates.  I turned to Sofia Legarreta and Michele Wolf cheering next to me and yelled, “is this fun or what?”!  Sofia gave me a huge smile with a big nod… and of course Michelle Wolf (the cheerleader specialist) screamed “Oh My God, yes!”

The seed times for our trial/finals entries were so incredibly close.  I’m not kidding… with the exception of Erin who was under 27, we had a ton of Ladies who were 10th’s of a second apart.  With the event packed with talent across the league, we needed some serious swims here… and we got ‘em!   Senior Lily Lancellotti (she’s adored by all her teammates!) whose freestyle really came alive this season, placed 15th with a 27.01.  Frankie Pellegrino and Arianna Alladio-Zacpal even battled each other in both trials and finals for two incredible best time swims!  Frankie, who has stepped up for this team, year after year, especially in Champs was all smiles after her swim and was greeted by a HUGE group hug upon returning to her teammates after her 11th place 26.96 swim.  Seriously, that was awesome.  Arianna worked her butt off this season.  We [Arianna and I] had a serious talk in the beginning of the season.  After the success of her freshman year, she was disappointed in her sophomore season.  Hey… but we are Friars, we embrace challenges and we learn from them.  Arianna had some big goals this year; and she worked for them.  That hard work paid off with her spectacular 10th place finish and 26.79 swim!  Good for you!

I was excited with the added talent of Erin Johannsen this year.  Just as she was getting up to speed, she suffered a softball injury [yes, another talent hog who’s great in multiple sports… we have a lot of those! J].   Erin returned to the water with two weeks to get ready for Champs.  She certainly didn’t disappoint swimming among the best sprinters out there and finishing 5th with a 26.01!

 

The competition pool opens for a 20 minute break here… so if you need to stretch, now’s the time to do it!

 

We have so much fly talent… in the freakin 50!  Ladies, you better be ready for that 100 next year!  Haha 

Freshman Kyleigh McNulty, who we kept away from the dangerous lifeguard chairs this weekend J developed an outstanding fly this season.  I was SO happy.  She placed 10th in her 1st ever champs event.  Multi-talented Johanna Governali (I say that because she has swum every stroke for us this year) placed 7th dropping 2 seconds!  Finally, domination at the top of the event with two outstanding sophomore Friars, Emma Grefski (2nd) with a blistering 31.12, and winning the event was Keira Mutarelli!  Keira tore up the pool with a 30.26 and can’t wait to train for the 100 next year!  J

Listen; to have a successful year, we need girls to step up when needed, and of course to make sacrifices when needed.  One HUGE swim this year was when Michaela Rutigliano made the state cut in the 100 free at the Sacred Heart dual meet.  This allowed us to move her to the 100 fly for Champs and strengthen the depth of the two events.  Without hesitation or a single negative thought, she embraced the idea and verbally said “I want to kill it no matter what event I’m in.”  Yes, Kayla is that matter of fact!  Kill it she did moving up a spot and finished 3rd dropping .68 with a 1:01.00.  Kayla had great support behind her with three more awesome swims to give us the well rounded event we were looking for.  In consol’s we had two ladies who step up and swim tough every time they hit the water.  She may be tough on herself, but Bernadette Bakke is a gamer!  She gets nervous [less this year than last] but it’s what fuels her.  She dropped two seconds and placed 10th with a 1:04.92!  Bakke and teammate Olivia Glaser were both out in front and blew away their heat.  Winning the heat was Olivia with her 1:04.82!  Man, that girl is incredible in every event she swims.

Spirits were still running high.  We had a 39 point deficit to make up in this meet.  In the past at Champs I’ve seen teams to 20+… and it’s tough, but 39?  That’s a huge mountain when we’re talking 1-2 points at a time.  At this point, half that deficit is already gone, and Coach Dan is enjoying watching the nerves building on the benches across the pool.  I’m screaming out every point we earn and our team bench is getting more intense by the heat.  I give two huge high fives to Sarah Skala and Emily Ferraris because they are in reach… I might have hit a little heavy due to excitement; but they take it like tough Friars and give me huge smiles!  The Friars are on a roll and it’s getting intense

How about – 8 fantastic 100 freestyle swims!

Senior Katie Scanlon and St. Anthony’s Scholar Athlete award recipient is probably one of the most loved teammates ever.  I mention her name and the entire team gives that high pitched “wooo” of approval.  This enthusiastic Friar is all about team first.  She is also one tremendously improved swimmer who finished her career with a 1:04.89 100 free swim.   Our other three in the event were all like 1:05-06 seed times.  They all dropped massive time and finished 4-5-6!  Bella Filagrossi was 4th (1:03.29), Arielle Ristau was 5th (1:03.30), and Caitlyn McCourt was 6th (1:03.71)!  Three 1:03’s…. how awesome is THAT?!?

Moving Frankie to the 200 opened up opportunities to girls in the 100.  One of them was Arianna Alladio Zapal with the call to the trial/final event.  Still excited about her 50, Arianna gave the Friars a huge boost with a 13th place finish swimming a 1:01.22.  This year you had to be incredibly fast to get into the final heat.  How ‘bout the Friars with 3!  The first is Erin Johannsen.  Never feeling shorted by the limited time in the water, she demanded the best of herself.  Erin placed 7th with an awesome 57.30.  Next is one swimmer who I am such a fan of.  (my kids love her wrestling videos, so they are fans too)  Last year I threw Arabella into some huge pressure swims that were hard on any freshman as we were bidding for a championship that we wouldn’t have gotten without her.  As big a compliment as I can give her; following in the footsteps of Briana Gellineau, this year that hard outer shell cracked and she’s already emerging as a great leader.  I am so proud of Arabella’s blistering 54.41 5th place finish! 

I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve reflected on how I’ve seen female athletes improve since beginning this coaching thing in 1986.  It amazes me.  Just watching them swim and then you look at the board and say holy crap… that’s freakin fast!  That has happened for me the past 4 years every time I’ve watched Briana Gellineau swim.  Here she is again, taking on the best without flinching.  She feeds on this.  [and I LOVE IT].

Briana finished 3rd with a 52.36!  On the outside… my hands are extended over my head and I’m screaming along with Coach Liz.  On the inside, my head is shaking in amazement at what my eyes see on that board and I’m saying, holy crap… that’s freaking fast!

States edit:

I wish you could feel it.  The excitement level goes off the charts as the finalists of the 100 free walk out of the ready room in Ithaca.  Me, I’m snapping pictures on my phone like a child that mommy and daddy got a front row tickets for to Wrestlemania as Briana walks out.  It’s intense as the look on Briana’s face.  I love it.  Listen, if you put in the work as hard as Briana has…. You have the ability to walk up to the block with that kind of confidence.  It’s not magic.  It’s called preparation.  Briana is prepared for this.  Erin is right with me again and we scream the whole time!  (“the whole time”, like it’s long.  The whole darn race is over in 51 freakin seconds!  Haha).  Briana races to perfection and closes at the end like no other Friar in history and touches the wall in 51.07 seconds setting a New St. Anthony’s record!  Yep… hands are in the air… eyes on the board… “man, that’s so fast!”

 

The 500 free…

Who’s counting?   Make sure that counter is in the water early…  let ‘em see it!

** got a feeling for the event?  Read on!

Katherine Grefski and Sofia Marinucci.  I’m calling them 500 free rookies.  They both can swim it, that’s why they are in the event, but they haven’t swum them on this stage yet.  After a few stressful days of mental preparation, they are ready.  Katherine was a season long project.  We [the coaches] saw it early and knew she had the consistency to swim the 5.  Only problem was, she didn’t see it.  Now, her team needs her.  That flips the switch to the positive side every time!  Katherine finished 12th with a personal best 5:55.10!  The other 500 rookie was junior Sofia Marinucci.  Because she can swim just about every event there is, she is thrown into a big swim where she is needed.  We sat and talked about it.  No secret there.  But seeing the change of heart, the negative thoughts of fear of the grueling event changing to positive thoughts of confidence was so rewarding.  Then finally; the payoff.  The joy in Sofia’s face coming out of the water back to her teammates…  Mrs. Skala snapping her photo.  How is that not worth it?  Oh yeah, to boot – Sofia finished 11th with a 5:51.91.

Cat Iorio is a bit different… she has a ton of experience in the 500.  She has also seen MANY MANY pressure swims in the event.  I believe that is what prepared her to handle her heat like a well seasoned veteran and just stayed on pace and built her lead throughout the long 20 lap race.  By the time she put her hand on the touchpad, 5 minutes, 35.41 seconds later… Cat built up an 8 second lead to win her heat! 

 

** C’mon… shout it out…. Let me hear ya….!

IT’S MARY TIME!!!

Oh man… how intense does Mary look behind that block?  I get chills… so cool!  I’m so excited… I’m pacing.  I seem to pace behind the crowd of Friars until the moment they are stepping on the block.  Then I’m all ready!   (Hey, the crazy rituals matter).  I mean, 5 of the 8 girls in finals here are already in States.  This 500 is no joke.  Mary already went a 55 in trials, so she’s psyched to go here!  Mary’s splits are INCREDIBLE!  I’m not kidding… Coach Liz, Coach Kylie and I were going crazy when Mary did 4 (yes, four) 50 splits in a row to the exact 100th of a second.  Are you kidding me?  Mary took second with an outstanding 4:54.42!   WHATTT? 

**  by the way, do you know who his ALWAYS there 1st to congratulate Mary?  Mary’s team captain and former 500 free record holder, Briana Gellineau.  Briana counted for her and embraced her in congratulations when Mary first broke her record.  THAT is a class act.  THAT is a FRIAR.

State edit: 

OK, ok, I know how you all feel… freaking out about that 4:54.  But it didn’t last long.  Two weekends later Mary swam a 6th place in NY State, ALL AMERICAN AUTOMATIC 4:51.33!  Holy fast!

** our 200 free relay was preparing to swim, so I watched that swim with Erin and we were just freaking out.  It was so much fun.

 

This years 200 free relay of ours was SO exciting.  I have a video of it… I’ll get it to you.  You HAVE to see them in action! 

For starters, I must give a HUGE shout our to our relay qualifiers to seed our team 3rd.  We [coaches] hand pick them to give us the best qualifying spot while resting our finals swimmers to give the team the most possible amount of points.  Deep teams matter, so you have to use all your horses.  Outstanding relay by Arianna Alladio-Zacpal, Frankie Pellegrino, Izzy Marone, and tri-captain Gracie Edmonds.  Thank you for dealing with my coaching insanity when I shout… You do NOT false start and DQ this relay; do you understand… did you hear that?   I get the blank serious faces as they all nod and make me feel good.  J

Man was it loud in that Aquatic Center or WHAT?  These relays are crazy.  The pressure I put on Arabella to lead this relay was no joke.  I leaned on her hard. I also know that she can take it.  These girls behind her needed to see the big lead off swim and she was going to give it to them.  Arabella led off with an incredible 25.0 and we were on our way!  Freshman Mary McKenna swam second and you would have never thought she just swam a 500 yard race.  Our back half of the relay is just nasty!  Kayla Rutigliano and of course Briana Gellineau are as good as it gets!  Sure, we took second to a SHA relay… (that went on to break the NY state record), so we should be freakin proud of our 1:38.79! You will hear more about these girls when I get to the 400 free relay!

States Edit:

These girls will go on to a monumental win in an exciting consolation heat in Ithaca that you have to see to appreciate.  They are 11th in NY State and finished with a 1:38.37.  Yep, I pretty much blew out a vocal cord cheering for that one.  (right, ErinJ )

 

OK, yes, Tess Howley’s backstroke was insane…  as a swimming fan, I’m in awe of the 54 backstroke.  Seriously… sick!  Of course we won’t forget it.  It was part of our weekend.  But that won’t overshadow how proud I am of the Friar backstrokers!

How about this…

In the 50 backstroke:  Sarah Skala (31.35), Cailinn “Cuz” Kiley (32.33), Sarah Jean Farrell (32.59), and Skye Bates (33.04) went…   ready for this???

1-2-3-4 respectively!!!   How about that for a Lady Friar performance!?!?!   Yeah baby!

Our 100 back scored well with freshman Katherine Grefski, still on cloud 9 from her incredible 500, placed 13th with a personal best 1:09.26.  Swimming with Katherine in her heat was team tri-captain, Lily Lancellotti whose leadership was outstanding this season.  Lily capped off her Friar career placing 11th with a 1:06.57.  Great job Lily!

We had two fighters in Finals!  (well… one fighter, one wrestler.  Right Arabella?)  Kayla who simply hates to lose… behind the block, stretching, trying to shake the intensity out cause all eyes are on this heat!  Arabella, a little more stoic…  the pressure on this swim is huge as she still hasn’t made that state cut she’s been looking for since last season.  (disappointment – it either makes you crumble… or like Arabella and the Friars, you rise up!)  All backstrokers enter the water.  Oh how I love the look of the Friar caps on swimmers ready to give it their all.  (well, Kayla stole her cap from her brother Connor, so yeah, the racing stripe is cool too J )  The top 4 broke away from the field early… then Tess of course was gone.  Kayla and Arabella went stroke for stroke.  Arabella with the fast out, and Kayla with that incredible 2nd half of hers…   Look at those Friars go!   They touch the wall in 3rd and 4th  7/100’s apart!  Kayla with a 1:00.07 State cut… and the much awaited state time for Arabella Pompay with a 1:00.00!  Arabella’s tears of joy and the embrace of the two teammate’s and the cheers when they return to the team sums up what this family is all about.  One of my favorite moments of the season for sure! 

State Edit:

One thing to remember about Girls States; its one of the most physically difficult meets there is.  We don’t have our huge deep talented team there.  These girls get on the blocks again and again.  Both Kayla and Arabella had to swim the 200 free relay in prelims… no break, and 4 minutes later get in the water to qualify for the backstroke.  Although they both hit their times, it just wasn’t enough to qualify back.  Swimming to exhaustion… (I put Erin Johannsen in the water who did a full warm-up for every relay just like she’s supposed to do and was ready to go).  Two events later, they both got on the block and with their relay teammates for the 400 free relay…  You’ll love what happens!  Oh, read on my Friar fans… read on!

 

One of the first questions we had this season by coaches and swimmers alike:  “who’s going to swim breaststroke this year?”  We’ve had league record holder Danielle Pikulik and Amanda Heinz going 1-2 for years…  so of course new opportunities would come about. 

We began with a successful 50 breast.  Maria Hernandez (and thank you for your talented team videos J)  capped off her Friar career with an awesome best time of 38.63.  Finally, in the top heat going 2-3-4 in the event was 4th, Yesenia McKee (37.15), 3rd, Jenn Nagle (36.87), and in 2nd with the greatest swim of her career was Michelle Wolf (36.79).  Outstanding swims by all!

We saw in our dual meets this year that SHA and TMLA had strong breaststrokers.  We tried every option.  Olivia looked good, Arabella can swim it. We needed both in other events.  Are we going to be thin in the event?  NOPE!   How about 3 in finals and 1 in consol’s baby!  Simone Sanchez late in the season was showing a phenomenal 1st 50.  We needed her to step up that 2nd half and give a good 100.  Well… she sure did!  She finished 12th with a 1:15.15.  Now, the Friars are stepping up 3 in the final heat.  Elena Cunneen had the perfect time for her best swim of the season finishing 7th with a 1:13.84.  I really leaned on Bernadette Bakke this season; mostly because she is a fighter and always comes through for her team.  Bakke finished 5th with a 1:13.34.  Our top breaststroker in the event this year may be extremely tough on herself, but freshman Teagan Scanlon sure came up big with a 4th place finish swimming a 1:13.06.  Did you notice all those times…?   So, do you think that was a great race?  All three Friars went 1:13!

 

Ahh…. Yes.   The granddaddy of all relays, the 400 free!  The intensity of event after event for two straight days comes down to the final race.  Cheers become the loudest behind me on the Friar bench.  Parents directly in my view proudly dressed in black and gold to match their daughters begin to clap and cheer on not only these four ladies… but what they represent; this teams long season of bonding through the tough defeats and the glorious victories.  They have seen it all and this relay in going to cap it all off with one final swim. 

Of course a huge shout-out goes to our Saturday trials swimmers, junior Cat Iorio, sophomore Yesenia McKee, freshman Olivia Glaser, and sophomore Arielle Ristau.  These 4 ladies qualified our relay 3rd and gave us a great seed/lane for finals.  Outstanding job ladies!

** Re-write:

Ok, I’m doing a re-write here combining the Champs and Ithaca States performances of these same 4 ladies. Bear with me here:

It’s the final race of a long weekend.  We are all, swimmers and teammates alike, running on adrenaline.  My hearts pumping and my hand is shaking with my finger on the stopwatch.  Just watching these girls prepare (stretch, shake their arms and legs, get those caps and goggles perfect while chirping words of encouragement to each other behind the block), is fascinating to watch.  At Champs, I was pacing… at States I was frozen in my sneakers, I don’t even think I blinked.   The reaction light turns red for Arabella to step up on the block.  I hold my breath.

The last person I spoke to before the relay walked to the block was Pompay.  As I did every time she led off… I reminded her that as good as her split will be, that’s how good the relay will be.  Is it a lot of pressure?  Oh yes.   Ask Kayla.  She’s been there.  Ask Briana.  She’s been there.  This is Pompay’s spotlight swim.  With an outstanding start and out in a 26.2… she’s fighting right in the middle of the pack of 10 teams.  Resisting the pain in her body from the weekend, she’s finishes with the best split of her life, a 54.78!  I finally move… I jump in the air to see the split and I feel like I pirouette in flight to see Mary McKenna fly off the block!  Her BEST relay start ever!  (great job on all the extra work Mary J)  “It’s Mary time!”  Erin and I are nudging each other like giddy little kids as we watch Mary GO!  Her 50 split… a 26.18.  That’s an awesome out because this sprinting game is actually still new for her.  She’s at her best the longer the race goes.  Like… miles.  And miles.  And miles.   Well, at this point, Mary’s arm turnover is better than ever because she knows this relay is something special and is just tearing it up.  Mary finishes with her personal best 53.94 (whattt?).  Again, everyone around me must deal with my “arms in the air” celebration. 

