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Age Group Championships
By Barry Silver, Meet Director
The cheers were deafening and the swimming was fast at Wesleyan, and now CT Swimming’s version of “March Madness”, the 2004 Connecticut Short Course Age Group Swimming Championship, is in the books. Congratulations to the Wilton Y Wahoos, our Team Champions, and to all the athletes from all 45 teams for your outstanding performances in the water and exemplary sportsmanship on deck.
What do Elizabeth Pelton, Katie Gardocki and Katie Lang have in common? They each forced us to take out the big eraser and inscribe some new Connecticut and Resident records in the archives. Elizabeth took time off of both the 50 and 100 backstroke records for 10/unders, the new 11/12 200 backstroke records are owned by Katie G., and Katie L. is now our fastest-ever 11/12 200 breaststroker. And don’t forget the boys: Robby Harder, Derrian Duryea, Austin Wolff and Conor Deveney are Wilton’s record-setting 10/under 200 Medley Relay team. Great job!
I hope you enjoy our photos, which capture just a few of the great moments of the weekend. If I had snapped one each time a face looked up from the wall to the scoreboard to see a new best time, we’d run out of room on our internet server! As you browse through, remember that each of these fast starts and swims, happy smiles with teammates, moments of intensity before a race, and goofy poses was earned through hundreds of hours of hard work in the practice pool over the long season. My hat is off to each and every one of these dedicated young athletes.
What a treat it was to welcome Connecticut Swimming’s brightest star (and big-time supporter of Age Group swimming in CT) Ben Michaelson. Unfortunately we had no room in our crowded pool for Ben and his Pan Am Games gold-medal butterfly. But not to worry – Ben had brought his guitar, amp, and truckload of electronics, and our Saturday Finals session began with a National Anthem that none of us will ever forget. Thanks, Ben!
Thanks also go to the army of terrific volunteer parents and friends who made this meet such a success (and a personal pleasure for me). Our many officials, led by the talented and tireless Meet Referee Carol Feeney and her sage Admin Referee Mike Huffman, provided the kind of fair, high-quality competition that our swimmers deserve and did so with professionalism, skill and grace under occasional pressure. Steering the ship flawlessly no matter how hot it got in the engine room were our excellent computer people: Laura Costigan, Rob Dietter, Dean Hatton, Rick LaFrenierre, Ann Levine, Ginger McCurdy, Joanne McKeown, Kim Mangan, and Stacy Murphy. I always lean very very heavily upon my good friends from Cougar Aquatic – the Aupi and Prus families and many others. The CAC crew led by Vinny Savarese and Chris Hug deserve an award for the way they handle awards, and could not be a better group to have on deck. The last thing in the world I need is to face a deck full of hungry coaches, and as usual the Cheshire parents did a fine job keeping everyone fed and watered. Thanks also go to the Westport team who handled the PM office duties and to the parents from Wilton who produced and sold Finals programs each night. The Emmy Award for sportscasting will be shared by our announcers Bill Loftus, Bill Heyde, Nancy Kingman, Mrs. Bergeron, Peter Skaperdas and Miki Silver. I wish I could name each and every person who helped out as a runner, marshal, timer, program salesperson, etc., but there are far too many – again, thanks to you all.
I don’t think anyone but me realizes just how much Nan Cooper, CT Swimming’s Office Manager, Entry Chair, Den Mother, Flak Catcher and Staff Psychiatrist gives of herself for events like this. We could not do this without you, Nan.
The support we get from our friends at Wesleyan (Kate, Richard, Mary, Pat, Patrick and especially Casey) is terrific, and we’re most grateful for the efforts of Mike DiNapoli and our very good friend Kevin Carneiro.
It’s now Zone team time, and we wish Connecticut Swimming’s All-Star Team the best. Swim fast and make us proud! Debbie Barriss, Nanci Liscinsky, Randy LaRocca and Wayne Brusseau have, along with the Zone coaches, been logging endless hours in support of our swimmers and we thank them.
Finally, as I spend time on deck and see (and overhear) the work that the many fine coaches in this state do with our swimmers my admiration grows and grows. Whether you’re a charter member of Henk’s “10 and 0” club or not, a tip of the cap to you, coach!
It’s been a lot of fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you for Long Course!
PHOTOS
SCORING
RESULTS
Photos by Barry Silver
Age Group Championship Page
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