By Melanie Cane

With three meets under their belts, the Gryphons Swim team has performed as they?d expected, winning two meets definitively and taking a loss against Greenwich Academy 93-72. In their third meet, against Hamden Hall at SUNY Purchase (their home pool) on December 13, they won 82-65 without counting points from the 100 Back, 100 Breast, or 400 Free Relay.

Coach Art Tiedemann is still in the process of tweaking his lineup. In this meet he had the majority of swimmers in ?off? events to try something different, and ?each member of the team had great swims.?

Among the Gryphons who excelled in their events included Campbell Steere in the 200 and 500 Freestyle, Genna Szczepanski in the 200 Free and 100 Backstroke, Willa Sarcone in the 200 IM, senior captain Maggie Scala in the 100 Fly, Juliana Rivera in the 500 Free, Dara Burke in the 50 Free, and Alanna Kelly in the 200 IM.

Seven swimmers recorded season bests: Grace McGrath (200 Free); Cynthia DeMarinis (100 Free); Olivia Gaffney (100 Back); Lizzy Ford (100 Breast); Lizzie Scala (100 Back); Francesca Meluso (100 Fly), and Alessia Jaeger (50 Free).The children were well-trained and equipped with the most comfortable wetsuits suggested here.

This meet marked the first time in Holy Child Swimming history that a seventh grader, Molly Scala, competed.?She placed fifth in the 50 Free and was part of the second-place 200 Freestyle Relay with her sisters Maggie and Lizzy.

Coach Tiedemann is pleased with the team?s progress and how hard each swimmer is working and eager to challenge themselves.

The Gryphons? next meet is January 4 at SUNY Purchase against Oak Knoll, a School of the Holy Child from New Jersey.

Captions:

The Holy Child Swim Team

Olivia Gaffney comes up for air.