And now… for our filthy second half:  Kayla’s start is lighting.  Her kick-out is as strong as ever with a breakout that is unmatched.  Now, I’m vocal.  I mean loud!  Screaming like a lunatic as I watch Kayla hit her split at a 24.70.  Are you kidding me?  (for reference, that split would have placed 2nd in the 50 free at Champs).  My eyes widen as I see the split and acknowledge they have a legit shot at the record with Kayla’s 53.08 split!  Finally, off the block with incredible leg power is none other then our team MVP, Briana Gellineau.  My celebration of Kayla’s swim just got extended into cheering for Briana.  I don’t stop.  I watch her go blistering through her first turn…  My elbow hits Erin – Oh      my       God….  I’m shouting out loud.  My finger took the split, but I never looked at it.   Didn’t have to.  I can tell you in one word.   FAST.  Tearing through the water with a wake like she’s wearing an Evinrude 300 she splits at the wall in a 24.14.  Just for reference, that would have been the school record in the 50 free up till 2015. 

With unstoppable closing power, Briana gets to that final touch pad and my eyes are first on her time.  Lit up bright on the score board… a 50.83!  That is NOT a typo… yes, a FIFTY.83!  OMG.   And finally, in 6th place in NY State, and a NEW school record 3:32.63!  What a swim!  The 5 State swimmers embrace in a team hug celebrating a Friars 8th place finish in the State.  I do not have watery eyes.  The chlorine at Ithaca was really strong that day. 

Our relay at Champs was incredible.   It truly was.  The Lady Friars came roaring back from a 39 point deficit to fall 6 points short of passing TMLA for a 3rd place finish.  The fight of the comeback was thrilling.  So much so, we hear the cheers of the Friar parents across the pool area of the Aquatic Center.  After a nine year run… we are no longer holding a championship plaque over our heads, but I couldn’t be more proud of a team.  31 years in, and these Lady Friars still have me jumping out of bed at 5am to get to work and see all their hard work pay off.  Thank you for keeping me enthusiastic about the team I love.

There is nothing like Champs weekend.

 

Special thanks to Coach Liz and Coach Kylie.  These girls were so blessed for all the knowledge and enthusiasm you bring to this Friar Family.  I am so grateful to be coaching with you!

To the Friar faithful parents, thank you for all your continued support.  Seriously, this program doesn’t exist without you.

And of course to my incredible team:  you inspire me every day we spend on the pool deck together.  I thank you for all the dedication, hard work, and love you have for this team.  I am the most blessed coach to ever walk a pool deck.

 

Thankful to be your coach,

Coach Dan

 

 

2019 Girls Paper Airplane  Champion

Frannie Pederson (TMLA)

 

Freshman Mary McKenna breaks two records at Champs

Mary McKenna breaks a 14 year old St. Anthony's record in the 200 IM with a 2:05.68.  That record was set by Friar Caitlin Napoli.  At that time, it was a league record and All American swim.  Caitlin Napoli is being inducted into the St. Anthony's Hall of Fame in June 2020.  Mary's swim is also a new CHSAA League & State record!

Mary also set a new St. Anthony's record in the 500 free with a 4:54.42!  Who was counting for Mary and cheering her on the entire way...?  Mary's teammate and former record holder Briana Gellineau.  True Friar moment!

 

2019 Lady Friars State Team

Briana Gellineau, Sr.

200 Free, 100 Free

Mary McKenna, Fr.

200 IM, 500 Free

Kayla Rutigliano, Jr.

100 Free, 100 Back

Arabella Pompay, So.

100 Back

200 Free Relay

Arabella Pompay

Mary McKenna

Kayla Rutigliano

Briana Gellineau

alt - Erin Johannsen

400 Free Relay

Arabella Pompay

Mary McKenna

Kayla Rutigliano

Briana Gellineau

Erin Johannsen (alt.)

 

St. Anthony’s Men’s Swim Team 2019-20

 

This was a huge and extremely talented group trying out for the Boys Varsity Swimming/Diving Team.  Everyone did an amazing job!  I congratulate all of you on your hard work and tremendous effort!  The following have made the team for the 2019-20 season.  Please come to practice Tuesday, Oct. 31st   

* ALL DIVERS REPORT TO PRACTICE Sunday, Nov 3rd.

  

Freshmen:

Brian Anzalone

Aydan Arbeeny

Connor Brown

Sofia Carrieri

Ernest Kopec

Matthew McManus

Max Welling

  Sophomores:

Nick Carrieri

Maverick Dettling

Owen Glaser

Will Snyder

Dylan Soto

JoJo Tonna

 Juniors:

Ryan Arbeeny

Christopher Carneval

Dylan Cellamare

Richard Chiarella

Ryan Gaffney

Jack Iorio

Caleb Neugebauer

Aiden O’Toole

Thomas Rosselli

James Simon

Sean Sullivan

Tyler Zarzycki

Seniors:

Trevor Griffin

Sean Kotch

Joseph McLaughlin

Cole McNulty

Connor McVea

Mark Owens

Sebastian Quiceno

Timothy Rupnarain

Chris Stange

William Swartwout

Joe Welling

Jonathan Wu

Jason Yu

Danny Zahn

Jameson Zhu

 

* Diver

 

St. Anthony’s Women’s Swim Team 2019

We always have a talented group trying out for the Girls Varsity Swim Team.  This year was simply outstanding talent! Everyone did an amazing job!  I congratulate all of you on your hard work and tremendous effort.  The following have made the team for the 2019 season.  Please keep checking your email for info, and come to practice on Thursday, Sept. 5th.

Freshmen

Rose Christie

Bridget Darcy

Julia Freedman

Olivia Glaser

Katherine Grefski

Cailinn Kiley

Sofia Legarreta

Mary McKenna

Kyleigh McNulty

Teagan Scanlon

Sophomores

Bernadette Bakke

Elena Conneen

Johanna Governali

Emma Grefski

Erin Johannsen

Caitlyn McCourt

Yesenia McKee

Keira Mutarelli

Arabella Pompay

Arielle Ristau

Simone Sanchez

Hope Sandoval

Adrianna Santopatre

Juniors

Arianna Alladio Zacpal

Anna Descovich

Sarah Farrell

Bella Filagrossi

Catherine Iorio

Sofia Marinucci

Isabelle Marone

Michaela Rutigliano

Sarah Skala

Seniors

Skye Bates

Gracie Edmonds

Abigail Federlein

Emily Ferraris

Briana Gellineau

Maria Hernandez

Lily Lancellotti

Jenn Nagle

Frankie Pellegrino

Kathleen Scanlon

Michelle Wolf

 


IMPORTANT

 click here

**  Due to the construction improvements being done to the Hills West Natatorium, The Lady Friars will be swimming at Hidden Pond Park (the Rinx) for the month of September.  Our beginning of the season schedule and times remain the same, only the pool location has changed!

Tuesday, August 27th:   Tryouts for the Current (last years) Varsity Team!  6-7 am

Thursday, August 29th:   Practice for current Varsity Team

 

Tuesday, September 3rd:   Tryouts for all NEW Friars! 

** Practice for current Varsity Team - 6-7 am

Thursday, September 5th:   Practice for the Entire Team!

**  Final day for Uniform orders!

 

 

2019 Girls Tryouts
Click here

 

 

Friar All-Americans

The All American lists are in.... and the Friars had another monumental year!

 In addition, BOTH the Men's and Women's teams earning All American Scholar Team - Gold level honors,

The following Friars are ALL-AMERICANS:

Briana Gellineau 

200 Freestyle - 1:49.46 - 79th!

 Billy Swartwout

200 Freestyle - 1:39.21 - 85th!

 Justin Meyn

100 Freestyle - 45.40 - 97th!

200 Freestyle Relay - 1:24.37 - 40th!

Mark Owens

Chris Stange

Billy Swartwout

Justin Meyn

400 Freestyle Relay - 3:06.49 - 72nd!

Justin Meyn

Chris Stange

Dylan Champagne

Billy Swartwout

Just AMAZIN'!   

CONGRATULATIONS to ALL our Friar All Americans!

 

 

Back on Top!

 

How about THAT performance???!!! 

That’s right Friar Fans…  We are CHAMPIONS once again! 

 

     Coach Scott and I took the drive together to the Nassau Aquatic Center… no radio on, just us reflecting on what we’ve already seen this team accomplish this season.  Eleven State cut times vs. Xavier; Eighteen (highest ever) State cuts vs. Chaminade, and sixteen vs. Fordham Prep.  More “in season” cuts than the Friars have ever done in a single season.  We can’t wait to see what’s in store for us to witness over the next two days.

     It’s been three years since the Friars have won the CHSAA Championship, and once again, we are finally upon Champs Weekend.  This team has taken each challenge one at a time, one workout at a time, one dual meet at a time, but an underlying theme in the back of all our minds was to once again take the League Championship. 

“TIB” – Take it Back! 

     This team is battle tested.  We need to be because we will swim against the best.  We compete in the top league in all of NY State, and you can’t win unless you are prepared to give your absolute best.  Since 2016, this teams seniors and leaders have seen it all; close meets, Championship celebrations, and some tough losses to incredibly talented teams.  It’s a story; their story.  Now they are embarking on the conclusion to that story with the best team in Friar history to back them. 

     We [the coaches] discussed how excited we were after finishing the Champs lineup.  And I’ll be honest, there was input from not only the coaches, but the swimmers themselves.  Complete Team Effort!  We all know it doesn’t just take your top swimmers to win the Championship; it takes an entire deep team.  After seeing it on paper, this IS a deep team.  The excitement level is off the charts and everyone is on board.  42 Friars competing as One. 

     Day 113 into the season…  AND THIS TEAM IS READY!

 

Funny story:   So I gather the Friars on deck for my traditional “pep talk”…  I get on my roll…  louder as I go of course, till Captain Justin Meyn politely interrupts me, “uhh… excuse me coach, but the meet is starting…”  and he’s not kidding.  The swimmers are on the block for heat one, the entire room is quiet, except for one maniac coach trying to pump up his team. 

** Awkward silence… “Take you mark..”   and Coach Dan finally recovers:

Friars on three… 

1 -  2  - 3… 

GO FRIARS!!!!

 

Champs Begins:

 

Our Medley Relay took on a few changes as the season progressed.  Every change created a new challenge for the Friars and they stepped up every time.  The one thing that stayed consistent through it all was our leader Ian Fitzpatrick.  He “leads off” EVERYTHING.  First to practice.  First in the water… (except the one time Jack Iorio fell in the water before him) J  and first to lead off our Medley Relay with the backstroke leg.  Our relay is as tough as Ian is.  They are ready to see him GO!  (as we all are!)

 

Take your mark…   

 

Ian explodes off the wall and CHAMPS IS ON!  The Friars behind me are all standing.  They know, as I do, that this is the start of something monumental.   The cheers continue as Ian flies through the water and touches the wall with a 24.91 split as Tim Rupnarain flies overhead.  I’m proud of Tim.  He has stepped up to replace Michael Chang (on the DL due to illness) and handled the pressure.  In addition, Michael spent time talking to Tim and helping with as many pointers as he can.  That really boosted Tim’s confidence and it was clear in his facial expressions how much it helped.  MC, as always, you are a “Class Act” Friar teammate!

Tim gave his personal best with his 27.06 split and off the block is Senior Josh Giardinelli.  I’m still smiling.  What a great spot for Josh to have.  He’s earned it.  He busts his butt every single day for this team; working as hard as any Friar who hits the water.  I’m thrilled to see him “flying” down the pool (C’mon, that’s a good pun!).  Josh splits a 23.61 and we are already looking at our best Medley Relay swim of the season as Mark Owens begins the freestyle anchor leg of the relay.  That’s right… Friars fill in where necessary and Mark moved from the fly leg to freestyle.  He anchors the relay brilliantly with a blazing 21.36 split and the Friars have their best time of the season with a 3rd place 1:36.94!

States edit:  This same relay went on to finish 6th overall in NY State with an even Faster 1:36.67!  And how about Mark Owens with a 20.98 on the anchor!  Holy Fast! 

 

The 200 freestyle event this year is loaded with talent.  Our league is loaded; even the state is loaded.  But… So Are The Friars! 

After seeing Joe Welling break the 2 minute mark at Fordham, I really wanted to see him swim it at Champs.  I was impressed with how well Joe embraced the challenge.  He was psyched to swim it!  It showed with his 53 split at the 100… as Joe went on to Smash his personal best with a 1:56.16.  (How about this: he would have placed 18th!) This was the break out swim I was waiting to see from Joe.  The best part was the huge smile on his face as he returned back to his cheering team.  Richie Chiarella also had a huge smile on his face.  Why?   Because he freakin swam a 1:51.83!  Are you kidding me?  That would have placed him 14th overall in this talented field. 

I don’t know what the league record is for most points ever scored by a single team in any one event…  but how about THIS Friar Fans:

We now we have 4 in Finals, our prelim swims were incredible.  Now check out these finishes and times:

Finishing in 5th place overall – Chris Stange with a 1:44.55.  In 4th place – Josh Giardinelli with a 1:44.36.  In 3rd place – Dylan Champagne with a 1:43.07.  And finally, WINNING the 200 free with an insane second half, freshman (that’s right… freshman!) Joe Tonna with a 1:42.03! 

What???

The Friars are going crazy!  I can hear the stomping of their feet on the small bleacher this huge team is squeezed into.  I can even hear the Friar Fans directly above my head…  all cheering about witnessing the 4 scoring Friars in the top 5 spots.  Yes, a 1-3-4-5 finish in the 200 free!  Look at those times.  Are you kidding me? 

States edit:

If you look at the overall times across the State in the 200 free this year… it’s one of the deepest events of the meet.  We had 3 Friars scoring for us!  Dylan Champagne finished 17th in NYS with a 1:44.21.  Joe Tonna, one of our many guys coming off the flu fought to finish 12th in NYS with a 1:43.21.  And battling for the top spot for all 200 yards of his race, Billy Swartwout finished 2nd overall in NYS with an All-American Consideration 1:39.21!  Yes, you read that correctly… a sub 1:40 time baby! 

 

Our 200 IM was one of the events that we needed guys to come out of their comfort zone and score points for this team.  Obviously without Michael Chang, these guys had to step up!  Our 1 true IM’er in the event was Ian Fitzpatrick… but we needed to bring in the talent of 200 freestylers Billy Swartwout and Matt Chang.  We also called on the multitalented Ryan Arbeeny.  Ryan is important to any lineup as he can swim just about any event.  We needed him to score, and he sure did with his 2:05.07 finishing 16th overall.   Freshman Matt Chang also had an incredible swim only .13 off the state cut time with a personal best 2:00.76 and finishing 11th! 

Watching the top 4 guys’ race in the final heat, man, that was awesome for any swimming fan to watch.  We were all standing, watching, yelling; as we watch Billy and Ian swim each of the 4 strokes.  Billy dropped another 2 seconds and finished with a 1:54.92 in 4th place!  Ian was simply in a zone, and having the meet of his life as he swims a 1:54.31 and finishing 2nd overall! 

States edit: 

A lesson for anyone looking to strive to succeed at any challenge you face; look no further than using Friar Ian Fitzpatrick as your example.  Hard work pays off….  Period.  Ian has been consistently attending every practice, giving 100% effort through every workout and one of the most coachable swimmers we’ve ever had.  As a result, Ian improved his times every time he hit the water at every Championship meet.  Including, his unforgettable 5th place overall finish in NY State swimming a personal best 1:54.56! 

 

We had a TON of Friars competing in the 50 free.  The best part… just about every single one of them swam personal best times! 

Four years ago, one of my childhood teammate’s sons was coming to St. Anthony’s.  I was dying for him to join this Friar Family.  Although I prayed for it, it just wasn’t his time.  He is an extraordinary athlete who smashed all school records on the tennis team and the best St. Anthony’s has ever had.  His accomplishments are outstanding.  Fast forward 3 years; Coach Dan’s prayers were answered!  Senior Tavish McNulty has arrived.  He worked as hard as anyone in the pool.  He’s a true gentleman who takes the time to greet all his coaches and shake their hands and thank them after every workout/meet.  I will remember that as well as his personal best time of 27.57. 

A HUGE highlight for ALL the Friars was when 6’4” diver Tyler Zarzycki shot off the blocks and Smashed his heat as he tore up the pool swimming a 25.99!  WOOO!  The Friars behind me were simply going crazy.  I loved it.  Get ready for more relay swims next year pal J

A wonderful surprise this year was international student Jason Yu coming to St. Anthony’s.  He, as well as Jameson Zhu, has such interesting life stories of their road to the Friars.  Jason is a tough competitor and swam his personal best 25.70.  Our next two guys came to the team together last year.  Both Tommy Rosselli and Aiden O’Toole improved to making A cuts this year.  It’s no surprise that they swam best times together with a 25.56 and 25.58 respectively.  Cole McNulty’s junior year was remarkable.  I am so happy with the development of his leadership in lanes 1 and 2 where he swims.  (** shout-out to Konal Keane who’s consistent leadership has spread to his teammates under him.  You have certainly left your mark on this team.)  Cole’s workout habits improved and so did his times.  Great 25.05 swim!  Danny Zahn has made great strides this year.  He’s getting stronger in the water, and his sprinting has really improved, as seen by his 24.82 swim.  Dylan Cellamare will be a huge asset for us next year.  I was thrilled how he learned to “compete” this season.  Sure, he smiles all day long, but when he stepped on the blocks, he wanted to “race”.  That’s what Friars do!  Along with many best times this season, he swam a 24.76.  Sebastian Quiceno put together a fantastic season.  His work ethic improved and it showed in his swimming.  His 23.96 from a flat start was great to see.

