Madison Swimmers Excel at 2018 Opener

Kicking off the 2018 season, the Madison Mariners swim team competed at the season opener Stingray Splash, held annually at the Raritan Bay YMCA in Perth Amboy, NJ. Over 95 Mariners participated in the 3-day meet which kicked off Friday night, January 12th. Over 650 swimmers competed in the Stingray Splash, all hoping to earn a coveted Top 6 finish, to earn their first ribbons of 2018.

Friday night, Collin Faraher opened the meet with a stellar performance in the 11-12 age group 1,000-yard free, earning 1st place. The marquis 200-yard Free and 200-yard Medley Relays followed each weekend morning. All relay teams earned best times while the 12 & Under boys posted a new 200-yard Medley Relay record. Owen Weller, Collin, Ryan Snarr, and Will Foucher placed 2nd with a time of 2:03.85. The 10 & Under Girls had two Top 6 finishes with the Medley relay: Riley Snarr, Sadie Clarke, Emily Houng and Molly Newman with 3rd place while Ryanne Henwood, Grace Mulligan, Chloe Thorn Leeson and Kaitlyn Troiano placed 6th. For the 10&U Boys, Owen Smith, Anuthra Abeysinghe, Tirian Chang and Sean Clark raced to a 2nd place finish in the 200-yard Medley Relay. The 11-12 Girls Relays also posted best times in both relays earning 3rd and 4th places, respectively, in the 200-yard Medley and Free relays. Ryan Sprague, Fiona Beacom, Mary Gillen and Bella Guarino competed on both relay teams.

Ian Faigenbaum placed 5th in the 50-yard breast with a personal best in the 8 & Under division.

Standout performances by the Girls 10&U division include Molly Newman, Sadie Clarke, Chloe Thorn Leeson and Emily Houng. Competing against as many as 150 swimmers in a given race, they collectively earned ten individual Top 6 Finishes. Molly raced to a 1st place finish in the 50-yard free, 3rd place in each of the 50-yard back, 100-yard back and 200-yard IM events, and placed 4th in the 100-yard IM. Sadie placed 5th in the 200-yard free and 6th place in both the 100-yard back and 200-yard breast. In the Fly events, Chloe placed 5th in the 100 fly while Emily earned 6th place in the 50 fly.

From the Boys 10&U age group, Owen Smith, Sean Clark, and Tirian Chang led with strong performances. Both Owen and Tirian placed 4th and 6th, respectively, in the 100-yard free. Owen also placed 3rd in both the 200 free and breast as well as 5th place in the 50-yard breast. Sean earned two 5th place ribbons for both his 100-yard IM and breast events.

Bella Guarino, Mary Gillen, and Jule Schaefer together posted multiple Top 6 finishes in the Girls 12&U age group. Bella earned herself and the Mariners an additional five Top 6 finishes including 2nd in the 200-yard breast, 5th place in both the 100 and 200-yard back as well as two 6th place finishes in the 50 and 100-yard free. Mary placed in both the 100 and 200-yard IMs, earning 5th and 6th places, respectively. Jule posted a strong performance in the 100-yard breast earning 6th place.

Leading the Boys 12&U division was Collin Faraher. In addition to his 1st place finish in the 1,000 free, Collin led the entire Mariners team with an additional six individual Top 6 finishes – impressive 1st place finishes in the 200-yard free and back, as well as the 50 and 200-yard breast. He completed his weekend adding 2nd place in the 50-yard back and 4th in the 50-yard fly. Ryan Snarr garnered 2nd place in the 100-yard back and Owen Weller placed 5th in the 200-yard IM.

Although there were no relays for the 13 & Older divisions, it didn’t stop Terry Luongo, Kyle Beebe and Atticus Chang from excelling and posting several personal bests. Terry sprinted to a 1st place finish in the 50-yard free, 2nd place in both the 200-yard free and 100-yard breast, and 6th in both the 500-yard free and 200-yard IM. Kyle and Atticus both earned three Top 6 finishes. Kyle earned 6th place in both the 100 free and 200 back, and 5th in the 400-yard IM. Atticus finished off the weekend with 3rd place in the 200-yard free and 4th in the 200 fly and 400 IM.

Finishing late Sunday night were the 15 & Older Mariners with continued success. Anya D’Costa, Hannah Corcoran and Sarah Dougherty all placed in the 100-yard free; 2nd, 5th and 6th. Anya also earned 3rd place honors in both the 100 and 200-yard back while Hannah placed 3rd and 5th in the 100 and 200-yard breast. Sarah finished the night with 5th in both the 200 back and 100 IM. Brendan Fowler racked up six ribbons for the weekend with 4th place in the 100 and 200 back, 100 Fly, as well as 5th and 6th place finishes in the 200-yard fly and the 100 and 200-yard free. Jimmy Dougherty earned a personal best and 4th place in the 100-yard breast.

The following athletes also posted strong performances: Artha Abeysinghe, Laney Albanese, Abby Alden, Annie Alden, Alison Barton, Carol Barton, Allison Baun, Amanda Beneventano, Emily Brown, Greg Brown, Abigail Brubaker, Elizabeth Brubaker, Lydia Brubaker, Caroline Caviness, Ransom Chang, Casey Clark, Caroline Cortese, Nate Creamer, David DeFilippis, Kathleen Degnan, Emma Dougherty, Ashley Driscoll, Riley Faraher, Shane Faraher, Maura Feron, Ryan Feron, Brywm Hines, Hayden Hodge, Reese Hodge, Katelyn Hoffelder, Annabelle Houng, Chris Houng, Caitlin Jobe, Layla Knoll, Sasha Knoll, Aryan Kumar, Samantha Lado, Elena Latorre, Gianna Latorre, Alessandra Ledon, Trevor Ledon, Alyssa Lee, Anika Lippke, James Lord, Gwen Lukasavage, Jack McLoughlin, Kareena Parikh, Ashwin Patel, Maddie Perez, Anjali Phadnis, Dan Posy, Sophia Posy, Botond Rice, Anya Rodrigo Candappa, Yannick Rodrigo Candappa, Kiva Schraven, Samantha Soltis, Aanya Sood, Margi Spagnuolo, Josie Speace, Emma Straub, Veda Swaminathan, Julian Thorn Leeson, Nicholas Troiano, Temira Weisberg, and Maddie Zietsman.

As a cause-driven charitable organization, the Madison Area YMCA is dedicated to nurturing the potential of every child and teen, and improving the community's health and well-being and giving back by providing support to our neighbors.