Madison Mariners Host and Compete at Winter Storm

The Madison Area YMCA Mariners broke three swim team records at the Winter Storm Invitational swim meet on January 18th– 19th at Rutgers University’s Sonny Werblin Recreation Center in Piscataway. Some 39 Mariners placed among the top three swimmers in 52 events at this competitive meet, which was hosted by the Mariners and drew swimmers from many teams across New Jersey. The Mariners' hope is to sponsor this meet annually offering NJ YMCA swimmers a chance to compete in a world class facility and to serve as a qualifier meet for February and March's Championship season.

Alison Barton broke the team’s short-course-yards record in the 100 yard Individual Medley
for 13/14 Girls, winning with a time of 1:05.99. The Mariners dominated that event with Elena Latorre taking second and Ryan Sprague finishing third.

Collin Faraher set the Mariners’ short-course-yards record in 100 yard Individual Medley for 13/14 Boys with a time of 59.39 seconds, winning first place.

Sean Clark, Anuthra Abeysinghe, Tirian Chang and Owen Smith set the team’s short course yards record in the 200 yard Medley Relay for 11/12 Boys with a combined time of 2:02.74, taking second place at the meet.

Kyle Beebe had the most first-place finishes for the Mariners, winning the 200 yard freestyle, 50 yard freestyle, 100 yard backstroke and 200 yard butterfly among boys ages 15 & Over. Beebe was also part of the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay team for boys along with teammates Atticus Chang, James Lord and Terry Luongo. Beebe was also part of the Mariners' team that won the 200 yard medley relay for boys in that age group, along with Luongo, Atticus Chang and Aiden Kagan.

In that same boys’ age group, Terry Luongo won the 50 yard butterfly and the 50 yard breaststroke, and he took second in the 100 yard freestyle. Atticus Chang finished second in the 200 yard butterfly, Kagan took third in the 100 yard breaststroke, and Lord was third in the 100 yard freestyle.

Among the girls ages 15 & Over, Charlotte Siow won the 50 yard breaststroke and took third in the 100 yard breaststroke, while Katie Caviness finished second in the 50 yard backstroke and third in the 50 yard butterfly. And the relay team of Siow, Gwen Lukasavage, Angela Irwin and Anya D’Costa finished third in the 200 yard freestyle relay.

Alison Barton, the record breaker, also won the 200 yard freestyle relay for 13/14 Girls with teammates Latorre, Sprague and Mary Gillen, while a second Mariners relay team – Anjali Phadnis, Emma Straub, Elise Hart and Anika Lippke – took third in that event. Barton, Latorre, Sprague and Lippke also placed third the 200 yard medley relay. Sprague won the 50 yard breaststroke, and Latorre won the 50 yard backstroke. Alyssa Lee took third in the 50 butterfly.

Faraher, the other record breaker, and teammates Owen Weller, Ransom Chang and Ryan
Snarr won the 200 yard medley relay for 13/14 Boys; and Faraher, Weller, Ransom
Chang and Alex Tripp took second place in the 200 freestyle relay. Faraher also took second place in the 200 yard breaststroke and third in the 100 yard backstroke in that same age group.
Weller finished second in the 200 yard butterfly, second in 200 yard backstroke and third in the 100 yard freestyle. Elliot Ryu took second in the 50 yard breaststroke.

The 11/12 Boys who broke the Mariners’ record in the 200 yard medley relay also had strong finishes in individual events. Owen Smith took second in the 100 yard breaststroke, Abeysinghe finished third in the 50 yard backstroke and also the 50 yard butterfly. In addition, the same team – Smith, Abeysinghe, Sean Clark and Tirian Chang – also took third in the 200 yard freestyle relay.

Among the girls aged 11/12, Molly Newman was among the top three swimmers in five events. Newman finished second in 50 yard backstroke, second in the 100 yard backstroke and third in the 50 yard freestyle. In addition, she and teammates Sadie Clark, Layla Knoll and Julia Ulrich won the 200 yard freestyle relay in their age group. Newman, Ulrich, Sadie Clark and Emily Houng also took second place in the 200 yard medley relay. Ulrich also came in second in the 100 yard
freestyle and third in the 50 yard breaststroke.

Another especially strong competitor was Josie Speace, who took second place in five individual events for girls ages 10 & Under: the 100 yard individual medley, 200 yard individual medley, 100 yard backstroke, 100 yard butterfly and the 100 yard breaststroke. In addition, Speace and her teammates Emilie Feldstein, Anya Rodrigo Candappa and Caroline Slattery took first in the 200 yard freestyle relay while Speace, Feldstein, Jules McGrath and Julia Jadro took third in the200 yard medley relay. Julia Jadro also finished second in the 50 yard freestyle.

For boys 10 & Under, Will Von Doussa took third in the 50 yard breaststroke, and the team of Ty Ikeda, Carter Smith, Ian Faigenbaum and Owen Chow took third in 200 yard freestyle relay.

The Mariners would like to extend a warm welcome to more than 50 new swimmers this
season and excited to have them represent the Mariners’ family: Alex Amoresano, Mariah Amoresano, Lucine Basralian, Azniv Basralian, Jake Bradley, Billy Carlucci, Alexandra
Caruso, Cordelia Chang, Benjamin DeGarcia, Julia DeGarcia, Lily Doninger, William Egan, Michael Facchino, Gianluca Facchino, Hailey Feeman, Maddie Field, Tessa Finn, Timothe Gerard-Saroul, Giacomo Gerold, Kaitlyn Grace Houng, Milo Jurken, Fiona Kelly, Jimmy Kilman, Derek Knoll, Jack Lowinger, Bennett Marshall, Rylan Masterson, Libby Maxwell, Sara Metviner, Annika Metviner, Lilah Nydam, Roger Rice, Ayanna Ruchika, Zachary Ruiz, Elliot Ryu, Casey Shull, Cameron Shull, Caroline Slattery, Cara Slotwinski, Matthew Tabish, Lily Tabish, Isabella Tapkas, Alex Tripp, Julia Van Slyck, William Von Doussa, Greyson Wallace, John Waterstredt, Margaret Zehner, Andrew Zehner and Blake Zidle.

Recognizing the challenges and limitation of its current facility, the Madison Area YMCA has launched a community fundraising campaign to the expand the Y – building a new competitive eight-lane pool – and to continue its mission to provide financial assistance to those in need. The Y’s goal is to sell 500 personalized pavers which will be used to create the sidewalk to the second entrance. The pavers, which cost $250 each, are four inches by eight inches and fit three lines of text that can honor family and friends. For more information about financial assistance or to make a donation, call 973-822-YMCA (9622) or go to madisonareaymca.org.