This Friar Family is not just about swimming and best times.  Much of it is about life lessons and experiences.  Right at the beginning of the season, Joe McLaughlin came to me like a man, looked me in the eye and stated “I will not disappoint you this year, coach.  You can count on me”.  He shook my hand that day and worked his butt off coming to every practice thereafter.  I must have told him 10 times this season how proud I am of him.  I’m also proud of his 23.57 swim! 

Last year I heard all about this swimmer that came to St. Anthony’s – Tyler Simpson.  Swimmers told me about him.  St. Anthony’s teachers told me about him.  Administrators told me about him. 
For me, all year long built the mystic of Tyler Simpson.  Finally, in October, Tyler stepped on the Friar pool deck!   There are two sides to Tyler.  On the deck, he’s a polite gentleman who always has a huge smile on his face.  In the water, he’s a competitor who is very hard on himself.  I love that.  He made the best of every time he was in the water.  Ian may have been first in the water… but Tyler was the last to leave.  That extra work sure paid off as we watched him tear up that pool with his 22.92 that would have placed him 14th overall! 

It was a great season to watch Caleb Neugebauer maturing.  Sure, he’s maturing as a young man… all our Friars do over their four years; but he’s maturing as a competitor.  He paid closer attention on learning how to train and how to compete.  And, I’m not taking any credit for that at all.  That credit goes to all our leaders.  They are a perfect example of success and Caleb wants that same success.  He pays close attention to them.  His 22.76 12th place finish was huge for us!

Another Friar who enjoyed success was Trevor Griffin.  He wanted to have a great meet so bad that his focus was off the charts.  With a great start, he scored huge points for us with his 10th place 22.64! 

So, do you remember last years 50 freestyle Finals?  I do! 

Do Justin Meyn and Mark Owens officially qualify as a dynamic duo finishing first and second for the second year in a row???  Yes!  How cool is that?  Mark Owens, with an incredible turn I might add…, swam a 21.15 and placed 2nd once again only to his teammate Justin Meyn!  The entire room was already on its feet before the 20 second race began.  The cheers were so loud, until the swimmers stepped on the block.  It became so quiet so quickly it made my own heart race.  Those two Friar caps looked so cool out in front and everyone was in awe as we watched them fly across the water and watch Justin hit that pad as the 50 freestyle Champion at a 20.90!  Holy fast… I was screaming!

States edit:

Before I even go further, how about this:  You need to swim a 21.72 just to even SCORE at States!   Whew….

Mark Owens went on to kill his consolation heat and placed 11th overall in NYS swimming a 21.15!  Justin Meyn, focused as always, placed 3rd overall with an All-American Consideration 20.87! 

** With these two huge point scoring swims, the Friars moved into 3rd place, but were closing in on the leaders.

 

Diving is such a challenging sport.  I always feel it doesn’t get enough credit.  Sometimes it takes an entire season for a diver to even learn enough dives just to compete.  It’s so tough that many drop out of the sport because they just can’t handle the mental and physical challenges it takes to “become” a diver, let alone a diver for the Friars!   This year we had two divers with the guts to stick it out and face all the challenges they encountered.  Regan Bruno and Tyler Zarzycki put in the work required to not only improve… but the TWO of them scored more points this year than our three entries last year!  That was a HUGE victory for us as we weren’t in a massive point hole vs. the 4 divers of Fordham and Chaminade. 

Tyler medaled in finals finishing 8th, and Regan had her best finish of her Friar career finishing 13th!  You two were incredible!

Fantastic job Coach Kyle!

 

**  The story of Regan Bruno:

I haven’t spoken too much of this because I didn’t want to draw attention away from Regan’s leadership on the girls swimming team.  Just bear with me:    After years of legal debate, the ruling from the state came down that girls are not permitted to swim for the girls’ season AND dive for the boys’ season.  They must CHOOSE one or the other.  I spoke to Regan over the summer and after a wonderful conversation, she decided to surrender her girls’ team status and dive for the boys.  This wasn’t mentioned at all, because although Regan wasn’t on the roster to compete… she still wanted to participate and not miss her senior year on the girls’ team.  So, no one knew and her leadership role remained in tact!  Guess who had the best attendance on the girls team?   That’s correct – Regan!  She gives her heart and soul to both of these teams and it was a proud day for both Coach Kyle and me when Regan Bruno was named captain of the diving team.

 

Awards were given… and the final 15 minute “break” for the competition pool to be open was over.  The Friars were gathering back to the bleacher and Coach Ashley was filing them in.  (team organization baby!)

The event has begun.  Jason Yu, after a great freestyle swim, also dropped 2 seconds in his 100 fly, 1:02.77.  Exhausted, he did get out the words, “I’m tired” but he sure had a huge smile while he said it.  Dylan Cellamare had a great season.  He’s going to be a tremendous help next year as he keeps improving.  He swam a great 1:00.04 in his fly.  Danny Zahn also improved through the season, especially his sprinting and many relay swims.  His sub minute 59.80 fly was great to see.

Coach John, with his points sheet in hand… gave a close “look over” and let everyone know we were ok but needed some good scoring over the next three events.  We are going to be real strong here so we have to make it count.  Of course I passed along the info to all the Friars which was followed up by a huge cheer as our finalists walk out onto the bulkhead. 

Tyler Simpson, as confident as I’ve seen him coming off a great 50 free was ready to go.  Being the gentleman he is, I was impressed to see him first shake the hands of all his competitors surrounding him on the bulkhead as a true Friar does… then he got into his zone ready to kick some major butt.  Coach Scott let out a huge shout of approval as he swam his 53.51, moving up two spots and qualifying for States!  That got us ALL motivated and the cheers continued. 

The music begins, and out walks the final heat.  We have 3!

Michael Stoski has been waiting a full year to get back to this moment as he swam with the flu last year.  There were chants from behind me… “Stoski…  Stoski…”  He’s seeded 8th from trials, but his 53.35 moves him up two spots and he’s also qualified for states!  We are on a roll…

Josh Giardinelli works out as tough as anyone you will find.  He never shy’s away from any set.  His fly kick over the past 4 years has just become explosive, and so has his butterfly.  We needed it!  He was seeded 6th after prelims, but moved up to THIRD with his State Qualifying 51.85, one of our biggest gains of the meet! 

When does Mark Owens step up?  Champs! When it’s a pressure spot, Mark GOES!  He is one tough competitor who loves to race.  His strength carried him to an overall 2nd place finish with a State Qualifying 51.61!  Our 4 Friars just scored huge points and our lead is finally stretching.

States edit:  Our Fly event was just as exciting at States.  For starters, Tyler Simpson swam a 52.75 best time of the year and finished 30th in NY State!  His smile was endless and he was so happy to “be back”!   Josh Giardinelli finished up his AMAZIN’ Friar career placing 17th overall in NY State and scoring for us with his 52.23!  Mark Owens came up huge again for us moving up 4 spots and finished 12th overall with a 51.46!  These three guys scoring finally put the Friars on top of the State leader board and stay tuned… because we will never look back!

 

Wow…  this might be the half way point, so maybe an intermission?  Take a bathroom break?  Maybe get yourself a snack and some water to hydrate?  You still have quite a bit of reading to do!

 

We had a ton of Friars qualify the 100 free.  It seemed like so many guys were missing from the bleacher, but it didn’t diminish the volume of the cheers.  James Simon, Chris Carneval, Sean Kotch, and Jameson Zhu, our awesome relay from B Champs, were all next to me cheering their teammates on!

Ryan Gaffney learned a ton last year after his success at B Champs.  He carried that right into this season and made A Champs in both his events.  He swam a great personal best 1:00.51.  Freshman Maverick Dettling has a ton of untapped potential.  He’s learning a lot from his team leaders and will improve as his confidence and consistency improves.  He turned in a great 1:00.24.  Another Friar who really improved throughout his sophomore year is Aiden O’Toole; much more mature and disciplined in his races.  His hard work with Konal Keane and “the guys” paid off with his awesome 57.72!  Senior Connor Sullivan has finally had a healthy varsity season.  It was great to have him in the water all the time and his leadership and spirit is so necessary on a team of this size.  This was his best by far. He capped off his career with an awesome 55.48 100 free. 

There were some morning practices where getting into the water goes too slow.  You need a leader to set an example to “get the guys going”.  Well, on the far side of the pool, on many occasions it was Cole McNulty.  I was so impressed and thrilled just as much as he was with his personal best 55.10. 

Ok, I know I may be on repeat… but I can’t stress enough how important leadership is.  There are guys who just come on the team and bleed Black and Gold.  Konall Keane is one of those guys.  He loves his school.  He loves his team (all of them… he plays 3 Varsity sports), and he loves his teammates.  He gives it his all 100% of the time.  What a memorable moment his 53.32 swim was, and the Friars were screaming through all 53 seconds of it!  Sebastian Quiceno also put together a great season starting with his workout habits.  As that improved, so did Sebastian’s swimming.  He capped off his season success with a 53.04. 

Joe McLaughlin was excited for his 100 free.  Yes, he wanted to swim for his team, but he also wanted to see how fast he can really go.  Time to put his hard work to the test, and he got positive results and I threw my arms in the air to celebrate his 52.76 personal best swim.  (awesome to see you smiling like that Joe!)

Throughout all our lineup changes, from the Chaminade meet, to Fordham, and now Champs, we got a tremendous boost from Tim Rupnarain.  He really stepped up.  I was chirping in his ear every moment I had a chance to.  He kept nodding his head in approval and listened to it all. He did an awesome job finishing 16th and swimming a 49.88. 

Our final three Friars were all in Finals! 

I could see the intensity on Trevor Griffin’s face.  He was all business.  Focusing only on his lane in front of him, just as he should, Trevor sprinted to his first ever individual State Qualifying time of 48.69 and placing 8th for the Friars! 

Out in front of the final heat of the 100 free was not one… but TWO black and gold Friar caps!  They stood out because NO ONE was catching them.  Chris Stange’s second half was just incredible with a fantastic final turn at the 75.  Those clean breakouts locked him in for his 2nd place finish and a State Qualifying 47.11!

 

I do have to admit, it wasn’t just the Friars who were jittery with anticipation.  Everyone in the entire Aquatic Center wanted to see what Justin Meyn was going to go here.  He’s the top seed in the League by far.  He’s even top on the NY State website and he has the confidence, discipline, and determination to go with it. 

Right from the start, he was a rocket… not losing any speed on his breakout.  I’m already screaming, possibly blowing out a vocal cord in the process.  I see the 21.69 split flash up on the board…  WOAH….  my arms in the air, ignoring the splits on my stopwatch and just enjoying seeing Justin tear up the Nassau Aquatic Center pool, with Stange and Griffin in there with him. 

Points… Points… Points…    look at those Friars GOOO!

Holy Fast…   Justin cranks out a jaw dropping 45.89 and winning his second individual event of the meet!  100 Freestyle Champion!

** After last year’s (2018) three way tie for the MVP of the meet, the league voted on going with “power points” to try to have 1 winner and break all possible ties.  After all points were totaled, Justin Meyn became this years CHSAA League MVP!  Congratulations Justin, so well deserved!

States edit:

Our Friar freestyle sprinters furthered our point total.  Chris Stange gave us an additional thrilling performance with another incredible second half of his 100 free.  Chris finished 13th overall in NY State with a 47.70, but he’s just getting warmed up.  He has TWO incredible relay swims coming up.  Justin Meyn took his Championship experience with him to States.  Coach John gave him his “pep talk”, and Justin gave him his simple “head nod” that he does, and you know he’s ready.  Stepping up on that block in the middle of the pool… he even looked like a champion.  He was out so freakin fast (21.34) it almost didn’t look fair. The race was close, the race was awesome, but the race was also all Justin and he hit that pad, looked at that score board and rightfully threw his arm in the air!  A 45.40!!  Are you kidding me???

Justin Meyn is the NY State Federation 100 freestyle Champion! 

* Chris and Justin combined furthered our point total and it’s thrilling to look on Meet Mobile and see St. Anthony’s on top.     YEAH BABY!

 

Whew… adrenaline.   I have to regain my composure…  Just reliving that is exciting every time!

 

** Note:  Justin Meyn was just named All Long Island by Newsday!

 

Before I go further into our 500 free review, I have to give a huge shout out to freshman Nick Carrieri.  So many swimmers shoot for the 50 free, 100 free, they all look to sprint.  Not Nick!  He manned up and qualified for the 500.  Nick dropped like another 23 seconds for his personal best 5:54.89.  Show ‘em how to do it Nick!

We also had sophomore Sean Sullivan in the 500.  Sean’s one of those guys like Sean Kotch who just doesn’t stop swimming.  They refuse to sit out.  And their teammates know it.  Sean + Sean… (cool, I like that) will often get cheers from their teammates when a tough set is ending and the see they don’t wuss out and skip yards.  Sean Sullivan’s persistence earned him an entry into the 500 and he swam a killer personal best 5:42.86!

Our team 500 free entry took on some changes as we approached Champs.  Kudos to our swimmers too…  they had a lot of input on it.

- Josh Giardinelli had been swimming it for us in the past, but he’s in the 100 fly this year. 

- We needed more backstrokers, and Billy Swartwout is available to swim that. 

Also, owning up to it as I must, JoJo Tonna didn’t qualify for the 5 during the season (my bad) and we need his points in the event at States.  There was MUCH discussion on it.  I spoke to Billy Swartwout about it, because the move will be tougher on him, but the payoff for the team would be great.  Billy of course was 110% on board with whatever is best for the team to win both, Champs and States.  Finalizing these moves was also made on the confidence that we [the coaches] had on the young but ready to handle the pressure… sophomore Richie Chiarella and freshman Owen Glaser.  These guys did NOT disappoint! 

I received the phone call from Mrs. Glaser the night before trials.  As I say all the time, its like the stars have to align to win any championship meet.  Nothing can EVER be taken for granted… and I receive the news that Owen has symptoms of the flu.  UGH.  (as per championship rules, there are no substitutions for designated scorers in individual events).  The morning of trials, Owens fever broke and he wants to swim for his team.  WOO!  With limited warm-up to save energy and I have him quarantined in his own personal chair away from the team…  Owen guts out a 5:01.84 and finishes… ready for this… 11th!  Sick and all! 

That was awesome.  – Warm down Owen and rest…

Richie Chiarella elevated his swimming to a whole new level.  That guy is tough as nails!  He’s definitely on his way to a State cut next year as his teammates cheered him on watching him win the consolation heat and taking 9th overall with a 4:57.71!

One of the most impressive swims I’ve seen was Dylan Champagne’s trials swim.  I feel it’s so hard to swim against a clock due to circle seeding.  Yet, Dylan somehow swam his way to a blistering 4:36.86!  That was crazy and I loved every bit of it! 

Our top two distance swimming Friars was both Dylan Champagne and the 200 freestyle Champion JoJo Tonna.  These guys gave their team a 2-3 finish overall with JoJo with the second place finish swimming a State Qualifying 4:38.88 and Dylan 3rd who already qualified for States and swam a 4:41.02.

We settle down for more awards.  I proudly watch all our winners with their Friar Team shirts on come back with so many medals.  

But this weekend is long.  This weekend is exhausting.  We need to finish as strong as we started.  I notice our bleachers going a little flat.  We’ve been cheering and screaming our heads off for two days… (three including diving) but we want to walk out of this place as Champions.   So, it’s time for another team “talk”.  I’ll be totally honest, I LOVE talking in the team huddle.  It’s my favorite part of coaching.  What’s said in our team huddle -  stays in our team huddle.

Unless…

Coach Dan is known to possibly get a little crazy from time to time.  Slightly carried away??  Maybe.  So apparently my face is red, veins popping out of my neck and forehead…  and I want nothing more than my team to keep performing at the level they have since the diving event began last Friday night.  My “speech” is done.  Blood pressure higher than the freakin high dive platform of the Aquatic Center.  As I’m catching my breath I realize I kind of got a little crazy.   I glance at Coaches John, Scott and Ashley…  “too much?”  I ask.   As they are silently shaking their heads “No”, I hear the clapping up over my head.  That’s right; the Friar parents above me are clapping their hands in approval as I’m sure they also want to see this awesome team finish what they started.  So much for what is said in the huddle stays in the huddle… haha.   I loved it.   I mean… we freaking have our 200 freestyle relay coming up!!!!  C’mon Friar Fans… on your feet!  Get up for this one!

 

Ok, you don’t have to really get up.  Just continue reading.

 

I can’t wait to see this relay go. 

This is the 200 free relay.  Every team has marvelous sprinters.  They all can GO.

Chaminade and Fordham Prep have some of the top sprinters in the league.  Even Xavier’s relays are awesome this year.  St. Francis Prep and Iona have sprinters and great relays.  Xaverian and Molloy even have relays filled with 4 sprinters.  The anticipation has the deck as crowded as it’s been all weekend.  It’s anyone’s game and everyone in the pool area wants to watch.

To the 7 other relays in this final heat:  

THE FRIARS ALSO HAVE 4 SPRINTERS!

Yes we do!

