USA Mini Champs was not Mini in speed!

The USA Swimming Mini Champs was an extremely fast meet with many 8 years swimmers setting meet records and making Summer 2008 JO Cuts. William Cerbone, Liam Naturale and Zack Wolbert competed against swimmers from PA, NJ, NY and DE.

William Cerbone swam in the 6 and under age group and swam the 25 breast and 50 free with close to best times. He was one of only a few 5 year olds in the meet.

Liam Naturale swam the 50 free with a best time of 46.91, the 25 breast with a best time of 27.82, 25 back with a time of 26.27, the 100 IM with a best time of 1:57.82, 25 free with a time of 21.08, 50 breast with a best time of 1:05.08, the 25 fly with a best time of 22.83, and the 100 free with a best time of 1:47.71. Liam placed in the top 16 in 7 out of 8 of his events.

Zack placed 4th overal in high points only loosing to first place by less than 10 points and he did not finish a race lower than a 4th. He swam the 100 fly in a new team record and Junior Olympic time of 1:22.09 (2nd place), the 25 breast in a new team record time of 18.94 (3nd place)(Old record was 19.50 set by B.J. Conklyn in 1996), the 50 fly in a new team record and Junior Olympic time of 34.29 (2nd place), the 100 breast in a new team record time of 1:37.18 (3rd place), the 100 IM with a best time of 1:26.00 (4th place), the 50 breast in a new team record and Junior Olympic time of 41.72 (3rd place)(Old record was 42.00 set by Brendan Walsh in 1999), the 50 free in a best time and Junior Olympic time of 31.54 (2nd place), the 100 free with a in a new team record time of 1:15.09 (2nd place), the 200 IM in a new team record time of 3:07.71 (4th place).

It was a great weekend and the boys had a great time.

For our swimmer's results (click here)

Season is Wrapping Up

With this weekends USA Swimming MINI Champs our Winter Season is wrapping up. It has been a "GREAT!" season with too many great swims and broken records to talk about. Our Girls team was League Champs which was the first time since 1990 they have won the overall title. Our boy were in 2nd place and look good for next year to move to 1st. We had a lot of fun and a great group of parents helping out when ever they were asked. As we move to the Spring Swim Team Season keep the following in mind.

If you continue to swim through the Spring, Summer and Fall you will be on the top of your game next year. There are so many swimmers who within 1 full year become great champions and great team members. So if you can work it out keep swimming even if you are doing a spring or summer sport. Swimming is a skill that takes a long time to perfect and taking time off can make it difficult to come back in the fall as a top swimmer.

Spring Swim Team Starts Monday March 31st. We expect to have a strong Spring Team with a good number of local "High School" stand outs joining. We are going to try to get as many swimmers as we can to join USA Swimming (It is not required). There are a few great meets with USA Swimming this spring that will help all swimmers to get some great competition.
The USA Meets are posted on our Meet Schedule on our team web site. Make sure you sign up before the deadline as they close very fast. I do expect to have close time lines as short as 72 hours after they are posted in the more popular USA Meets as we have been shut out in the past. 2 meets that I would like to see a large number of our swimmers attend are the GAAC Meet which is a sort course yards meet and the Princeton Meet in June. These are great meets and there is great competition at these meets.
We are once again going to host our Mayfly Swim meet. The date and time are posted on our meet schedule. We are also going to host the Pocono 500 meet on Monday April 28th. There is going to be no entry fees for this meet and no awards.

IF YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR SPRING OR SUMMER DO SO ASAP AS THE FORMS ARE POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE.

Good Luck to William Cerbone, Liam Naturale and Zack Wolbert this weekend at MINI Champs. Click here for the Psych Sheets

5 PFY Swimmers advance to East/West State Meet

5 PFY Swimmers advance to East/West State Meet, 3 team records fell and 20 personal best swims at the PA Eastern District meet last weekend.

Emily Cabral, Emily Wolbert, Maggie Palaski and Alexis Kemp swam a record breaking 2:21.81 in the 10 & Under 200 Medley Relay that placed them 5th and advanced them to the East/West State meet this weekend at Penn State University. Emily Cabral's lead off backstroke leg qualified her for the Middle Atlantic Junior Olympics this summer. Emily Wolbert also broke the 9-10 50 fly record with a 31.67 which placed her 4th in the meet. The 50 fly record was set by Kim Reinhardt back in 1995. Kim was a multi year YMCA National Qualifier, PIAA State Qualifier and went on to swim at Ohio State University. Emily also placed 5th in the 100 Free with a time of 1:04.61 which also advanced her to the East /West State meet. Maggie Palaski placed 9th in the 50 fly advamcing her to the East / West State meet.

Zack Wolbert (who is only 8 years old) swam 2 best times and placed 13th in both of his races for the 10 & under age group. He broke his own 8 & Under age group team record in the 50 fly with a time of 35.31 which also Qualified him for 10 & Under Middle Atlantic Junior Olympics this summer. Zack was also the highest placing 8 year old boy in the meet.

Ben Gendelman Placed 8th in the 50 fly with a time of 30.55 which he will advance to the East/West state meet and he also qualified for Middle Atlantic Junior Olympics this summer.

