Eagles Mourn Passing of Coach Nancy Donlon

It was with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of our friend and coach, Nancy Donlon on September 17, 2010.

Nancy was an integral part of our staff and team, and had a tremendous impact on the growth and success of the Swimming Eagles. Her passing has left a void on our coaching lines that will not soon be replaced.

Nancy was also a valued member of the Holy Family Parish and School, as well as the Hicksville Community, St Frances Hospital and so many more associations. She was a devoted wife to Bill, our CYO President, and a loving, caring and selfless mom to Alex and Brianna.

Personally, I will miss her calm demeanor on the side of the pool during meets. So often, it would seem that meets were heading towards chaos, looking for swimmers and filling lanes. It was at those times I would look at Nancy, and she would be watching one of our swimmers complete a race. It did not matter if that swimmer came in first or finished 6th, what mattered most was seeing their face after finishing the race - so much pride and satisfaction.

We will not have Nancy's physical presence with us this year, but we know she will be with us in spirit, guiding us, protecting us and cheering us on.

The Eagles have dedicated the 2010-2011 to our friend and coach, Nancy Donlon.

Eagles Close out Regular Season with Tough Match vs. St Raymond

The Eagles continue to swim well, losing to a very strong St Raymond’s team 243-192. Two meets in one day is tough, but the swimmers did great, and continue to turn in some personal bests.

Congratulations to the following, who earned first place ribbons

Girls
Mycaela Reilly – 8U 25yd Freestyle & Backstroke
Sofie Hibler – 8U 25yd Freestyle
Megan Soulias – 8U 100yd Freestyle Relay
Kaylin Anest – 8U 25yd Breaststroke & 100yd Freestyle Relay
Olivia McNicholas – 8U 100yd Freestyle Relay
Anjolina Testa – 8U 100yd Freestyle Relay
Valentina Petruso – 10U 25yd Freestyle
Erica Farsang – 10U 100yd Freestyle Relay
Raeann Dong – 10U 25yd backstroke, 100yd Medley Relay & 100yd Freestyle Relay
Kristen Becker – 10U 100yd Medley Relay
Miranda Gonzalez – 10U 100yd Medley Relay & 100yd Freestyle Relay
Gabriella Vidad – 10U 100yd Medley Relay & 100yd Freestyle Relay
Cassandra Gharnit – 12U 50yd freestyle, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Libbie Sudweeks – 12U 100yd Medley Relay & 100yd Freestyle Relay
Caitlin Benedetto – 12U 100yd Medley Relay
Jessica Giuliani – 12U 100yd Medley Relay & 100yd Freestyle Relay
Sarah Crespo – 12U 100yd Freestyle Relay
Rose Haslbauer – 14U 50yd breaststroke
Kiley Ferreri – 17U 50yd freestyle, 17U 50yd backstroke & 200yd Medley Relay
Yasmeen Gharnit – 17U 50yd breaststroke, 50yd Butterfly & 200yd Medley Relay
Brenna Morrisey – 17U 200yd Medley Relay & 200yd Freestyle Relay
Clare Quinn – 17U 200yd Medley Relay & 200yd Freestyle Relay
Kelly Carroll - 17U 200yd Freestyle Relay
Erin Montera - 17U 200yd Freestyle Relay

Boys
Christian Aguilar – 8U 25yd Freestyle
Christopher Smith – 8U 25yd Backstroke
Michael Barsch – 10U 25yd Freestyle & Backstroke
JD Sterbens – 10U 25yd Freestyle & 12U 100yd Freestyle Relay
Eamonn McNicholas – 10U 25yd backstroke
Kyle Carroll – 12U 50yd freestyle, 12U 50yd backstroke, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Jake Barrett – 12U 50yd Breaststroke, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
John Morrisey – 12U 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Kyle Montera – 12U 100yd Medley Relay
Jordan Robertaccio - 12U 100yd Medley Relay

Special mention to Raeann Dong, Cassandra Gharnit, Kiley Ferreri, Yasmeen Gharnit, Kyle Carroll and Jake Barrett, each of whom won all three races in which they swam. Also, the 17U girls, who swept all 6 of their races, with 6 different swimmers earning 1st place ribbons, and to David Vidad, who broke the 30 second barrier in the 50yd freestyle.

Congratulations to all.

Our regular season has now ended.

Practice on Monday, 3/22, 7pm at Bethpage HS for all those selected for the championships.

Championship meet is on Thursday March 25 at the Aquatic Center.

Awards Ceremony is Monday April 12, 7pm at Bethpage HS.