I’m jumping up and down.  My adrenaline is pumping.  Psst… Coach Dan…

You’re not swimming… chew your Pepto tablets and calm down.

Mark Owens steps on the block.  These are the swims Mark lives for.  He’s never looked more ready.  He has a monster turn and puts up the best lead off split ahead of Xavier.  21.27!  That gets his relay psyched!  Chris Stange has a beautiful start, one he’s really worked on… and puts up a 21.89 of his own. 

Talking to Coach John about our order, I told him I want a “filthy” second half.  He reassured me…  we’ve got one! Haha   Heck yeah we do!

Our third swimmer is Billy Swartwout with a nasty relay start that some of the officials haven’t even seen yet… swims a 21.14 and we are way out there! 

Closers.  Anchors.  Finishers.  Whatever you want to call them, we’ve had some of the best of them in NY State.  Throwing names at you…  Sean Cannon, Mike Forgione, Bernil Carmichael-Lopes, Billy Krause, Nick Bedward, Christian Yeager…  and YES, Justin Meyn.  Some of the best relay anchor swims over the past 4 years have come from Justin Meyn. 

** He anchored the fastest Medley Relay in NY State history.  It still stands to this date.

Justin shoots over Billy…  it doesn’t even look fair.  Seven incredible relays who be dominate in any other league are being left in the dust.  Justin tears up the pool with a 20.91 and wins the 200 free relay with an All-American Consideration time of 1:25.21, the fastest time in the State so far this year!  Well, it wasn’t my speech that woke up the Friars… it was this RELAY!!!

States edit:

This same relay never lost!  They went on to be the NUMBER ONE RELAY IN NY STATE!  That’s right Friar Fans, on the top of the podium stood Mark Owens (in his work boots, 21.10) Chris Stange (21.89), Billy Swartwout (ready for this…?  20.87), and our anchor Justin Meyn (20.51), all combined for a now All-American AUTOMATIC NY State Federation Champion time of 1:24.37!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

** Note:   This relay was just named All Long Island by Newsday!

 

We began our 100 back with a ton of young Friars.  I see a lot of potential for Freshman Maverick Dettling in the backstroke.  It’s only his first pressure meet as he qualified for A champs his freshman year, so nerves can happen.  Maverick did however swim a beautiful 1:07 during the season!  After swimming that killer 500… Nick Carrieri swam a personal best 1:11.11.  Outstanding swims for Nick. 

Mr. “put me in anything, coach” Sean Sullivan also rocked a best time with his 1:09.04.  In just one year, Tommy Rosselli is probably one of our most improved Friars.  When he enters the water, that 24/7 big smile disappears, and he swam a beautiful 1:04.26. 

Ok Friar Fans, how about this swim:  

Champs is just a magical meet.  Guys get in that water and “make it happen”.  Coming off his incredible 200, Joe Welling, just hovering under a minute all season, gets in the water and swims a sick 57.39!  What’s amazing about that swim is he would have placed 13th overall if he was an eligible scorer!  I’m not sure who was smiling wider, me or Joe. 

Our first two scoring backstrokers is another freshman/sophomore pair.  Owen Glaser had such an important swim as we basically woke his sick butt up so he can swim and he actually made it into the consolation heat.  Owen moved up another spot and finished 15th with a 58.34.  The flu can’t hold back Owen!  Caleb Neugebauer is another Friar who doesn’t care what he swims as long as he’s racing somebody. 

“Caleb, what’s your 200 free time?”

-  put me in it coach…

“Caleb, what’s your fly time?”

- put me in it coach

“Caleb, what’s your backstroke time?”

- put me in it coach…

Well, we did.  We put Caleb in the 100 back and he came up huge for his team finishing 13th with a 57.43.

The Finals of the backstroke was a huge heat for us.  You can’t give up any points to teams like Fordham and Chaminade.  We didn’t use Billy in the 500… but guess what; we have him now along with Ian Fitzpatrick!  Two of the best in the league baby! 

Ian has just been hitting best times all weekend long.  His 200 IM, his Medley relay swim; all his best.  I’m not surprised by any of it.  For the past 4 years I’ve been watching Ian and cheering for him as a fan because I see the effort he puts into perfecting his swimming.  Any swimmer can learn a lot from Ian.  Heck, I’ve learned a lot from Ian.

He’s in this heat because he’s earned it.  He’s worked for it.  I couldn’t have been more proud to see him swim to a 4th place finish with a State Qualifying 53.09! 

Billy Swartwout has been dying to swim the 100 back.  I too have been dying to see him do it!  Bringing the entire place to its feet as he pressured Fordham Prep’s Nick Torres all the way to the touch pad finishing 2nd with an awesome State Qualifying 51.24!  What a race!

States edit:

Swimming in the final heat of our championship is a huge accomplishment.  But… how about swimming in the final heat at States?  That’s right… Ian Fitzpatrick continued his personal best swimming 4 weeks later finishing 8th place overall in NY State with a 53.53!  Woo…  I was fist pumping like DJ Pauly D!   (Is that still a thing?  Haha)

 

You know who got the Friars cheering to start off the 100 breast?  Senior Tavish McNulty.  Sure, a first year senior… but he is a teammate favorite and they stand and cheer him on to his personal best 1:20.89!  Well deserved team cheers Tavish!

Another incredible swim was Ryan Gaffney’s 1:15.97.  I’d be smiling like Ryan if I dropped 5 seconds in one shot! 

One swim that I truly missed seeing was Jack Iorio’s 100 breast.  Seeing someone really enjoy swimming an event is such a good feeling.  Unfortunately Jack had the flu so bad he couldn’t compete.  We missed you Jack!

In order to be a top team you need to be a deep team and you need swimmers like Ryan Arbeeny.  Throughout this year Ryan swam the 200 free, 200 IM, 500 free, 100 fly, 100 back, and here in Champs, he’s swimming the 100 breast.  He gave his team a beautiful performance moving up and winning his heat to finish 17th with a 1:04.95!

The reining CHSAA State record holder is none other than our own Michael Chang.  Having him on the DL was tough.  I prayed for his health every night and I at times I almost felt selfish praying for his return before Champs.  I’m a fan of MC.  I always will be.  I admit I was dying to watch him swim.  But, now we have to fill the void.  We called on his brother, freshman Matt Chang as well as senior Michael Stoski!

To get the best out or your team, many guys need to make sacrifices.  Matt Chang is one of those guys.  Sacrificing his best events to score for his team in the 100 breast, he placed 15th with a 1:03.63.

Late in the season… in fact right before Champs, we noticed how good Michael Stoski’s breaststroke looked.  I talked with Stoski; he informed me that he had been working on it more, and I have to say… it was showing.  Thank God, we needed him!  He was thrilled to have the opportunity and to be quite honest, we needed the points.  With the 4 incredible years he’s given to his team, and certainly a favorite of his teammates, Stoski brought he teammates to their feet as they jumped up and down on the bleachers (looking like they were stressing those benches beyond their weight capacity!) the cheering on his 1:03.38 14th place finish!

This team isn’t just always about the swimming.  It’s about the opportunities and challenges that are faced along the way.  One such Friar is Tim Rupnarain.  He’s now our top breaststroker and pressure mounts when so much is expected of you.  Tim welcomed every challenge and rose to the occasion.  I was so proud of his 8th place finish in finals and his State Qualifying 59.93! 

 

** Special Note:  

With Tim’s state qualifying 100 breaststroke, he has become the Friars THIRTEENTH individual state qualifier!  We’ve had as much as 12 in the past, but that included guys who were entered in relays only. 

13 individual event qualifiers! 

At this time of the meet, we have the following going to STATES:

Justin Meyn

Ian Fitzpatrick

Michael Chang

Mark Owens

Chris Stange

Billy Swartwout

Josh Giardinelli

JoJo Tonna

Dylan Champagne

Trevor Griffin

Tyler Simpson

Michael Stoski

And Tim Rupnarain

 - That is just Amazin’!

 

The Friars are still on their feet.  There are Friar Parents over head… yes, I hear them, because we are ALL booming with anticipation of the Granddaddy of all relays… the 400 free relay! 

Being in the points lead heading into the final event is a great feeling.  Sending your top 4 guys and best relay we’ve got into the final event… well that’s just GLORIOUS! 

I can’t even control myself.  My pacing in front of the “white plastic chain” has my heart rate sky rocketing.  This is most confident I’ve ever been in our final relay, because I can see the confidence in their faces; starting with their leader, Justin Meyn. - shaking his head up and down for all his teammates to see.  “We’ve got this” going through his head and being passed along to all of us…  These guys are READY!

Coach John said it:   Let’s run with Justin up in front and have clean water throughout the relay.  Me… I can’t wait to see it!

Justin steps on the block. 

Coach Scott hits me in the arm – “This is going to be SICK!” he says.

It only took 21.9 seconds to see Coach John was right… look who was out in front: Justin Meyn, already almost a full second lead. 

I’m already jumping up and down and there’s 350 yards to go!  GO JUSTIN!

He touches the wall at 45.85 and now almost 2 seconds in front…  and Chris Stange flies over him.  Chris is tearing up the pool and the best part is that no one is catching him!  The lead is now a full two seconds for Dylan Champagne as Chris swims a blistering 47.74!  Showing one of his best starts, Dylan is pulling further away from the field.  Dylan is flying and his 47.54 split is over 2 seconds faster than only other teams third leg.  Our lead is now 2.6 seconds…  I drop down my folder…  I drop down my stopwatch…

I just throw up my arms in the air in celebration.  Why?  Because Billy Swartwout’s long body is being launched over the wedge of the block and he is… Gone!  My own arms are pumping as much as Billy’s.  My out of shape heart rate might also be matching his and I’m not even swimming!  I jumped up and down for the entire 46.28 seconds…  I enjoyed watching Billy extend their lead.  I enjoyed glancing at the joy on the guys faces surrounding me as they knew what was happening; Billy (46.28!) was making it official as his hand touched that lane 5 touchpad at 3 minutes, 7.41 seconds… 

After 3 days of competition, the Friars are once again:

CHAMPIONS!

The very first week of the season, we sat in the bleachers and talked about this very moment.  This team is talented enough to be champions; we have to stay focused on this goal every single day. 

“TIB – take it back!”      113 days later…

Move those lane lines… the Friars are going to celebrate! 

Team shirts are being shed and thrown aside…  some of the “big guys” are literally swinging Michael Stoski like they are going to fling him all the way to the far side of the pool…   easy guys… we don’t want anyone hurt!  Geez…

The cheers are deafening…  The parents overhead are on their feet… applauding and celebrating…

All this because these Friars have scored an incredible 803 Championship points to become the 2019 CHSAA Champions!

Captains Regan, Justin, Ian, and Konall hoist the CHSAA Championship Plaque over their heads and carry it back to their team!

SPLASH  DOWN!!!

 

States edit:

Our same 400 freestyle relay found themselves in the same position at States.  The Friars are in first place in team points going into the final relay… all we have to do is not DQ.   “Safe starts” is the call.  Make sure you are legal, and then tear up that pool!  These guys have already gone 3:07, the top time in NY State all year.  Can they possibly go any faster, especially when we are looking to be State Champs and have to have safe starts? 

Justin Meyn’ split is a 21.68…  Holy cow I’m shaking Coach John!  Garden City’s Jake Newmark is hanging with him, but Justin still turns out the best lead off split of 45.60… What???

Chris Stange (47.94) and Dylan Champagne (47.61) both keep the Friars out in front, and they were flying!

Our lead once again is almost 2 seconds and Billy Swartwout (45.34!) is in command of the race.  Are you ready for this…??

The Friars finish with an All-American Consideration, new St. Anthony’s school record, NY State Federation Champion time of 3:06.49!  Holy Fast!

**  Note:  They finish two and a half seconds ahead of the next fastest school, and this is the 2nd fastest time in NY State history behind the Fordham Prep relay of 2014.

**  This relay was just named All Long Island by Newsday!

**  Justin Meyn was named team MVP

**  Dylan Champagne was named team Scholar Athlete with a GPA of 102!

 

BACK TO BACK NY STATE CHAMPIONS!!!

 

3 NY State Championships in the past 4 years! 

Here is the run:

2015 – 2nd

2016 – 1st

2017 – 2nd

2018 – 1st

2019 – 1st

**  There is only 1 school in NY State history with a better 5 year record.  That’s how incredible this amazing run is! 

The stat that is announced at Champs:

“There are over 20,000 students that participate in swimming each year.”

 

Yes… but only 42 of them can call themselves…  NY STATE CHAMPIONS!

 

Special Thanks to the entire Coaching Staff, Coach Scott, Coach John, Coach Kyle and Coach Ashley.  You are all AMAZING!

Special Thanks to ALL the incredible Friar Parents!  You are part of this team too.  It doesn’t “GO” without you!

And of course… 

Special Thanks to this entire team for making this season so incredibly enjoyable and memorable.  You deserve every bit of praise!

God Bless the entire Friar Family!

 

So proud and blessed to be called your coach,

-Coach Dan

The 2018-19 Friars repeat as State Champions.
The Friar men repeated as NYS Swimming & Diving Champions.
Justin Meyn became the 3rd swimmer in Friars history to win an individual State Crown!
The Friars also took home Gold Medals in both the 200 & 400 Freestyle Relays.

Stay tuned for more.
LIVE Results (Finals)

Prelims:  Results
Psych Sheets
Time Line

 

Please Pray

It is with such a saddened heart to deliver the tragic news of the  passing of Friar Diver, Maddie Ruocco ('15).

Maddie was loved by ALL her teammates.  Her bright smile lit up the world.  Her heart was ten times as big as she was.  She was a true Friar, who loved each and every one of her teammates, and on so many occasions expressed her love for her team.  Her relationship with our then diving coach, Coach Beth Bolger, was as tight as any coach/athlete relationship you would ever see.

Maddie thrived under Coach Beth, while looking up to and always encouraging her teammates, Jack Volpe, LeeAnn Santore, Noel Theroux, Lauren Coco, Alex Schnabel, Kim Duong,  Maria Basir, & Gabby Robles.  Maddie scored huge for her team in her sophomore, junior, and senior years.  When she wasn't diving, she was on the sideline cheering and routing on the Friar swimmers....   Always.

She went on to be a Math major at Villanova University.  There she continued to do so much charity work that it would be too much to list.

Through my tears, I have to tell you that heaven gained one bright angel.  

Here are her funeral arrangements:

WAKE
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Noon-2:00 and 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Beney Funeral Home
79 Berry Hill Rd.
Syosset, N.Y. 11791-2847

FUNERAL MASS
Monday, February 25, 2019
9:45 a.m.
St. Patrick’s Church
400 Main Street
Huntington, NY 11743  

 

Please say a special prayer for Maddie and the entire Ruocco family.

Thank you,

Coach Dan

 

Friars are Champs!
The Defending NYS Champion Friars are the 2019 NYCHSAA Champs.
Results
The STATE Championships are coming!
Click here for the State Champs Timeline.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Friars State Championship Qualifiers:
Ian Fitzpatrick
Justin Meyn
Josh Giardinelli
Billy Swartwout
Mark Owens
Michael Chang
Chris Stange
JoJo Tonna
Tim Rupnarain
Dylan Champagne
Mark Owens
Tyler Simpson
Michael Stoski
Trevor Griffin

 

LET'S DEFEND OUR TITLE!!!!

 

Check out the Friar Men's Team in Newsday     Click here


Friars:   Men's Swimming & Diving Results (2018-19)

The Friars have done it AGAIN...!!!

 Seriously, Congratulations to all our seniors who have just finished their entire 4 year Friar tenure with a perfect 32-0 UNDEFEATED Dual Meet Record!  That's truly remarkable and certainly a Friar first.  That took buying into this program as freshman and wanting to be a part of what this family offers, contributing to this team as sophomores and juniors, and finally leading their team as seniors, leaving their mark on this team and paving the way for the future Friars to follow.  

Yesterday's meet was a perfect example.  I don't disclose what happens in our team huddle because that's between me and you [our Friars], but our first huddle was rising up to face challenges head on.  And Fordham Prep was certainly a challenge!  You didn't shy away, in fact, I'm most proud that you didn't even look scared.  You just stepped on the block with a job to do and you GOT IT DONE!

Event after event you performed brilliantly!

Our changed Medley needed a 2-3... done!

Billy Swartwout's awesome "touch out" in the 2 free... sick!

followed by Dylan's 1:45.10 and Stange's 1:46.07.  Are you kidding me?  How can any team compete with that?  All 3 are state cuts! 

HUGE shout out to Justin Meyn (the cheers you got from your teammates was SO well DESERVED!) **Without even flinching... Justin swam our 200 IM and 100 Breast**  dominating the 200 IM with a 1:55.41 followed by Ian with an INCREDIBLE 1:56.49...  Matt Chang with a 2:02.59.  No joke, 3 3 events in and we were setting the tone.  The Friars are without a doubt... the TOUGHEST team to swim in a dual meet!

And... how about Owen Glaser swimming a 2:05.36 in the IM, and even jumping forward to a 57.91 in the backstroke...  

the kid is what... 95 pounds soak and wet...  

(well, he is in a pool, so I guess yes, he's soak and wet...)

and pulling off times like that as a freshman???  AWESOME!

Josh Giardinelli has been ON FIRE for us in this main stretch...

killing it in the 100 fly with a...

ready???

51.76 in a dual meet!

Followed by teammate Mark Owens also with a State time of 52.39!

Moving Justin from the 100 free... we needed guys to step up...

Chris Stange (47.77) Joe Tonna (48.70) [not gonna lie, I love typing the name Tonna again...] and Trevor Griffin (49.93) got the job done.  

** How about Connor Sullivan ripping the pool up for a 56.33??  No wonder he beat me across the bay last summer!

(I want a re-match!)

