Water Rats Have a Great Long Course Season

The Westport Weston Family YMCA’s Water Rat Swim Team is wrapping up another highly successful Long Course season with some fast swimming.   With all that fast swimming, several team records were broken and several swimmers will represent the team at prestigious regional meets.

In mid-July,  Esme Hunter broke the 15-18 year old girls 200M IM record in a time of 2:25.40 at the CT Seniors Long Course Championships.  Esme was also part of the Women’s 400M Free Relay team at Seniors.  She and her teammates, Marissa Healy, Lily Kernaghan, and Morgan Lenoce, came in 1st place in a time of 3:57.20.   Esme, Marissa, Lily and Morgan also came in third in the 200M Free Relay.

On the boys side at Seniors, Parker Lenoce broke two of Jonathan Blansfield’s 13/14 Boys freestyle records, specifically his 200M Free record in a time of 1:58.76 and his 400M Free Record in a time of 4:14.65.   And, the relay team of Austin Twiss, Alec Keblish, Justin Lovro, and John McNab came in 3rd in the 200M Medley Relay.

Esme’s times at Seniors and other Long Course meets earned her qualifying times to attend the Futures Championships in Geneva, Ohio from August 1-4, 2019.  Claire Kehley, Austin Twiss, Richard Nolan, and Anthony Daccache will be joining  Esme to represent the Water Rats in Ohio.

At the Connecticut Age Group Long Course Championships in Chesire, CT on July 25-28, the Water Rats had 35 age group swimmers compete and several swimmers posted top 3 finishes in a number of individual and relay events.  The relay team of Adrianna Spelman, Clarissa Fleming, Maddy Boland and Ava Piscioniere came in 1st in the 10 & Under Girls 200M Medley Relay. The relay team of Ayaan Olasewere, Tatum Murray, Ella Gussen, and Annam Olasewere came in 2nd in the 11/12 Girls 200M Free Relay.  Ella Gussen also had some great individual swiims breaking two team records in the process.  Ella broke the Girls 11/12 100M Back record in a time of 1:12.59 and the record in the 50M Back in a time of 33.24. Parker Lenoce also broke his 13/14 Boys team record in the 400M Freestyle, lowering his time from Seniors to 4:13.15.  Parker placed 1st with his 400M Freestyle time in the Boys 13/14 400M Free as well as 1st in the 13/14 Boys 200M Free.  Also placing in the top 3 at Age Groups was  Matthias McFarlane, who placed 3rd in the 11/12 Boys 50M Free in a time of 28.90, Kate Murray, who placed 3rd in the Girls 13/14 50M Free in a time of 28.08, Riley Twiss, who placed 3rd in the 13/14M Fly in a time of 2:18.07, and Annam Olasewere, who placed 3rd in the 11/12 Girls 100M Free in a time of 1:03.00 and in the 50M Free in a time of 28.98.

Because of their performances at Age Groups, Annam Olasewere, Matthias McFarlane, Riley Twiss, Ella Gussen, Hope Ivanovich, Jacob Lee, Parker Lenoce, and Kathleen Murray earned spots on the Connecticut Zone Team, which will compete at the Eastern Zone Long Course All Star Meet on August 7-10, 2019 at the Collegiate School Aquatic Center in Richmond Virginia.

Congratulations to all  Water Rat swimmers for a great 2019 Long Course season!

Tryouts for the 2019-2020 Swim Year will take place Tuesday, August 20th for swimmers 8 & under and
Wednesday August 21st for 9-10.  Swimmers age 13/over should contact Ellen Johnston at ejohnston@westporty.org and swimmers age 11/12 should contact Adam King at aking@westporty.org. for an evaluation.

The fee to register is $25 if registration is completed by August 19th.  The registration fee after August 19th is $40.  Preregistration is encouraged.

Water Rat tryouts take place at the Westport Weston Family YMCA Bedford Family Center at 14 Allen Raymond Lane in Westport.