Tough Lose to Unbeaten St Rose

The Eagles swam extremely well this morning (3/20/10) against unbeaten St Rose, losing 222-209. The swimmers continue to improve and put up terrific times each week, with many turning in personal bests.

It was also one of the most exciting races, with many come from behind victories, including two in the 8U boys medley relays

Congratulations to the following, who earned first place ribbons

Girls
Maggie McNamara – 8U 25yd backstroke, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Kaylin Anest – 8U 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Olivia McNicholas – 8U 100yd Medley Relay,
Anjolina Testa – 8U 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Raeann Dong – 10U 25yd backstroke
Kristen Becker – 10U 25yd breaststroke
Cassandra Gharnit – 12U 50yd freestyle, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Libbie Sudweeks – 12U 50yd backstroke, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Caitlin Benedetto – 12U 100yd Medley Relay
Jessica Giuliani – 12U 50yd butterfly, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Sarah Crespo - 100yd Freestyle Relay
Kiley Ferreri – 17U 50yd freestyle, 17U 50yd backstroke
Yasmeen Gharnit – 17U 50yd breaststroke

Boys
Cesar Adames – 8U 25yd freestyle, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Frankie Wawrzynksi – 8U 25yd backstroke, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
James Morrisey – 8U 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Ethan Dong – 8U 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Eamonn McNicholas – 10U 25yd backstroke, 100yd Medley Relay
Steven Giresi – 10U 100yd Medley Relay
JD Sterbens – 10U 100yd Medley Relay
Andrew Catinella – 10U 100yd Medley Relay
Kyle Carroll – 12U 50yd freestyle, 12U 50yd backstroke, 100yd Freestyle Relay
John Morrisey – 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Jake Barrett - 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Andrew Purcell – 12U 50yd butterfly, 100yd Medley Relay, 100yd Freestyle Relay
Kyle Montera – 12U 100yd Medley Relay
David Vidad – 14U50yd freestyle
Michael Themistocleous – 14U 50yd breaststroke
Marcos Matos – 17U 50yd butterfly

Special mention to Maggie McNamara, Cassandra Gharnit, Libbie Sudweeks, Jessica Giuliani, Frankie Wawrzynski, Kyle Carroll and Andrew Purcell, each of whom won all three races in which they swam.

Next meet is this afternoon (3/20) vs. St Raymond at Bethpage HS

VICTORY

It has been a longtime, but we finally took home a win, beating St. Bernard’s 252-180. Not only did we take home the victory, but many of our swimmers put in their best times of the year, so their hard work in practice continues to pay off.

Congratulations to the following, who placed 1st in their respective races.

Girls
Mycaela Reilly – 8U 25 yd Freestyle & Backstroke
Anjolina Testa – 8U 25 yd Freestyle, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Maggie McNamara – 8U 25 yd Backstroke
Kaylin Anest – 8U 25 yd Breaststroke, Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Olivia McNicholas – 8U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Valentina Petruso – 10U 25 yd Freestyle
Emily Jonas – 10U 25 yd Freestyle, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Emily Alfonso – 10U 25 yd Backstroke
Raeann Dong – 10U 25 yd Backstroke, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Miranda Gonzalez – 10U Medley relay
Gabriella Vidad – 10U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Erica Farsang – 10U Freestyle Relay
Libbie Sudweeks – 12U 50 yd Backstroke & Medley Relay
Caitlin Benedetto – 12U 50 yd Breaststroke & Medley Relay
Jessica Giuliani – 12U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Cassandra Gharnit – 12 U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Brianna Donlon – 12U Freestyle Relay
Sarah Crespo – 12U Freestyle Relay
Kiley Ferreri – 17U 50 yd Backstroke

Boys
Eric Aguilar – 8U 25yd Freestyle
Christopher Smith – 8U 25yd Backstroke
Frankie Wawrzynski – 8U 25yd Backstroke, Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
James Morrisey – 8U 25yd Breaststroke & Medley Relay
Ethan Dong – 8U Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Cesar Adames – 8U Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Michael O’Grady – 8U Freestyle Relay
JD Sterbens – 10U 25yd Freestyle, Medley Relay & 12U Freestyle Relay
Eamonn McNicholas – 10U 25yd Backstroke, Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Steven Girasi – 10U Medley Relay
Andrew Catinella – 10U Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Tyler Robertaccio – 10U Freestyle Relay
Daniel Nicosia – 10U Freestyle Relay
Kyle Carroll – 12U 50 yd Freestyle, Backstroke & Freestyle Relay
Jake Barrett – 12U 50 yd Breaststroke, Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Jordan Robertaccio – 12U 50 yd Butterfly & Medley Relay
John Morrisey – 12U Medley Relay & Freestyle Relay
Christian Adames – 12U Medley Relay
Michael Themistocleous – 17U 50 yd Breaststroke

Special mention to Anjolina Testa, Kaylin Anest, Emily Jonas, Raeann Dong, Frankie Wawrzynski, JD Sterbens, Eamonn McNicholas, Kyle Carroll and Jake Barrett – each of whom took 1st place in all 3 of their events.