500 free was INSANE!  total nail biter!  (thanks a lot Billy and Dylan) These guys battled...  (and so did Richie Chiarella)  

Me to the team on the side of the pool:   "GET RICHIE MOVING....!!!"

Billy Swartwout (4:41.41) Dylan Champagne (4:46.55) were incredible!

We needed stronger freestyle relays.  It was one of the 1st coaching discussions in preparing for Fordham.

Moving Justin to the 200 free relay... along to partner with Owens, Stange, and Billy was a perfect call.  That also strengthened our much needed B relay of Caleb, Griffin, Josh, and our huge anchor (also anchored the 400....) Dylan Champagne.  Dylan is always rock solid and you can't ask for a better guy to "get it done".

100 Back we were "sealing the deal" with our leader Ian Fitzpatrick showing how it's done with a 54.11, and freshman Joe Joe Tonna right behind him with a 55.21... and Glaser's 57.9.

That was HUGE.

What's unknown about Justin Meyn is he's not a one trick pony... he can swim it all!

Without flinching, his team needed him in the 100 breast, and he proudly stepped on that block in his Black and Gold cap.  Justin qualified for States with his 59.42, followed by teammates Tim Rupnarian (1:01.40) and Matt Chang (1:04.20).

(**  I loved the "fist bumping"... let's win this for MC... as the guys went to the blocks )

We scratched our "A" relay vs Chaminade... (that was our B relay that WON!) setting the stage for our 1-2 punch vs Fordham...

Killing it was Billy Swartwout, Chris Stange, Joe Tonna, and Justin Meyn (swimming 3 of the last 4 events) and our B relay Caleb, Ian, Josh and Champagne.... to make it official...

The Friars have once again defeated the Mighty Fordham Prep!

It doesn't get any bigger....  it doesn't get any sweeter...

To the poor Friar fans who couldn't make it to Fordham University:

You missed one of the greatest performances in this boys team history!

It was accentuated with the traditional "senior speeches" that commenced on the bus ride home.  To hear these guys (and in Regan's case, girls ;) ) pour their hearts out to their teammates.  For me, it's as special as any Friar Win!  

8-8...

that was the diving event score vs Fordham!

One of my favorite things to do as a Coach is lean on kids and let them know how important they are to the team.  "Your Team needs YOU!" 

One of my favorite statements!

100% of the time I get a positive response from the Friars!

Regan and Tyler were in that situation vs Fordham.  We needed the best they had to offer.  And boy, did they provide that to their team!  Our TWO Friars scored the same amount of points as Fordham's 3 divers!  At that point of the meet we were up by 2, and Regan and Tyler kept that lead for us!  HUGE!!

I loved seeing the smiles, the elation, and celebration with their coach!   Great job Coach Kyle and your divers!

That brought on our 2nd team meeting - feeding off the enthusiasm that our divers provided, the Friars never looked back from there! 

 CHAMPS OR BUST!!!

 

Reality is...

We have faced every challenge head on - one at a time.

So now, it's time to move past our glorious win and focus on our next challenge.  

WE WANT CHAMPS!!!!

I want to see our Seniors hoist that plaque over their heads!

Let's earn it gentlemen!  Back to work tomorrow morning!!!

LET'S TO THIS!!!!

We are NOT finished yet!!!

 

T-I-B....

Take It Back!!!!

 

GO FRIARS!!!!

Record 4-0

Dylan Champagne leads the Friars in win over St. Francis Prep

Senior Dylan Champagne turned in a phenomenal state qualifying 400m freestyle with a 4:10.25 (500: 4:45.03) to lead the Friars in their 4th win of the season.  Ian Fitzpatrick swam a commanding 1st place 200 IM.  Danny Zahn took 1st place in the 100m fly with a 1:06.58.  Ryan Arbeeny swam an impressive 400m free with a 4:29.62 as well as picking up the win in the 100 breast.  Tommy Rosselli won the 100 backstroke with a 110.93.   

Record 3-0

Friars look impressive with 7 individual State cuts vs. Xaverian 

Swimming fast is contagious.  Joe-Joe Tonna was first to jump on the block and kill it in the 200 free with a state qualifying 1:58.58 (147.02).  Justin Meyn was next in the 200 IM with a state qualifying 2:11.98 (158.80).  Chris Stange sprinted to a state qualifying time in the 50 free, 24.62 (22.00).  Billy Swartwout was a rocket as he killed the state cut and set a NEW school record in the 100 "meter" back with a 57.59 (51.83)!  That wasn't the ONLY record to fall...

Michael Chang broke the school meter record by 2 and a half seconds with a NEW Record of 1:06.42 (59.83)!   Setting up the 400 free relay and have the Friars race each other yielded two more state qualifying times in the 100 free for Justin Meyn 53.05 (47.75) and Chris Stange 53.15 (47.84).  That's SEVEN total!

Other great swims were turned in by Cole McNulty, Sean Kotch, Jason Yu, Joe McLaughlin, and the 200 free relay anchored by Friar Diver, Tyler Zyrzycki.


Record 2-0

 How about that performance?!?

 Talk about putting on a show!  

So we have these early "non-league" meets against some small teams.  So how do I light a spark to get these Friars to GO?  I challenge them.

I sent out a group message to a few of the guys saying:

"why don't we just get all three State cuts in one meet...?"

Immediately the responses start coming in...  "let's do it coach", "we've got this coach"... etc.

Then the "like" buttons were hit, the "thumbs up" came in...  Ian hit the "loves this" button...  haha, don't know if it was him, but someone did!  Too funny.

Point is...  they got ME psyched!

Yes, we had practice in the morning.  It's not time to rest yet.  Not if you want to win a Championship, and not if your looking to beat two awesome teams like Fordham and Chaminade.  You want to beat 'em...?  You have to out work 'em first!

8:00 PM, our medley relay (Fitzpatrick, Chang, Owens, Meyn) got our first cut!  That was followed up by our 200 free relay, (Meyn, Swartwout, Owens, Chang), and finally our 400 free relay (Stange, Swartwout, Meyn, Chang), with a 3:14 I might add... 4 seconds under the cut, qualified ALL THREE relays for States in ONE dual meet!  

After morning practice, I looked at Coach Scott;

"do you think they're going to get em all?"  I ask him.

Coach Scott gives me that small half smile of his that I know is always followed by a great comment...

"they're gonna smash 'em all..."  haha  

I loved it!

There were other great swims throughout the night...

Regan's diving, holding it down by herself!

** shout out to Tyler and his Grandfather:  I'm happy they are both ok after being "rear ended" heading into the parking lot of the school.  Tyler was dying to come with his teammates to the meet, but also refused to leave his Grandfather (who by the way is super cool and definitely a Friar Fan!).  You are a good young man Tyler!  Good for you for doing the right thing.  

Chris Stange swam a state cut in the 100 fly with a 53.53. 

Justin Meyn led off the 200 free relay with a state cut in the 50 free with a 21.82.  

Dylan Champagne had an awesome 200 free just over the State cut at 1:47.  

Ian Fitzpatrick was flying in the 100 free 49.69, as well as Billy Swartwout in the 400 free relay with a 47.8 split.

Tommy Rosselli swam an awesome 100 back, 105.24.

Maverick Dettling already got his "A" Champs cut in the 100 breast.  

** shout out to Michael Chang and Justin Meyn for killing it in all three relays.

Great swims all around by the Friars!

 

Record 1-0

 The Story of Holy Trinity

OK, so here is where I learn another life lesson through the sport that I love.

Holy Trinity's team has been shrinking in numbers over the past few years. Being that they are in league 3, we haven't swam them much.

This year they went down to about 6 guys.  With so few guys, more have bailed on the team and decided not to show up.

Except ONE guy!

He is a senior and will not give up on his school or his senior year.  I don't look at this from our perspective... I choose to look at it from his.  He alone will walk on to the pool deck and take on the 2018 State Champions by himself and proudly wear his school colors.  GOOD FOR HIM!  That takes a ton of courage that we can all learn from.

I will be reworking today's lineup when I get home from work.  I will fill in some empty lanes, as well as give this young man three of our swimmers for each relay event so he can swim relays.
Personally, I look forward to shaking this young man's hand at the conclusion of the meet.  

Follow up email following the meet:

For starters, I just want to let you know:

After your performance last night and how you welcomed and treated Harshil from Holy Trinity,

Coach Megan McNeely was so touched, she said she teared up and wrote a letter to the league on how you are such a class act. 

Coach Megan writes:

Good evening everyone, I just want to acknowledge Dan, his coaching staff and entire Friars Swim Team for being incredibly welcoming to myself and Holy Trinity's only swimmer. The Friars welcomed him with open arms and treated him as their own. This truly made my swimmers evening/meet. Going into a swim meet all alone isn't easy and tonight my swimmer came out with smiles and new friends! Dan-you truly have an amazing group of young men! Great meet! Just wanted to share such a heart warming  experience

 

That letter was also cc'd to every single coach in the league.  I know we are a swim team, but it's times like this when I couldn't be more proud.  

First and foremost, we are a team of gentlemen.  We just happen to be gentlemen that absolutely kick butt in the water!!!

GO FRIARS!

 

Watch the Lady Friars on Channel 12 click here

 

Number NINE!!

 

How incredible was THAT Championship meet?  Yes, it was the best meet (between three teams) in a decade… but it was also one of the best in Friar HIST9RY!!!

 

Driving to the meet with Coach Scott, we couldn’t help but reflect on how nice the day was.  We were confirming how God is such a huge Friar fan and for so many Champs weekends He gives us some beautiful weather for the ride to Eisenhower Park.  The sun was shining bright and we were giddy with anticipation of what was to come.  We had a huge team [all 43 of them!] not just psyched to continue the Friar Championship streak...  but HUNGRY to WIN!

 

The tough dual meet loss was behind us. 

It was the first time any Lady Friar has felt it in 9 years…  seeing another team celebrate a dual meet victory over the Friars.  Your heart sinks.  Your stomach even gets a little nauseous.  Many of the girls couldn’t hold back tears as Sacred Heart was jubilant over their victory.  But, I immediately asked for the tears to stop.  Instead, I wanted them to watch the celebration and take it as a compliment… because the Friars are that tough to beat!!

Reality is, it was only one meet and at that point of the season, this team was still learning.  We had come a long way since the start of the season, but we weren’t ready yet.  We weren’t ready for Champs, and we certainly weren’t ready for Sacred Heart.  Not on that night.

Lucky for us, we had another learning experience right in front of us.  The TMLA meet.  This also was a huge challenge for us and the girls knew it.  Just as we do every year, we focus on one challenge at a time.  TMLA was our current challenge.  We needed to be better. 

The Thursday morning practice before this meet was a huge turning point in the season.  How this team walked ON the pool deck at 6am, was not the same team that walked OFF the deck.  There was a new fire, a new awakening that just made them HUNGRY to win.  There was no more pressure; the dual meet streak was over and we were no longer the “top team”.  Sure, winning is easy when you’re “the best”. 

But, winning when you’re not the best… that’s the challenge that this team wanted. 

AND THEY WANTED IT BAD!

The first test of this newly awakened team was this TMLA meet.  Mary Louis will come at you from beginning to the end of the meet.  Just like the Friars, they never give up.  We needed this test and we needed to face them head on. 

We looked incredible that night.  Not just because our seniors were in their cool “Gold Friar Caps”.  We looked great because some of our best swims showed up that night.  For example, all season long, our relay starts stunk.  They really did.  Our worst year with them by far, with timing way off… even DQ’s that make Coach Dan pretty much flip out at times.  But we were determined to eventually get them right; even staying late after meets to get much needed work in.  They never complained.  Why?  Because they knew they needed to work to win.  So they WORKED.  All that hard work showed up in the victory of the TMLA meet, and this team was finally ready for Champs.

 

No championship… any sport, any title; is ever won without great leadership.  I was asked by Newsday, “How do you keep the Championship streak alive?” 

My reply:

LEADERSHIP.  Period.

You have to have it.  Most important, is that it needs to be passed down to the next class who have prepared for three years for their opportunity to lead their team.  Victory isn’t the goal.  Being prepared is the goal.  If you are prepared to do your absolute best as a unified TEAM, victory becomes a possible result.  Due to years of great leadership, we have been blessed with many resulting victories.

Now it’s time for this special group of seniors to lead. 

Their leadership is what made this team ready for perform their very best.  They have learned from years past that Trials is the key day to winning a Championship.  At a minimum, you have to put your team in a position to score points.  It’s the most difficult day.  Finals are easy, you’re in a tight heat and you are simply Racing.  And racing is what Friars do best!

Trials (circle seeding) are against the clock.  You step up on that block, and it’s just how bad do you want it? 

**  Keep your eye on the girls in the Black and Gold caps… because they WANT THIS ONE!

 

Different from past Champ reviews, here is my goal for this one.  I will do my best to walk you through what we were facing event by event.  From what I’ve heard, there were parents judging how we were doing by analyzing how bad Coach Dan was pacing the deck.  Apparently, my body language can tell a story from across the pool. 

Well, I’m going to give you the Story of the Lady Friars, 2018!

 

We swam incredible at Trials.  We needed to.  Sacred Heart has the Big Guns in the league.  Mary Louis is built more like our team, with some incredible talent at the top, and a huge DEEP talent pool to back them up.  Both teams will be gobbling up tons of points.  Added to that, where will the teams of St. Francis, St. John’s, Kellenberg, etc… be fitting in between to push girls out of much needed spots [places] in the bid for a Championship?

 

Follow the numbers as I go.

I scored Trials after I got home.  (I mean, who the heck can sleep anyway… It’s Champs weekend!)  Here is where the meet would be if Trials was scored:

STA  793   SHA  749   TMLA  743

So what does that mean?  First, 3 teams are over 700 points.  That means points are all spread out and there will be no high 800 team (FYI, we scored 886 only a few years ago).  And, we are working on a 44 point lead.  Close?  Just DQ’ing 1 relay would be 50+ points, so yeah, it’s close.  We will be watching EVERY point.  

** FYI:  Within a heat, every spot we move up (place gained after trials) will be a point, unless it’s vs. SHA or TMLA, then it’s a 2 point difference in the meet.  Same holds true for falling a place, down 1 or down 2.  Follow?

 

Warm up has ended, and the half hour ordeal of squeezing into tech suits is finally over.  The Lady Friars gather in front of me.  What do I say to inspire them?

Nothing.

I let them know that they have inspired me.  From where they started on August 26th, and now ready to swim Champs in November has been one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve ever been on in my 30 years at St. Anthony’s. 

To be honest, I was close to tearing up telling them that, and I think they knew it, because I didn’t need to say much more.  I looked at their faces staring back and me, and I could see it in their eyes.  We were all on the same page.  They were not going to give up their Championship.  Not this weekend! 

 

Unlike past seasons, we didn’t get a single state cut in our relays “in season”.  In fact, only Briana Gellineau qualified any state cuts.  That’s it!  Only one Friar on the bus to Ithaca to start the meet. 

Normally, in Trials we would have 4 technically sound Friars swim and qualify us for Finals.  This isn’t just to give girls more chances to swim, it’s really using the FULL depth team to save energy and spread out how many swims need to be performed by an athlete.  Keep the team as fresh as possible.  It also hides who will be swimming our finals relays, give us a look at who the other teams swim, and then adjust accordingly.  (Remember the 200 medley/free switch last year?  Worked perfect, huh!  ** shoulder pat, one year later. Haha)

This year, a big burden fell on some of the top swimmers.  We had to use every possible chance we had to make a state cut.  We also tipped our hand and made the call who’s swimming the relays.  The team understood completely. 

 

Throughout the season to this point, we didn’t have the medley relay we were hoping to have.  We had been using Arabella in the 200 free backing up Briana.  Well… at our coaches meeting

(side note:  the coaches meeting takes place at Coach Liz’s house.  It’s a full open discussion, times searching, out of the box ideas, don’t leave till we are satisfied, meeting to finalize the Champs lineup.  It’s an amazing night for the Friar coaching team.)

we decided that Arabella was swimming the 100 free and 100 back.  Well, you should have seen Coach Scott’s eyes widen when I said, we have our medley relay anchor… Arabella Pompay.  It was glorious.

 

Senior walk is over.  (I’m a huge Sesame Street fan!  Haha.)  The girl from SJB killed it on the National Anthem.  I have goose bumps already, and now the Medley Relay walks out on the bulkhead.

** Let the ‘Coach Dan pacing’ begin…

 

Backstrokers enter the water.

Kayla Rutiliano is in the water and she’s looking confident as can be, so I better pull it together quick.  My pacing in front of the bleachers ends and I squeeze up between Regan Bruno and Coach Liz at the pool edge. 

“Take your mark…”

And just like that, Champs is underway!   Kayla has a great start, but it’s off the first turn it becomes clear:  The Friars are here to RACE.  Kayla is in 1st and the Friars don’t look back.  Danielle Pilulik is in TOP form and extends to an even greater lead!  Michelle Franco, after turning in her best season of working hard, has an awesome start and holds on to the lead against the greatest flyers in the league.  And now, the new found anchor, Arabella Pompay! No one is catching her… not today!  The Friars take their 1st event of the day with a State Qualifying 1:50.08! 

So what about the numbers?

Here’s what’s on my sheet:

STA  56  SHA  48   TMLA  50.

But the numbers we are watching are these: 

** All three teams are “even”

STA  0   SHA  0   TMLA  0

Meaning no one moved up or down a place and the score is as it should be according to trials.  Follow?  Hope so, it’s easy now.  Stay with me…

State edit:  that same Medley Relay went on to finish 16th overall in the State!

