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The swimming ran continuously
from dawn to long after dusk at Wesleyan July 25-28, and when the chlorine haze
finally cleared we had three new relay records, a new individual record and a
tremendous number of fast swims. In fact, the 2002 Long Course Connecticut State
Swimming Championship was faster than last year’s meet: 57% of the events had
better winning times this year.
43 Connecticut teams sent a total of 795 swimmers to compete at States, and we started 3226 individual swims and 384 relay swims. Plus Finals! Many fatigued participants and spectators noted that the meet seemed rather long, but when you look at the results it’s clear that not a moment was wasted. What you see are pages and pages of personal best times representing the spirited efforts of a remarkably dedicated and enthusiastic group of young athletes. Congratulations to all our swimmers – you made this meet a Championship to remember!
-Submitted by Barry Silver, Meet Director, Photographer, Committee Chair, Sports Writer, Parent, etc.
Setting the only individual Connecticut record was Kerry Gruendel of SHKS, recording a time of 35.69 in the 50M Breaststroke. PSDY, putting together a relay team of 15/16 girls, rewrote the 15/16 CT record in the 200M Free Relay. Honors go to Erin Morrison, Lauren McKenna, Jennie Lewis and Morgan Bullock. LEHY and WYW 11/12 boys' relay teams battled to set records in the two medley relays. Both teams broke CT and Resident records but Wilton took first thus setting the records. The WYW team of Brendan Deveney, Marc Fink, Stuart Ainsworth and Greg Pelton set CT and Resident records in the 200M and 400M Medley Relays. The LEHY team of Benjamin Winston, Samuel Bradley, Eric Ress and Patrick Collins, taking seconds, broke the CT record in the 200M Medley Relay and broke the CT and Resident record in the 400M Medley Relay.
Earning National Top 16 consideration times were:
Katie Gardocki (BEAR) 200M Free and 100M Fly
11/12 Girls
Kerry Gruendel (SHKS) 50M Breast
11/12 Girls Relays
SHKS 400M Free Relay
WYW 400M Free Relay
11/12 Boys
Kevin McDonald (HNHS) 50M Free and 50M Back
11/12 Boys Relays
WYW 200M, 400M Free Relays and 200M, 400M Medley Relays
LEHY 200M, 400M Free Relays and 200M, 400M Medley Relays
13/14 Girls
Kathrine Fugge (CAC) 100M Free
15/16 Girls Relays
PSDY 200M Free Relay
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Elected by his peers as Age Group Coach of the Year was Tom Behn of SHEL. Tom began coaching in 1990 with Stratford Y and then was hired as head coach of the Shelton Seals in 1996 when Shelton started a year-round program. Tom consistently grew the USA Swimming program over the years from approximately 20 swimmers to the current 50 swimmers with numerous State, Senior and Zone qualifiers. Congratulations Tom!
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Many, many thanks to Meet Director Barry Silver for his invaluable volunteer service and to Meet Referee Ed Doernberger. And thanks to the tremendous number of parent volunteers that made this meet successful.
PHOTO
ALBUM - 
- check out the 2002 LC State Championship Photo
Album with over 250 unedited photos.
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