Additionally, the 8U girls swept all 7 of their events and the 12U boys swept all 6 of their events.

Our coaches and I were extremely proud of all our swimmers, not only for their performance in the pool, but for the “raising the roof” as they cheered on their teammates.

And finally, congratulations to our Captains, Yasmeen Gharnit, Michael Themistocleous, Kelly Carroll, David Vidad, Brianna Donlon and Kyle Carroll for a great win. You team leadership during practice and at the meets has given us the first of many wins to come.

We’ll see you at practice on Monday.

Eagles Lose Close Meet to Our Lady of Lourdes ~ 224-211

The Eagles put in another great meet against Our Lady of Lourdes. Despite the close lose, we continue to excel at the 8U and 10U divisions, and put in some terrific individual efforts overall.

Both the 8U and 10U girls swept all 5 of their events, with Olivia McNicholas, Megan Soulias, Kaylin Anest, Emily Jonas and Raeann Dong each taking 1st Place in their 3 events.

For the boys, Andrew Catinella and Eamonn McNicholas also placed 1st in each of their 3 events.

Overall, we took home 24 1st place finishes out of the 52 events.

Girls
Grace Weigele – 8U Freestyle
Olivia McNicholas – 8U Freestyle, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Meghan Soulias – 8U Backstroke, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Kaylin Anest - 8U Breaststroke, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Mikaela Cornelious – 8U Medley Relay
Maggie McNamara – 8U Freestyle relay
Emily Jonas – 10U Freestyle, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Raeann Dong - 10U Backstroke, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Miranda Gonzalez – 10U Breaststroke
Kristen Becker – 10U Medley Relay
Gabriella Vidad – 10U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Ericka Farsang – 10 Freestyle Relay
Sarah Crespo – 12U Freestyle
Kiley Ferreri – 17U Freestyle
Brianna Donlon – 12U Backstroke
Yasmeen Gharnit – 17U Breaststroke

Boys
Andrew Catinella – 10U Freestyle, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Eamonn McNicholas – 10U Backstroke, Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Tyler Robertaccio – 10U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
Steven Girasi – 10U Medley Relay and Freestyle Relay
John Morrisey - 12U Freestyle Relay
Jake Barrett – 12U Freestyle Relay
Andrew Purcell – 12U Freestyle Relay
Kyle Carroll - 12U Freestyle Relay
David Vidad – 14U Freestyle, 17U Freestyle Relay
Anthony Mascia – 14U Breaststroke
Joseph Oliveto – 14U Butterfly
Bryan Purcell – 17U Breaststroke & Freestyle Relay
Marcos Matos – 12U Freestyle Relay
Michael Themistocleous – 12U Freestyle Relay

Congratulations to all our swimmers on another great meet. As a reminder, we do not have another meet until March. Next practice is Monday Feb 8th.

Swimming Eagles Take Tough Loss to Notre Dame

A tough loss to a very experienced Notre Dame Flying Fish team, 270-165. Despite the loss, we continue to have some very exciting and dominate individual performances.

Taking home 1st ribbons…
Olivia McNicholas – 8U Girls Freestyle
Emily Jonas – 10U Girls Freestyle
JD Sterbens – 10U Boys Freestyle
Kaylin Anest – 8U Girls Breaststroke (undefeated through all 4 meets)
Kyle Carroll – 12U Boys Freestyle
Meghan Gunning – Girls 12U backstroke
Kyle Carroll – 12U Boys Backstroke (undefeated through all 4 meets)
Kiley Ferreri – 17U Girls Backstroke
Jake Barrett – 12U Boys Breaststroke
Jessica Giuliani – 12U Girls Butterfly
Maggie McNamara, Kaylin Anest, Olivia McNicholas & Megan Soulias - 8U Girls Medley Relay
Eamonn McNicholas, Steven Girasi, JD Sterbens & Andrew Catinella – 10U Boys Medley relay
Kiley Ferreri, Brenna Morrisey, Yasmeen Gharnit & Caitlyn Quinn – 17U Girls Medley Relay
Anjolina Testa, Megan Soulias, Olivia McNicholas & Kaylin Anest – 8U Girls Freestyle Relay
Andrew Catinella, Tyler Robertaccio, Eamonn McNicholas & JD Sterbens – 10U Freestyle Relay
John Morrisey, Jake Barrett, Andrew Purcell & Kyle Carroll – 12U Boys Freestyle Relay (undefeated through all 4 meets).