 

The relay was a Friar statement, but it’s the 200 free that sets the “points” example that the rest of the Friars will follow all – meet – long!

Catherine Iorio, who is just filled with energy, has an amazing swim and her personal best 2:07.42 moves us up spots.  I turn around to the team and start screaming “she moved up… that’s what we need to do ALL DAY!”   I’ll take credit for my enthusiasm but the girls just went CRAZY.  The cheering and energy didn’t stop… ever.

Our Finals heat steps up, and yes, we have 3 against the top freestylers in the league. 

Over my shoulder…   can you hear it????   The chanting began…

When I say Amanda… you say Nasti…

Amanda…

Nasti…       

Amanda…

Nasti…

When I say Kiersten.. you say Clancy…

Kiersten..

Clancy…

Kiersten…

Clancy…

The Chants went on ….   And on… and on….  All  -  Weekend  -   Long!!!!

The race was incredible.  I was in awe.  Look how fast these girls are going!

Amanda Nasti has been a huge Champs swimmer for 4 straight years.  She’s going to kill me, but when she was a freshman, she had a “scared” trials swim.  Her nerves got the best of her and she was off.  Didn’t place well.  Through her tears we talked about how it was ok as long as she learned from the swim and swam with confidence.  Then it was no longer a bad swim.  That was all it took.  The next day in Finals she blew away the consolation heat and scored huge points for her team and she’s been doing it ever since. 

Anyway, this senior year she swam a sick 2:02.01 and finished 7th!

With her was Kiersten Clancy.  She’s another one that I can just lean on.  She’s loud, and yes, she’s crazy funny… but she loves to swim for her team.  I can be as stern as I want right in her face when we need a big swim, and she takes it to heart and does her absolute best, like finishing 4th with a 2:01.03!  Regan Bruno is right next to me screaming her head off!

Out in front:

With every flip turn that Briana Gellineau does, Coach Scott is moving closer to me…

And he’s probably sorry he did because as she commanded the race as it went on, I kept punching his arm…

 (25.27)  ** punch...   “Are you seeing this?”  I would scream.  Yes.  He would say.

(27.28, out in a freaking 52.5) **  punch…   “ARE YOU SEEING THIS…?”   YES.  He would sternly say…

(28.44) **  punch…  sorry.

 

Oh My Gosh!!! 

Back in a 56.91?  Are you kidding me?  Briana Gellineau just swam an All-American Consideration, school record, and 1st Place 1:49.46!!  My arms can’t reach any higher!  What a swim, what a heat for the Friars!

** At the time I send this, Briana is 12th in the country on the All American list!  She went on to place 4th overall in NY State!!!

I turn around and scream:

“They ALL moved UP!  They ALL moved UP!” 

On the second one, a vocal cord went ‘pop’.

Anna Descovich, Gracie Edmonds, and Emma Grefski were jumping up and down so hard the first row of the bleacher is definitely flexing beyond its weight rating!

The numbers:  

STA  143   SHA  116   TMLA  137

But the numbers to watch:

STA  +7    SHA  -3  TMLA  -1

** Our girls moving up put us on the “plus” side of where we are “supposed” to be.  Still with me?

 

The 200 IM will prove to be another great event for the Ladies.  At our coaches meeting, we [the coaches] were pretty much set from the beginning on our three entries (Heinz, Pikulik, Lancellotti) and were in search of our 4th.  After setting up a few other events first, freshman Elena Cunneen was available for us.  She’s extremely talented, and throughout the season, she swam best when under pressure.  Lucky for us… at Champs she’s going to feel the pressure!  Elena had an awesome Trials swim (2:26.32) to be in the consolation heat, but it was at Finals where she moved up TWO spots… (a 2:23.98!) BOTH were Sacred Heart girls!  Cha... ching!  (Hear the points???)

Right next to Elena was teammate, and awesome Champ swimmer, Lily Lancellotti.  I knew Lily was going to have a great weekend after a season of being healthy and working her butt off!  Lily finished with her second personal best of the weekend, a 2:25.07.  In the final heat we had Danielle Pikulik and Amanda Heinz.  Danielle placed 8th with her all time best, 2:20.73.  How about this little fact… Danielle’s fastest 4 times ever in the 200 IM have all been at Champs!  Woo!

The talk of the season throughout the league was the “big guns” of other teams.  Well, so far, it’s been Black and Gold winning the Medley, the 200 free and NOW… Amanda Heinz is sporting the Black and Gold out in front of the final heat!  It was a beautiful swim and Amanda not only won… but won by 4 seconds!  Are you kidding me?  A first place, State Qualifying, 2:11.26!

The numbers:

You have to give credit where credit is due, and we knew this was going to be a 3 team race; Mary Louis also had a great 200 IM performance.  Although tighter, numbers were in our favor!

STA  219   SHA  183   TMLA  211

Numbers to watch:

STA  +10   SHA  -4   TMLA  +6

The 50 free brought so much excitement for the Friars.  Now, we knew how strong the league was in the freestyle events.  We knew records were going to fall.  But, what made it so exciting was that the Lady Friars performed WAY BETTER than we were “supposed” to do. 

The Timed Final 50 was great to see because it was one of our “youngest” events with 2 freshmen and 2 sophomores.  All three, Arielle Ristau, Adrianna Santopatre, and Anna Descovich turned in best times… but the pleasant surprise, after a season of so much hard work, was Arianna Alladio-Zacpal taking the win with a season best, 27.67!  (If we were allowed a 5th entry, she would have qualified for the consolation heat)

The Trial/Final 50 was going to be a huge test for us.  I mean, we did everything we could to pump these girls up.  We needed pure confidence and a ton of adrenaline to compete with these other fast girls.  Well, we picked the best 4… because they KILLED IT!  The Franco sisters were in the consolation heat.  Michelle Franco, proving once again that great things come in small packages, finished 13th with a 27.16. 

She was huge in so many big spots for us this season.  I move her in and out of events, in and out of different relays.  She gives it her all and is all about the team!

Her sister Vanessa, who is a HUGE St. Anthony’s track star… swimming in the outside lane was a ROCKET and WON the consolation heat with a personal best 26.63!  WHATTTT!!!  What a way to end your Friar career; the biggest swim of her life.  She moved up so many spots, and we needed ‘em all! 

Here is Michelle’s hysterical moment…

Walking back to the team… Michelle had on a wonderful half smile, half that said she was annoyed her big sister just beat her, but the other half showed she was really proud of her.  Then she let the cat out of the bag…

“I lent her my [tech] suit!!”  She cried!

haha.  I cracked up. 

Franco sisters, it’s a heat I’ll never forget!

The blessing of the 50 free… we’ve got two into finals!  Looking at all our seed times, we knew our potential; we just prayed that the execution of those swims would be on point.  Well, Frankie Pellegrino and Kristin Carter stepped up. All our sprinters prior to Champs were 27 low flat start swimmers, and 26 high with relay starts (flying starts).  We [coaches] new how tough the event was going to be but we also had faith in the Friar Magic that happens at Champs.  Frankie and Kristin BOTH made Finals and finished 7th and 8th with a 26.49 and 26.52 respectively!  We didn’t score the most points, but most important is that our swimmers did better than expected… check the numbers!

STA  288   SHA  269   TMLA  288

(Yes, we are TIE with Mary Louis, but hang on… it’s going to get more intense from here!)  Yes, the rumors of me chewing Pepto tables to settle my stomach are true…

Numbers to watch:

STA  +13   SHA  -6   TMLA  +7

One of our BEST events through the years has been the 50 fly.  Hanna Skrodanes has won the event in the past, but in her senior year, this year, she was going to be our 4th 100 fly entry until she got a concussion playing soccer and couldn’t compete.  We missed you Hanna!

So the 50 fly was in the hands of Sophomore Sofia Marinucci and 3 new freshies!  The Friar Freshmen finished: Kiera Mutarelli 5th, Emma Grefski 4th, and Simone Sanchez 3rd, with Sofia taking the event win with a 30.31!

The 100 fly event came together as a miracle throughout the season for us.  After graduating Emily Bardak and Gabby Mattutat, we had one butterflyer locked in; Michelle Franco.  Who will be the next three swimming with her?  That question was discussed after every dual meet.  As the season progressed, Kiersten Clancy showed more and more potential.  With Arabella Pompay joining Kayla Rutigliano in the 100 free, we jumped at the decision to have Kiersten join Michelle.  The next one was easy… every single workout, right under my nose in lane 6, was Izzy Marone working her butt off every lap of every workout.  Hard work ALWAYS pays off.

Izzy’s fly just got better and better every time she swam it.  As many times as we [the coaches] talked to her about it, as well as me constantly having her swim the event, she NEVER shied away at the opportunity to swim and improve.  The end result:  a 7th place finish in Finals with a personal best 1:03.90!  One of my most exciting “pick-ups” this season is freshman Bernadette Bakke.  During her “tryout swim”, I immediately turned to Coach Liz and said, “damn, this girl can swim… she’ll be scoring for us”. 

(yeah, I was right).

Bakke has SO MUCH talent, and just needed the season to get up to Championship speed.  But she worked for it!  That poor girl was SO nervous (I loved it! haha) and her teammates were talking to her and calming her down.  But you know what “nerves” do in swimming?  They keep you thinking, and mental preparation is huge.  She absolutely killed it with a 10th place personal best 1:05.57!  Woo!

OK, where was I…?  Oh yes, back to the Final heat!

Hey, this stuff just shoots out of my head so bear with me…

Back to where I started…  Michelle Franco, our butterfly specialist with an incredible start, swam to a 5th place overall 1:04.20!  And, with the swim of her life and taking 3rd place overall with a time of 1:01.13 (Clancy swam a 1:01!) was Kiersten Clancy!

When I say Michelle… you say Franco

Michelle…

Franco…

Michelle

Franco

When I say Kiersten… you say Clancy

Kiersten…

Clancy

Kiersten..

Clancy…

Yes, the chants were never ending!  The energy never stopped.  Sometimes you get to the middle of the meet and there is a “lull”.  Not this year.  The stands behind me were rocking.  I was working the ‘numbers’ sheet with Coach Gennie and we were literally screaming at each other to hear what we were saying.  We wanted to be accurate because over the next three freestyle events Sacred Heart is going to come back with a vengeance, and we MUST

hold our places.

The timed final 100 free sparked the enthusiasm of the Friars.  It would have been a perfect mix of lower/upper classmen, but unfortunately Yesenia McKee got sick and couldn’t compete.  Under championship rules, there are no alternates, so we lose the one swimmer and compete with three.  Well, our three handled the event just fine!  Freshman Hope Sandoval improved all season long and it showed with her 9th place finish in her 1st Friar Championship meet.  I was so proud of junior Gracie Edmonds’ swim that I turned to give Coach Liz a high five after Gracie’s 5th place finish.  This season she not only handled much more pressure but swam many different events throughout the dual meet season.  She worked so hard, but I am most proud of her blossoming leadership.  Great job Gracie!

No doubt I will miss the wickedly funny personality of Sarah Schatz.  That girl can crack me up at 6am, and she certainly can relieve a lot of building stress at a close championship with her humor.  To top it all off, she had a fantastic 100 free swim and finished third overall! 

Our trial/final 100 free was a huge success story.  Hey, Sacred Heart and Mary Louis may have awesome sprinters… but let’s not count out these Friars!  Kristin Carter was huge for us in the 50, and gave us a fantastic 100 free to add on to her success.  She swam a best time twice and finished 13th overall in an event packed with talent.  What a senior year for Kristin! 

You know what I love about my Friar teams?  They are fighters.  They never quit.  Like Frankie Pellegrino.  Her incredible success doesn’t come easy to her.  She has to work her butt off and earn every bit of it.  I’m sure she’d be the first to admit that her season is full of “ups and downs”, but she accepts the “downs” and learns from them.  The result:  winning the consolation heat with a season best 58.17!  Her smile said it all. J

Our 100 free lineup got a whole new look to it when we penciled in the name Arabella Pompay.  She was the perfect compliment to Friar Fighter Kayla Rutigliano.  Kayla swims with such confidence and hates to lose.  Arabella is currently just beginning to tap her potential.  On the outside, you couldn’t see her nerves.  She was ready to go!  Watching those two walk out onto the bulkhead got me pumped.  (Yep, Coach Dan is pacing… don’t blink on this one, your going to miss it!)  I turn to see Emma Grefsky, Johanna Governali, and Caitlin McCourt all standing at attention on the bleacher.  I was happy to see they were as excited as I was.  We all were screaming “Go Friars” together!

The heat is packed with talent.  I think my heart is racing more than Kayla’s!  That girl is ready!

The race was crazy fast.  The best part about it…?  BOTH Kayla and Arabella moved up places.  Arabella swam a 54.87  WHAT????  (That’s a 54.87) and Kayla swam a State Qualifying 54.12!  54’s make Coach Dan jump up and down like a nut.  They finished 3rd and 4th only to Joanie Cash and Maggie Donlevy… two of the best in NYS.   That was huge!

OK, so the score gap is closing:

STA  447   SHA  437   TMLA  430

But the important numbers are:

STA  +17   SHA  -9   TMLA  +5

To explain, we basically gained three more points over where we are “supposed” to be and I begin frantically tapping on my yellow score sheet and screaming at anyone in earshot who can stand being around me at this point…   “We are a plus 17...!    We are a plus 17… !” 

Clancy, Alannah and Regan have no idea what I’m talking about but they join in my celebration just because they know it’s something good.

** Trying to catch my breath.

I high fives to Bella Filagrossi and Emily Ferraris as I run up and down the front of our bleachers…

 

I wish our 500 freestylers good luck. 

Cat Iorio can pound out a 500 with the best of them; an energy level that doesn’t quit.  Friars like her are so valuable because she never shies away from an event.  With a great second half of her 500, Cat finished in 12th place with a 5:41.53.  Right next to Cat was her teammate Sarah Farrell. 

Sarah was as psyched to swim as I’ve ever seen her.  She was in a great heat and she loves the pressure.  The further she got into the 20 lap race, the better her splits were and Sarah began pulling away.  By the 300 we had a clear Friar cap out in front and no one was catching Sarah.  She won the heat with a 6 second lead finishing 9th with a personal best 5:34.14!  

When I say Sarah…    You say Farrell…

Sarah…

Farrell…

Sarah…

Farrell…

We are MORE than ready to watch this final heat, and they walk onto the bulkhead…

There were a couple of times throughout the season in dual meets when we [the coaches] said Amanda Nasti had an MVP type of performance.  Well, it’s Champs, and Amanda is doing what she does best… give it her all!  I was impressed with her swim at Trials when she got into finals.  Now a day later she comes back and drops another 4 seconds!  Are you kidding me?  What a monumental champ’s career for Nasti!

Before this heat, I was unusually quiet.  My brain was racing more than my mouth.  Briana Gellineau is about to swim and my adrenaline is pumping.  I’m such a huge fan and love to watch her compete.  What makes her swims so special is she has to always take on the best of what the other teams have to offer.  Dual meet lineups, I match her with their best.  Relay anchor swims; she is taking on their best.  What makes it so thrilling to watch?  She embraces the challenges.  So, in anticipation, I pace and I try to control my breathing.  Her races make me do both… I’m either holding my breath, or hyperventilating.  No in between!  I crouch down and glare across the field of swimmers…

So in a heat of the elite, as early as the 200, three swimmers emerge from the pack:  Orla Egan, Lauryn Johnson, and Briana!  Briana is getting into her turns as best I’ve seen… and her splits, Holy Cow!  How are these girls keeping up this pace?  This first 4 minutes has felt like a day as I hold my breath into every 50 split, and then throw my hands up as I see it.

Briana finishes second place with a:

Ready for this…?

A State Qualifying, All-American Consideration, new school record, 4:56.98!   Holy Fast!  (Yep, I blew out another vocal cord and I’m almost as “horse” as Alannah Chernik who lost her voice before this meet even started!  Haha)

OK, the stress of the numbers:

STA  522   SHA  521   TMLA  507

That’s right, it’s now just a 1 point lead and only 15 over Mary Louis.

** I told you this was going to be a close stressful meet!

Relax, take a break and get a snack…  here are the numbers to watch:

STA  +17   SHA  -11   TMLA  +6

State edit:  Briana went on to finish 15th overall in NY State!  (I’m not going to mention her sprained ankle because she never uses an excuse… so I’m not).

 

Now, I’m not going to sugar coat it.  This 200 free relay is going to be sick.  Look at the swimmers these other teams are putting up there:

SHA: Johnson, Cash, Walsh and Harkins.  State champions.

TMLA: two Donlevy’s, one a State champ, Caminiti and Orla Egan.

Remember why I love this team?  Because these girls step up to challenges!  On paper [from trials] we are penciled in to take 3rd.  Very respectable in this field of talent.   But this is Champs baby, the Friars don’t settle! 

The swimmers Amanda Heinz (flat start 25.66) Kiersten Clancy (25.66), Danielle Pikulik (24.88) and on the anchor, Briana Gellineau (23.09, the fastest split of ANY swimmer in the event by .6) swim another huge upset beating TMLA to move up to 2nd place in the event! (1:39.33)  WOOOO!!!

State Edit:  This same relay went on to be the 25th fastest relay in NY State!

The score of the meet:

STA  572   SHA  577   TMLA  555

Yes, you read that correctly, we are down for the first time in the meet.  The scores are announced over the loud speaker.  Although there are cheers coming across from the other side of the pool, I’m thrilled that my team is still up and cheering coming off our awesome relay swim.  We’re down, but we’re not out!  Michelle Skala, (Sarah’s mom) is doing me a huge favor and taking pictures of the team for our award dinner slideshow.  She walks over, face a little flush and says “how do you take this pressure?  I’m dying here!”

