The 2014 season for area swim teams culminated in the Westchester County Swim Conference, a five-day meet that began August 1, the day after Counties finished.
By Melanie Cane
The 2014 season for area swim teams culminated in the Westchester County Swim Conference, a five-day meet that began August 1, the day after Counties finished. The conference began with the diving competition at Lake Isle Country Club and concluded with the swimming finals at Westchester Country Club (WCC) August 8. Unlike The Counties, Conference swimmers are permitted to compete in more than one age category.
In the Girls’ 10 & Under Diving competition, Rye girls Ellie Hedges (WCC), Mia Walshman (Rye Golf), and Larabie Pollack (WCC) took the top three spots. Luke Tucker (Rye Golf) earned second place in the Boys’ 10 & under competition. RGC’s Katie Laverty, 12, won both the Girls’ 13 & under and 17 & under and Michael Ackert, 13, won the Boys’ 13 & under and came in second in the Boys’ 17 & under.
Following three days of preliminary swimming competitions, the top 16 swimmers in each of 50 categories competed in the finals. RGC’s Peter Whittington, 10, had a stellar day winning the Boys’ 10 & under 50-yard freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly. Six-year-old Kayla Lombardo, also of Rye Golf, earned second place in the Girls’ 6 & under 25-yard freestyle and third place in the Girls’ 6 & under 25-yard backstroke. She was also part of the Girls’ 8 & under 100-yard freestyle relay team, along with Isabel Hurley, 8, Piper Tierney, 8, and Megan Tiederman, 7, that placed third. Coveleigh Club’s Lizzie Scala, l0, finished fourth in the 10-and-under 50-yard backstroke, second in the 10 & under 50-yard breaststroke and won the 10 & under 200-yard freestyle relay along with teammates Ellie Hedges, Ellie Mackle, and Ava Greto.
Westchester Country Club, which placed second out of 31 teams, had several outstanding competitors. Emma Marshall, 10, finished third in the 10 & under 50-yard freestyle, won the 10 & under 50-yard butterfly, and was part of the relay team, with Reilly Treynor, Victoria Wilson, and Kelly Haggerty, that placed second in the 10 & under 200-yard freestyle. Nicole Veru, 14, took third in the 14 & under 100-yard free and her team, including Libby O’Hare, Kelly Delane, and Kelly Cattano, won the 17 & under 200-yard free relay.
O’Hare, 16, won the 17 & under 100-yard breaststroke and placed third in the 17 & under 100-yard freestyle. Emmy Sammons, 13, won the 14 & under 100-yard backstroke.
RGC finished in sixth place overall and Coveleigh Club placed 10th