Additionally, Olivia McNicholas, Kaylin Anest, JD Sterbens & Kyle Carroll each took home 3 1st Place ribbons, winning each event in which they were entered.

We are now halfway through our season, with meets on Feb 7th, March 6th, March 14th and March 20th.

The coaches are all extremely proud of how we continue to improve with each passing week, and we look forward to the second half of the season.

See you all on Monday night for practice.

Coach Carroll

Swimming Eagles Continue to Improve

What a terrific meet on January 16th vs. Our Lady of Lourdes. Although we lost 223-213, I was very proud of our swimmers, not only for their results, but for their enthusiasm in cheering on their teammates. Going into the final 8 Freestyle Relays, we needed to sweep all 8 to ensure victory, a nearly impossible task. We went out and won 6 of the 8, and came very close to winning the other two! Those final eight relays were so exciting and our swimmers were so loud, the official actually had to ask for “quiet” to start the final race.

We continue to dominate at our younger ages, as the 10U and 8U swimmers won 17 of their 20 events.

Both the 8U AND 10U girls swept their 10 events, with Anjolina Testa winning the 8U Freestyle, Meghan Soulias the 8U backstroke, Kaylin Anest the 8U breaststroke and Maggie McNamara, Kaylin Anest , Meghan Soulias and Mikaela Cornelious each winning the 8U Medley and Freestyle Relays.

For the 10U Girls, Emily Jonas won the 10U Freestyle, Raeann Dong the 10U Backstroke, Kristen Becker the 10U Breaststroke, Raeann, Kristen, Emily and Gabriella Vidad won the 10U Medley Relay and Erica Farsang, Raeann, Gabriella and Emily won the 10U Freestyle Relay.

Meghan Soulias, Kaylin Anest, Cesar Adames, Frankie Wawrzynski, Emily Jonas, Raeann Dong and Andrew Catinella all took 1st place in each of the three races they swam.

We next take on Notre Dame on Saturday, Jan 30, 3pm at Bethpage HS.

See you all at practice.

Kevin

2010 Swimming Eagle Swim Season Opens Up

We swam two terrific meets on Sat and Sun. Despite losing both meets, the improvement we continue to display is tremendous.

On Saturday, we lost to St Raymond's, a former "A" Division team, by the score of 250-184. In the world of swimming, this is actually a close race. To give you an idea, in the relays, you earn 6 points for first, 1 point for 2nd. So, by coming in 2nd in 11 out of 16 relays, we see a 55 point swing. Had we won only 7 of those 11 (and that was a definite possibility, as we lost 5 races by less than 3 seconds and 2 by less than 1 second), we would have won 219-215.

On Sunday, we lost to St Bernard's 235-196. This time we came in 2nd seven times. 3 of those we lost by less than 2 seconds. So, with some more experience and work on our dives, finishes and stroke technique, those 2nd place finishes will turn into wins.

A few VERY BRIGHT notes.

Saturday, the 12U boys swept all 6 of their races, with Kyle Carroll taking 1st in the Free and Back, Jake Barrett in the Breast, Andrew Purcell taking 1st in the Fly and 1st place finishes in the Medley (John Morrisey, Matthew Becker, Andrew Purcell, Kyle Montera) and Freestyle (Jake Barrett, Andrew Purcell John Morrisey and Kyle Carroll) relays. Andrew and Kyle each took home 3 first place finishes.

On Sunday, the 8U girls swept all 5 of their races with Mykaela Cornelius taking first in the Free, Maggie McNamara in the Back, Kaylin Anest in the Breaststroke and 1st place finishes in the Medley (Emma Weigele, Kaylin Anest, Maggie McNamara, Mycaela Cornelius) and Freestyle (Emma Weigele, Kaylin Anest, Maggie McNamara, Mycaela Cornelius) Relays. Kaylin, Maggie Mycaela and Andrew Purcell all took home 3 first places finishes (that's 6 for Andrew in 2 meets).

Next meet is Sat, 1/16/10 at Bethpage HS, 3pm warm-ups vs. Our Lady of Lourdes.

Coach Carroll