Well, I looked across the pool at Grandma Nora knitting up in the stands.  I told Mrs. Skala “if Grandma Nora could teach me to crochet right now, every girl on this team would leave with a sweater!”

**  chew pepto… chew pepto…

 

What our relay accomplished; the numbers to watch:

STA  +19   SHA  -11   TMLA  +6

 

You can tell a lot about how deep a team is when you look at the talent in the Timed Final events.  Most of them could compete in the Trial/Final event, but you can only swim the top 4.  How about we were also missing Sarah Skala, who was side lined with a shoulder injury the first two weeks of the season.  (She’s making a comeback!)  Our 50yd backstrokers were so dominate, we almost swept the whole event!  Check out these finishes and how close the times were:

5th:  Katie Scanlon 35.36,      3rd:  Abby Federlein, 34.65,     2nd:  Skye Bates,    and winning the event in 1st place:  Alannah Chernik with a 33.11!  The Friars go 5-3-2-1!   What domination!

How about this:   I was researching back in my results to see when the last time the Friars lost in the 100 back event.  Going in reverse, past champions have included Beth Caruana, Kylie Danin, Melissa Bischoff, Marissa Taddeo… I’m all the way back to 2007 and we still haven’t lost. (I’m out of time for searching).  What do you think we have in this years’ Final?  You guessed it!  ALL FOUR FRIARS IN FINALS!  Yes, our individual swims were so impressive with Lily Lancellotti in 8th (1:05.32) ** you have to swim a 105 just to make finals… geez, how fast are these girls getting?  And now shoot up to 4th place where Sarah Jean Farrell swam an incredible 1:03.36!

Right at the top is the same dynamic duo from the 100 free… Arabella Pompay [freshman!] in 2nd with a 1:00.45 and with her 2nd straight event Championship [freshman and sophomore years] Kayla Rutigliano with a State Qualifying 59.16!  Here is what you have to read…

Those 4 Friars, Kayla, Arabella, Sarah, and Lily COMBINED, scored a collective 95 points in ONE event!  The most amount of points scored by any ONE team in a single event.   Now THAT’S Friar Domination!

The scores:

STA  667   SHA  639   TMLA  618

That’s right, look who’s back on top

And the magic numbers:

STA  +19   SHA  -13   TMLA  618  +3

That 19 is giving us a lock on the Championship… we just can’t have a catastrophic error!

** if you’re keeping a close eye on all three teams and remember the scores we started with, Mary Louis with a +3 and Scared Heart with a -13, they are on the plus side of the 6 points they needed.   Stay Tuned!

(stay tuned?  Is Coach Dan kidding? … you’ve made it this far and been reading for an hour, where the heck will you be going now?)

With just about a close repeat of the backstroke events, we head into the breaststroke.  Check this out:

The 50 breast continued the Friar success streak.  Maria Hernandez gained a ton of experience in the breaststroke this season and finished 7th with a 38.64.  Using her long legs and huge kick, Michelle Wolf finished 5th with a 37.51.  Right in front of her teammate was Jenn Nagle with 4th place 37.36.  And at the top, showing the strength of the Friars was the hard working Gracie Edmonds winning the event with a 36.51!

All weekend long, I had to preach to this team (preach?  I had to scream my head off it was so loud) to be patient, we will be strong in the end.  We just couldn’t fall too far behind.  On the numbers sheet, at one point we were to be 35 points down and make our dramatic comeback.  This team is so fired up that the only deficit was the 5 points.  And we are certainly on the predicted comeback!

Poor Kiera Mutarelli came up to me with a sad face on saying her Dad just got called into work and she had to go.  NOW?  I said.  Mr. Mutarelli works for the SCPD and duty called (Thank you for your service, Sir.)  I felt so bad for her.

Moments later, she came running back to her team “I can stay!”  I was thrilled for her!  (just don’t run on a slippery pool deck… you crazy?)

Bernadette Bakke was so huge for this team.  Unlike prior to the fly when Bakke said she was so nervous she could throw up…  (haha!  I love that) this event was a little different.  She was nervous, yes, but the excitement to swim completely outweighed the nerves.  Freshman Bakke finished 10th with an outstanding 1:14.88.  That girl can compete.  Our next freshman, Elena Cunneen had the swim meet of her life.  Elena’s fun and goofy personality was completely disguised.  Her team needed her, and she was ready to swim for her team.  Elena swam a personal best 1:13.72 and finished 7th overall! 

Way out in the front of the heat was an incredible breaststroke battle.  What was good about it?  The battle was between two Friars!   Seniors Amanda Heinz and Danielle Pikulik; and just as they have done every year prior, they are MOVING! 

Amanda Heinz finished 2nd with a State Qualifying 1:07.17 (state cut is a 1:08.6, and I believe it’s the toughest cut) and right next to her with a State Qualifying, and NEW Catholic High School State Record was Danielle Pikulik with a 1:06.20!  Holy Fast… what a swim! 

State Edit:  Danielle Pikulik finished 20th overall at States, and Amanda Heinz finished 45th!

Let’s put those swims together as a team:  Danielle, Amanda, Elena, and Bernadette combined for 89 total team points.  ** The second highest total of any one team in an event only to our backstrokers.  (Sacred Heart and Mary Louis had both scored 88 at one point just to give you a reference on the next two highest).

Let’s total it up:

STA  756   SHA  686   TMLA  679

And with one event left, here are the important numbers

STA  +19   SHA  -13   TMLA  -16

 

(Do you see it?  If you’ve been following the numbers closely, Mary Louis dropped to a -16.   Disaster struck for the mighty Hilltoppers.  They had a DQ on a flutter kick.  Just like that a Championship can change.  You see, I’m not that crazy when I preach no mistakes!)

The Friars have an incredible 400 free relay.  These girls are more than ready and certainly fired up to go, but just like the boys at States in 2016 and 2018, the call here is safe starts.  You watch your teammate touch that wall and you’ll be hoisting a plaque over your head!

The four we have are simply amazing athletes.  I can’t wait to watch them… but even more excited than I am are the 38 ladies surrounding me cheering for their teammates.  They want to extend history, and more than any of their previous years… they want THIS ONE.

As they are walking to the bulkhead, I’m really chirping in Kayla’s ear.  If she posts an incredible time on that board, her teammates will follow.  It’s the job of the leadoff swimmer and she’s more than qualified.  Kayla doesn’t say anything.  She has an intense look in her eye and just gives me a “nod”.  That’s all I needed.  She’s going to tear this pool up!

Kayla touches that wall and a 54.47 flat start swim goes up on the board.  My arms fly into the air and we still have three swimmers to go!  Arabella Pompay was intense all weekend long, and she was exceptionally strong in the relays.  She follows Kayla with a 54.66 of her own! 

“a 54….    a 54….”  Yeah, I’m basically screaming at whoever is around me….  

Amanda Heinz going back to back events for us (really three out of the last 4 events; do you have any idea what caliber of athlete you need to be to do that?) and follows Arabella with a great 55.81!  The 2017 State Champions (Sacred Hearts exact same relay) is out in front of us, but not by much.  We have a commanding lead over TMLA, and all we need is a legal start out of Briana Gellineau.  Her start is perfect as always and definitely “safe”, and here she comes!  Briana is closing the gap!  The championship isn’t enough, she wants the win.  OK, she might have run out of pool so the Friars take second, but she actually split the Fastest split of any swimmer in the entire meet by two seconds with a 50.93!  Look at that number…  50.93.  I held my phone up with the split on it for all the Friars to read because it looks unbelievable in print.  Briana’s hand on that touch pad made it official…

THE LADY FRIARS HAVE ONCE AGAIN MADE LEAGUE HISTORY WINNING THEIR NINTH STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!

Our relay swam their fastest time of the season with a State Qualifying 3:35.87!

State edit:  This same relay went on to be the 9th fastest relay in NY State!

The final team scores were announced:

TMLA   727

SHA      742

and St. Anthony’s: 806!

 The bleachers can hardly contain the Friars!  As Kiersten and Alannah carry the Championship plaque back to their team and hoist it over their heads… the bleachers can hardly hold the Friars!  The jumping of the team has the stands flexing so bad that I’m yelling to try and calm them down.  I can’t settle them… besides, I have no voice left!

I hug my coaches (my dearest friends) because I truly appreciate everything they have done for these girls.  They made this team SO much better this year.  From where we started, to THAT performance… truly a monumental accomplishment for these 43 girls.

I pulled my team together to give them a final Congratulations!  Everyone felt the tingling in their bodies as they pass the plaque from swimmer to swimmer and took a proud photo.  I did let them know that this one of the most enjoyable seasons I’ve ever had.  To each and every one of you…  I can’t thank you enough for that!

**  Friars, remember this feeling forever, because sometimes in life you do lose, but you always come back stronger and accomplish your goals because YOU ARE A FRIAR!  This Championship is certainly one to remember!

 

So proud to be called your Coach,

Coach Dan McBride

 

HIST9RY!!!

 

We're not finished yet!

Please note the schedule at the end...

 Well, the Lady Friar State Team were awesome in Ithaca!  These 7 exhausted girls couldn't have fought any harder.

Let me start with this:

Unless you actually get to a meet like this, it's simply amazing to see how far women's swimming has come.  Just when you think they can't possibly get any faster, every year they do.  I have such respect for ALL the talented girls that swim in that state meet.  

**  Our Medley Relay (Rutigliano, Pikulik, Franco, Pompay) finished 16th in NYS!  Briana Gellineau was awesome again, finishing 17th in the 500... but was a highlight being 4th in the State in the 200 free!   

**  Briana finished the season with All-American Consideration times in BOTH events!!

 Danielle Pikulik swam a 1:07 in the 100 breast twice to place 20th in NYS!  Our 200 Free Relay (Heinz, Clancy, Pikulik, Gellineau) came back to score finishing in 25th in a great heat.  And the meet was capped off as the Friars 400 free relay (10th in Prelims) swam to a 9th place overall in NYS in a heat that brought the house down.  Check out these splits: 

Kayla Rutigliano (53.94)  ** yes, that's a 53.9... and she swam that exact time twice!  Arabella Pompay 54.76 ** just a freshman! Amanda Heinz 55.29  ** best swim of the weekend! and Briana Gellineau, runnin' 'em down as she does best with a 51.76 split!  (and racing for 1700 yards in two days) I'm not kidding... they gave it all they had!

 

HERE IS WHAT'S UPCOMING FOR THE LADY FRIARS!

Please keep all dates open!

Tuesday, December 4th:

MANDATORY MASS for Both, our Girls and Boys Swimming-Diving Teams.  The Mass begins at 2:40 immediately after school.  School Uniforms (not swimming uniforms) are required.

ALL are welcome!  

**  It's amazing to see ALL our Friars together at Mass.  We are so Blessed and we have so much to be Thankful for during this blessed time of year.  

Wednesday, December 12th:  

Fall Athletic Awards Night!

We had great representation last year when Mr. Minucci brought this Friar tradition back.  Let's try to fill ALL the Friar seats this year.  You DESERVE to get the recognition your school is providing for you.

Saturday, January 5th, 2019.

HUGE meet with PAUL VI from Fairfax, VA!  

I'll be sending more info as we get closer... so Stay Tuned to your Friar Emails!!!

 

We are ONE Team.

We are ONE Family.

We are THE FRIARS!!!!

 

2018 New York State Paper Airplane Flying Champion
Kelly Donlevy (TMLA)
 

 

Nine Straight CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Lady Friars come back to win Champs with a monumental performance!

After suffering their first dual meet loss in over 8 seasons...  the Friars were driven to prove they are still the team to beat.  For two straight days, they out swam their opponents to score 806 Team Points!  

Heading into the weekend, the Friars didn't have a single relay qualified for States.   In fact, the only swimmer who qualified "in Season", was junior Briana Gellineau.  After two days, the Friars have qualified all three relays, and Amanda Heinz, Danielle Pikulik, and Kayla Rutigliano joined Briana in individual events.

Here is our State Team:

200 Medley Relay:

Michaela Rutigliano

Danielle Pikulik

Michelle Franco

Arabella Pompay

200 and 500 free:

Briana Gellineau

200 IM and 100 Breast 

Amanda Heinz

100 free and 100 back

Michaela Rutigliano

100 breast 

Danielle Pikulik

200 free relay

Amanda Heinz

Danielle Pikulik

Kiersten Clancy

Briana Gellineau

400 free relay

Michaela Rutigliano

Amanda Heinz

Arabella Pompay

Briana Gellineau

A full season review is coming... so stay tuned!

 CONGRATULATIONS FRIARS!

 

 

 

Record 8-1

 

Senior Night

The Friars defeat The Mary Louis Academy to a packed house that had the Natatorium of Half Hollow Hills rockin'!  

Man... was it LOUD!  (credit to both teams!)

 

Congratulations on a great finish of an awesome 8-1 dual meet season!  Most important is... after 7 preparation meets and two meets (one a loss... one a win) that have battle tested this team, we now know what effort its going to take to win a Championship.  WE WILL BE READY!  

 

After losing for the first time in eight years against Sacred Heart Tuesday,  everyone was pumped for the upcoming meet against The Mary Louis Academy. Race after race everyone's adrenaline was pumping while the parents on the sidelines were cheering excitedly. With the score really close it was up to the 400 free relay to give us a boost and give us the extra points needed. During the last lap, we were neck in neck with the other team until Briana Gellineau tapped out the lane next to her. We then beat the other team by 14 points because of our fast relay groups. Since it was Senior Night the juniors made speeches about their senior and gave them gifts. Their emotional speeches left the seniors and the parents in tears ending the night on a good note getting us ready to win championships 

Record 7-1

 

Briana Gellineau leads the Friars, but The Lady Friars suffer their first loss in 9 years.

The incredible team of Sacred Heart proved to be too strong for the Friars.  The Lady Friars gave everything they had, but fell just 8 points short. 

This season is NOT over!

9 years ago the Lady Friars watched Sacred Heart hoist that beautiful Championship plaque over their heads.  We had come so close... but we lost to a better team.

You know what that did?

It lit a spark in the Friars that was passed down year after year to an eight year undefeated run.  

Tonight we felt a loss.  But it's only a waste if we don't learn from it.

What did I learn?

I witnessed a Friar team perform even better than I thought they could. Kayla Rutigliano was throwing up between races... and was in Championship form.  Danielle Pikulik swam injured and never thought twice about quitting on her team.  Nasti was a superstar giving it all she had.  Briana Gellineau qualified for TWO... yes two State Qualifying times (200 and 500).  Lily Lancellotti out swam her "opponent" twice.  Amanda Heinz had her best meet of the season by far!  We had freshmen in HUGE pressure spots they haven't swam in before and nailed it.  Clancy was swimming to exhaustion... being pulled out of the pool.  

Where is the negative in this night?  Except for the score... I don't see it.  All I see is a NEW SPARK.  We have a NEW GOAL.  

We will prepare for our meet vs TMLA on Saturday and celebrate the careers of our awesome seniors who (as witnessed by tonight's performance) have done an amazing job leading their team.

Then... we will walk onto the pool deck of Eisenhower and show everyone what it takes to be a Friar.  

For years we have won having the best team.  That's easy.  

** How about winning when your not the favorite?  Now that... THAT'S a challenge!  THAT'S our goal!  

From the ingenious Coach Liz...  GIVE EVERYTHING... EXCEPT UP!   

She's 100% correct.   We are the Friars.....  we never give up!

This season is NOT over!!!   

 

LET'S DO THIS FRIARS!!!

- one proud Coach.  

 

Record 7-0

Friars move to 7-0 with incredible swims at the Breast Cancer Meet!

Every year for over the past 11 years, St.Anthony’s, St.Dominic’s, and St.Mary’s team up to hold a charity event to support breast cancer. All the proceeds raised during the meet goes to support a local family. They split the swimmers up into two teams, white and pink, and compete against each other for charity. The white team has only won once over the past 10 years, but this year they dominated over the pink team and won 123.5 to 110.5. 

Record 4-0

Friars may have been slow getting to the meet, but they were fast in the water.

The Lady Friars move to 4-0 with win over St. John the Baptist

Ok, no result page... just shooting this from the top of my head:

There were a ton of standout improvements tonight.  I'll start with the much improved "wall work".  Our breakouts were not only clean... they were fast.  That's exactly what we're looking for.  

I know we had one relay false start DQ (which makes Coach Dan absolutely crazy!) but Cat Iorio had the best relay start of the meet.  

Briana Gellineau was .01 off the State cut in the 200 free!  We're getting there Friar Fans!  

Amanda Heinz was very impressive in the 200 IM.  Great swim.  Sarah Farrell and Cat Iorio pushed each other in the 500 free.  That's what great teammates do!  Sarah Farrell's pull pattern was just how she practiced it... and it looked awesome as it carried her to victory.

Kayla Rutigliano and Arabella Pompay (1st and 2nd) were just off a State cut in the 100 back.  Sweet!

Hanna Skrodanes had one of the best dual meets of her Friar career, with an improved 100 fly, and an incredible anchor leg of the 200 free relay!  (Yeah, I saw that big smile Hanna)

Katie Scanlon and Kiera Mutarelli both had great anchor swims in the 400 free relay as they battled to the finish like Friars always do.

 Fantastic improvement once again by the Friars.

** And, a great shout-out to the Parents who made it to the meet to cheer on this hard working team.  The cheers were followed up with huge greetings and hugs of congratulations as the team flooded the lobby following the meet.  You too put a smile on my face.

We are one TEAM.  We are one FAMILY.  We are the FRIARS!

 GO FRIARS!!!