Swimmers who swam best times included, Emily Cabral backstroke relay leg (36.75), Colin Orlowski backstroke relay leg (38.79), Zack Wolbert 50 free (31.96), 50 Fly (35.31), Sam Velez 50 free (33.21), Emily Wolbert 50 fly (31.67), Alexis Kemp 50 backstroke (37.96), Maggie Palaski 50 breast (43.11), Colin Naturale 50 breast (45.48), Alex Burns 50 free (28.67), Ben Gendelman 50 fly (30.55), Irene Gendelman 50 back (39.53), Janay Parrish 50 breast (37.36), Katherine Lutfy 50 free lead off relay leg (29.52), Colin Cruz 100 Fly (1:06.85) and 50 free relay leg (27.65), Kevin Donovan 100 fly (58.08) and 100 back (59.67)

PA EAST / WEST STATES FOLLOW UP:

The relay team of Emily Cabral, Emily Wolbert Maggie Palaski and Alexis Kemp swam in the 10 & Under Medley Relay and placed 7th at the East/West State meet this past weekend at Penn State University. Emily also swam in the 50 fly with Maggie Palaski. Emily placed 4th 50 fly with a 31.80 and Maggie placed 13th with a 33.66. Emily also swam the 100 free and placed 6th with a 1:03.20 just missing our team record held by Kim Reinhardt (1:02.88). Ben Gendelman swam in the 11-12 50 fly and was seeeded 14th advanced to 8th place with a 29.66 beating the 10 & under 2007 State Champ by .04.

PA East Districts only 6 Days away. ARE YOU READY?

The YMCA PA Eastern District Swimming Championship will be held March 7-9 at LaSalle University in Philladelphia. We have qualified 28 swimmers to compete is this meet which will have 37 YMCA Team and over 1,300 swimmers entered. These are the Best of the Best in the area with swimmers that will end of being ranked in the top of the country attending this meet.

The 10 and Unders will compete on Friday in the afternoon, the 11-12 swimmers will compete on Saturday morning, the 13-14 swimmers will compete on Sunday morning and the 15-18 swimmers will compete on Sunday afternoon. Not only will the competition be tough there will also be many college scouts looking for future prospects attending as well. The top 9 finishers of each event will move on to compete in the East / West State meet next week at Penn State Uniniversity March 15-16th.

10 & Under Girls
Maggie Palaski (10) - 50 Fly, 50 Breast, 200 Medley Relay
Emily Cabral (10) - 50 Free, 50 Back, 200 Medley Relay
Alexis Kemp (9) - 50 Free, 50 Back, 200 Medley Relay
Emily Wolbert (10) - 50 Fly, 100 Free, 200 Medley Relay
Irene Gendelman (9) - 50 Back , 200 Free Relay
Kimmie Konz (10) - 200 Free Relay
Holly Storck (9) - 200 Free Relay
Meaghan Dwyer (10) - 200 Free Relay

10 & Under Boys
Colin Naturale (9) - 100 Free, 50 Breast, 200 Medley Relay
Zack Wolbert (8) - 50 Free, 50 Fly, 200 Medley Relay
Colin. Orlowski (10) - 100 Free, 50 Back, 200 Medley Relay
Samuel. Velez (10) - 50 Free, 50 Back, 200 Medley Relay

11-12 Girls
Katherine Lutfy (12) - 200 IM, 50 Breast, 200 Free Relay
Janay Parrish (12) - 50 Breast
Alex Burns (11) - 50 Free, 50 Fly, 200 Free Relay
Alana Slater (11) - 200 Free Relay
Katie Catina (12) - 200 Free Relay

11-12 Boys
Benjamin Gendelman (11) - 50 Fly, 50 Back

13-14 Girls
Lena Yang (13) - 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free Relay
Bethany Randall (14) - 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay
Avanti Banks (14) - 50 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay
Lauren Mezzanotte (14) - 200 Free Relay

13-14 Boys
Colin Cruz (13) - 100 Fly, 200 Free Relay
Adrian Bernard (13) - 50 Free, 100 Back, 200 Free Relay
Carlos Rodriguez (13) - 200 Free Relay
Brandon Denniston (13) - 200 Free Relay

Open Boys
Kevin Donovan (16) - 100 Fly, 100 Back
Meet Psyche Sheets (Click Here)

Charley Hartley Meet a PFY Success Story

In the Charley Hartley Meet of Champs the Piranhas swam very well!!!
6 meet records, 53 personal best times, 19 District Qualifying Times and 14 Individual top 3 placed fishes, 2 First Place Relay finishes and 2 team records. We swam 40 of our 54 qualifiers and it was a great meet even though the weather was not the best the pool was boiling with fast swimming. With over 900 swimmers entered in the meet there was plenty of good competition to feed off of.

Meet Records:
8 & Under Boys: Zack Wolbert, 25 Fly - 16.34, 25 Breast - 19.94, 50 Free - 34.71
9-10 Girls Free Relay: Emily Wolbert, Emily Cabral, Alexis Kemp, Maggie Palaski - 2:09.52
11-12 Girls: Alex Burns, 50 Fly - 31.85, Janay Parrish, 50 Breat - 37.75

Team Records:
9-10 Girls: Emily Wolbert, 200 Free (First 200 of 500 free) - 2:26.98, 500 Free - 6:13.05

For PFY Swimmer Results (Click Here) For Complete Meet Results (Click Here)