Come cheer on the Friars this Sunday at 11:00 am for the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Meet!

Record 3-0

Friars go to 3-0!

 At our second home meet  we won against Holy Trinity, who did an amazing job with 8 swimmers. The saint Anthony’s swimmers cheered enthusiastically on the side lines while watching the swimmers sprint to the wall. After a hard round of competitive races we congratulated Trinity on their hard work. Then our coach talked to us about how we did such a good job winning all of our races and how he is excited to keep our streak of being undefeated for 8 years!   

 - Bella Filagrossi

 Great improvements continue to show.  Kayla Rutigliano gave us the perfect example of the relay start we are all looking for.  Cat Iorio was a stand-out win in the 200 IM.  Freshman Arabella Pompay is strong in every event she swims and has really added to the depth of the team.  Amanda Nasti is having her best season yet even winning the 50 free.  Hanna Skrodanes won the 100 free and she LOVES it!  We [the coaches] were thrilled to see the improvement on Jenn Nagle's breaststroke.  She will be perfect by Champs!

Come cheer on the Friars: Tuesday, Oct. 9th at 5pm at St. Joseph's College, Patchogue.  Go Friars!

Record 2-0

Lady Friars celebrate home opener win!

 The Friars take first place in every individual event in the home opener dual meet OLMA!

Freshman Arabella Pompay scores her first double event win in her Friar career!  She won the 200 free and 100 back!  

Great job Arabella!

The 200 IM was won by Kayla Rutigliano.  The 50 freestyles:  Syke Bates and Vanessa Franco. The 50 fly by freshman Simone Sanchez.  100 fly by captain Kiersten Clancy.  The 100 freestyles by Kristin Carter and Amanda Heinz.  Only .6 off the State cut in the 400 free was Briana Gellineau.  The 50 breast by Maria Hernandez!  And finally, the 100 breast by veteran Danielle Pikulik.

We [the coaches] are extremely proud of the sportsmanship and camaraderie being displayed by this team.   Nothing makes be happier!   GO FRIARS!

Record 1-0

Lady Friars look strong in their season opener!

 Friars dominated the huge team of St. Francis Prep at Queens College.  Amanda Heinz (200 IM, 100 Breast) and Briana Gellineau (100 free, 100 back) were double winners and are swimming strong early in the season.  Abby Federlein swam back to back events like a champ!  Michelle Franco is simply tearing up the pool.  First place finishes were also turned in by Kiersten Clancy, Sofia Marinucci, Danielle Pikulik, Bella Filagrossi, Kayla Rutigliano, Gracie Edmonds, Alannah Chernik, and freshman Hope Sandoval.

Great job ladies!

 Come cheer on the Friars in their home opener tomorrow, Saturday, 9/29 at 6:30 at Half Hollow Hills!

 

Friars kick off season - What a Relay Carnival!

Some incredible swims were already being shown early in the season.  Kristin Carter with a 26.6 flying start 50, Wow!  Lily Lancellotti came into the season in shape and it's shows.  Michelle Franco and Danielle Pikulik are already tearing up the pool.  Amanda Nasti, and Frankie Pellegrino are already much improved.  Briana Gellineau made a 53.5 100 free look easy!  53.. WHAT?!?!    And... all our Friar freshies are adding depth to this team.  Good job!

It's no secret that I worry about big teams.  I don't want anyone ever "lost in the shuffle".  I took some time at the end of the meet to compliment all our Seniors and Captains on their leadership.  There is a spark that has already ignited within this team.  That credit goes to leadership.  A team will never accomplish anything without quality leadership.  Kudos to you all.

Gracie Edmonds spoke to me after the meet.  She had on a huge smile and and expressed how much she loves her team.  After we spoke a bit, she assured me not to worry about team participation.  "This team is going to make it work...  I promise.   I love all these girls".  

It's not just the coach who installs confidence into the athletes.  Sometimes the athletes teach and install confidence in the coaches.  That's how the Friar family works.  We work together... We are one team, We are one family... we are the Friars! 

If our season continues with this team supporting each other and still having this much fun...  we are already winners!

 

First dual meet:

9/27 vs St. Francis Prep at Queens College - 5 PM warmup

 

 

St. Anthony’s Men’s Swim Team

 2018-19

This was an extremely talented group trying out for the Boys Varsity Swimming/Diving Team.  Everyone did an amazing job!  I congratulate all of you on your hard work and tremendous effort!  The following have made the team for the 2018-19 season.  Please come to practice Tuesday, Oct. 30th.

 * ALL DIVERS REPORT TO PRACTICE Friday, Oct. 26th, 8 PM

 

 Freshmen:

Alok Agrawal

Matthew Chang

Owen Glaser

Dylan Soto

Joe Tonna

 Sophomores:

Abby Antonellis

Ryan Arbeeny

Christopher Carneval

Dylan Cellamare

Richard Chiarella

Emma David

Ryan Gaffney

Ali Gordon

Jack Iorio

Caleb Neugebauer

Aiden O’Toole

Thomas Rosselli

Sean Sullivan

Tyler Zarzycki

 Juniors:

Trevor Griffin

Sean Kotch

Joseph McLaughlin

Cole McNulty

Connor McVea

Mark Owens

Sebastian Quiceno

Timothy Rupnarain

Tyler Simpson

Chris Stange

William Swartwout

Joe Welling

Jonathan Wu

Danny Zahn

 Seniors:

Regan Bruno

Dylan Champagne

Michael Chang

Ian Fitzpatrick

Joshua Giardinelli

Konall Keane

Tavish McNulty

Justin Meyn

Michael Stoski

Connor Sullivan

 

* Diver

 

A few important things

11/3 - Championship Trials

11/4 - Championship Finals

11/15-17   States at Ithaca College

GO FRIARS!!!

 

 

Friars' All-Americans '17 - '18

100 Breaststroke:  

Michael Chang

200 Medley Relay:

Ian Fitzpatrick - back

Michael Chang - breast

Mark Owens - fly

Justin Meyn - free

 

Maggie Fischer:  Great South Bay Swim

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

I know I'm always asking you for a lot... but this Friday I will be attempting my 11th swim across the Great South Bay honoring former Friar swimmer Maggie Fischer.  Please don't break the bank on this one... I would just like to reach my goal of $500.  So a bunch of small donations help greatly!

(or... if your business needs to donate a lot, that's great too!  haha)

Donations go to Hospice and those people are incredible!  I'm thrilled to help them every year.

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/dan-mcbride-1/maggiefischermemorial

TRACK ALL THE FRIARS!!

If you download the App, RaceJoy... you can look for the Maggie Fischer Memorial Cross Bay Swim and track all the Friars as they cross the bay!

Here are the Friar bib numbers:

CJ Arena - 4   (2 time Champ!)

Alannah Chernik - 14

** Coach Liz's Family:

Andrew Darcy - 23

Catherine Darcy - 24

Matthew Darcy - 25

Garret Golden - 42   (my training partner and 2nd on the all-time crossing list)

Rob McNulty - 80    (Yes, Cole's dad who Kills It every year!  and my teammate when we were kids)

Justin Meyn - 82   (2nd last year, and 3rd the year before!)

Connor Sullivan - 110

**  Rich Wilde - 125 (OK, he's not a Friar, but a teammate of Rob and I who has already swam around Manhattan and crossed the English Chanel.   Def a guy you want to cheer for or if you are there, talk to him and hear some stories)

THEN,

you can pull up a nice lounge chair and wait for Coach Dan # 76 to finally get across

**  If you are doing NOTHING Friday morning, take a ride into Gilbert Park at the very end of Concourse East off MTK Hwy Friday morning.  The swim is really some event to watch!

GO FRIARS!!!

 

 

Girls Swim Team Info for NEW swimmers

 Appryse: 

It is required that you register with the Appryse App.  You can find the info on the school web site: www.StAnthonysHS.org

**  Please make sure your doctor physical is only ONE page, your insurance money ($25) is paid to St. Anthony’s, and that you check the box “Intends to participate in FALL SPORTS” on the Appryse app.

You MUST be “Cleared” to swim… NO exceptions.

St. Anthony’s Nurses hours this summer: 

Tuesday August 14 9:00 - 12:00 PM
Wednesday August 15 9:00 - 12:00 PM
Thursday August 16 9:00 - 11:00 AM
Friday August 17 8:00 - 11:00 AM

Fall 2018 Tryouts:

Tryouts this year for all NEW swimmers will be held on Tues. Sept. 4th at 6 AM at Half Hollow Hills Natatorium. 

Half Hollow Hills Natatorium is 1/2 mile East of St. Anthony's on Wolf Hill Road

 Practice:

Practices are held every Tues. and Thurs. mornings from 6-7 am at Half Hollow Hills Natatorium (our “home” pool).  The swimmers are then bused to St. Anthony’s for school.

 Meets:

Our season consists of approx. 7-8 dual meets vs. other Catholic Schools in the NSCHSGAA League.  Our “home” meets are held on Sat. evenings.  We also have one non-league meet in Jan. (boys and girls teams) vs. Paul VI which is a travel meet every other year. ** This year will be a home meet hosted by St. Anthony’s swim team and their parents.

Champs:

“Champs” is a two day Trial/Final pre-seeded meet.  It is mandatory to attend this meet whether you are swimming in the meet or not.  For more info on Champs:  please see the article in the “Coaches Corner” of our website.  www.FriarSwimming.com

States:

Qualifying times are posted on our web site.  Please click on the “cut times” button.  States this year will be held at Ithaca College.

Web Site:

Our team web site is:   www.FriarSwimming.com

General Info:

We are one Varsity team consisting of all grades 9-12.

Tryouts for all CURRENT Girls Varsity Swimmers:

Your tryouts will be held on: Tuesday, August 28th at 6:00 am (regular time)

You MUST be cleared to swim!  NO exceptions!

 

2018 Boys State Swimming Chamipions 

Results

Friars win State Championship! 

1st:  Friars 250 points

2nd:  Ward Melville 218 points

3rd:  Fordham Prep 212 points

The St. Anthony's Friars Boys Swimming and Diving Team are the 

2018 New York State Federation CHAMPIONS!!!

It was a performance like no other.

You had to be there to appreciate what this TEAM was able to accomplish.  We were not the favorites, not by a long shot.

All the talk was if Fordham Prep can defeat the talent of Ward Melville.  Some thought Chaminade had it in the bag and were surprised by the talk of Fordham and Ward Melville giving them a run.  

But this group of underdogs...  long forgotten for their 3 straight undefeated dual meet seasons due to a respectable 3rd place finish to two of the strongest/largest teams in the State, came to the Nassau Aquatic Center for one purpose:

To WIN.

Everyone stepped up.  They had to.  For not one of them won a single event... nor did we win a single relay.

BUT... they DID score points!   Event after event, we kept scoring.  Meet Mobile (when working) started showing St. Anthony's on top. 

Suddenly the chatter changed.

**   "can you hold them off?"

(how about... can they hold us off ???)

The Friars were on a mission!  We were the one team with ALL THREE RELAYS in Finals!   That's points Friar Fans!

We had swimmers in every event but one...  That's points Friar Fans!

Even Newsday has missed the fact that this tough group of guys swam as a TEAM, and WON... as a TEAM!

Compliments to our Captains, whether swimming or not, were there supporting and pushing their teammates to go beyond their limits and most important believe that after two long days of competition, we will be victorious.  The team even complimented them and thanked them for the endless support.  

To the State team:   All the text messages you all sent each other in the group text... somehow save them.  Those are lifetime memories that you will want to keep forever.  I learn just as much from you as you do from me.  Seeing your effort raises the bar to make be a better coach.  Thank you guys!

To the Friars praying and cheering at home:  We are a TEAM.  Everything that has taken place since this season began 138 days ago has made a difference.  Every workout attended.  Every race of every event at every meet.  Every cheer.  Every compliment and positive word of encouragement said to every teammate has mattered.  WE ARE FRIARS.  It all brought us to this incredible weekend where we can now call ourselves:

STATE CHAMPIONS!

You have that title for life.  It can never be taken away.  Your family and friends will know you are a State Champion.  Eventually, so will your kids and grandkids.  Point being... it's forever!

I can't wait till the night you guys get to show off your new State Rings!

I am so blessed to be coach, 

Coach Dan

 

 


2017 Girls State Swimming Chamipions 
Ithaca, New York

Live Results

Psych Sheets

Friars

Emily Bardak

Briana Gellineau 

Gabby Mattutat 

Amanda Heinz

Michelle Franco

Danielle Pikulik 

Kiersten Clancy 

Kayla Rutigliano 

 

ATTENTION

St. Anthony’s Men’s Swim Team 2017-18

This was an extremely talented group trying out for the Boys Varsity Swimming/Diving Team.  Everyone did an amazing job!  I congratulate all of you on your hard work and tremendous effort!  The following have made the team for the 2017-18 season. 

Please come to practice Tuesday, October 31, 2017

ALL DIVERS REPORT TO PRACTICE Friday, October 27th @ 8 PM

Freshmen:

Ryan Arbeeny

Dylan Cellamare

Richard Chiarella

Ryan Gaffney

Jack Iorio

Caleb Neugebauer

Aiden O’Toole

Thomas Rosselli

Sean Sullivan

Sophomores:

Trevor Griffin

Sean Kotch

Joseph McLaughlin

Cole McNulty

Connor McVea

Mark Owens

Sebastian Quiceno

Timothy Rupnarain

Chris Stange

William Swartwout

Joe Welling

Jonathan Wu

Danny Zahn

Juniors:

Regan Bruno

Dylan Champagne

Michael Chang

Ian Fitzpatrick

Joshua Giardinelli

Konall Keane

Justin Meyn

Michael Stoski

Connor Sullivan

Seniors:

Jordan Fargo

Rory Hughes

Connor Lucas

Kate McKevitt

Fred Rupmarian

Burke Sansiviero

Connor Towers

 

 

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!!!

 

Friars Give Back!  - Challenger Surf Camp

Challenger Athletics is dedicated to giving children with special needs an outlet to play a sport that is usually unavailable to them.

Challenger Surf Camp was a day at Gilgo Beach dedicated to helping special needs kids Surf!   It was an amazing day well represented by the Friars... especially the swimmers!

Thank you for your time and dedication to this incredible event:

Friars, Michelle Franco, Joey Welling, Justin Meyn, Izzy Malone, Connor Sullivan, Josh Giardinelli, and Kristin Carter.

Friars give a strong performance at the Relay Carnival!

This year looks to be a perfect mix of veterans and new Friars.  Our senior leadership is off to a great start, and our new Lady Friars are already doing the Black and Gold proud!

Once again, the Friars brought the house down winning the final 8x25, 200 freestyle relay!  The streak continues as we haven't lost that relay yet!  

GO FRIARS!!

Come support the Lady Friars as they face OLMA this Tuesday, Sept. 19th in their first dual meet of the season.

7:30 start at Chaminade HS!

2017 ROSTER

Freshmen

Anna Descovich

Sarah Farrell

Bella Filagrossi

Catherine Iorio

Sofia Marinucci

Isabelle Marone

Olivia Ramos

Michaela Rutigliano

Sarah Skala

Emily Teplansky

Arianna Alladio Zacpal

Sophomores 

Skye Bates

Gracie Edmonds

Abigail Federlein

Michelle Franco

Kat Gamble

Briana Gellineau

Maria Hernandez

Lily Lancellotti

Jenn Nagle

Frankie Pellegrino

Kathleen Scanlon

Michelle Wolf

Juniors 

Regan Bruno

Alannah Chernik

Kiersten Clancy

Vanessa Franco

Amanda Heinz

Amanda Nasti

Danielle Pikulik

Sarah Schatz

Hanna Skrodanes

Seniors 

Emily Bardak

Sydney Bernhardt

Deijah Harris

Gabriella Mattutat

Katelyn McKevitt

Pleasant Palmer

 

 

Girls Swim Team Info for NEW swimmers

 Appryse:

It is required that you register with the Appryse App.  You can find the info on the school web site: www.StAnthonysHS.org

**  Please make sure your doctor physical is only ONE page, your insurance money ($25) is paid to St. Anthony’s, and that you check the box “Intends to participate in FALL SPORTS” on the Appryse app.

Fall 2017 Tryouts:

Tryouts this year for all NEW swimmers will be held on Tues. Sept. 5th at 6 AM at Half Hollow Hills Natatorium. 

Half Hollow Hills Natatorium is 1/2 mile East of St. Anthony's on Wolf Hill Road

 Practice:

Practices are held every Tues. and Thurs. mornings from 6-7 am at Half Hollow Hills Natatorium (our “home” pool).  The swimmers are then bussed to St. Anthony’s for school.

 Meets:

Our season consists of approx. 7-8 dual meets vs. other Catholic Schools in the NSCHSGAA League.  Our “home” meets are held on Sat. evenings.  We also have one non-league meet in Jan. (boys and girls teams) vs. Paul VI which is a travel meet every other year.  This year we will be a travel meet to Washington DC, Fairfax, VA.

Champs:

“Champs” is a two day Trial/Final pre-seeded meet.  It is mandatory to attend this meet whether you are swimming in the meet or not.  For more info on Champs:  please see the article in the “Coaches Corner” of our website.  www.FriarSwimming.com

States:

Qualifying times are posted on our web site.  Please click on the “cut times” button.

Web Site:

Our team web site is:   www.FriarSwimming.com

General Info:

We are one Varsity team consisting of all grades 9-12.

Tryouts for all CURRENT Girls Varsity Swimmers:

Your tryouts will be held on: Tuesday, August 29th at 6:00 am (regular time)

You MUST be cleared to swim!  NO exceptions!

All Swimmers must be Cleared with the AD's office to tryout.  NO Exceptions