Pleasant Valley Excels in Meet of Champions

The end of the swimming season has already come for the young swimmers of the Pleasant Valley Pool Piranhas Swim Team.

The final meet, the Meet of Champions, took place over the course of two days; Saturday, July 31 for the 12 and under competitors and Sunday, Aug. 1 for those 13 years and older.

Editor's Note: For photo galleries of both competitions, click the links above. More than 100 photos were taken at the 12 and under competition and 85 of the 13 and over bracket.

"Our kids swam very well at the Meet of Champions," said assistant coach and swimmer Joey Patchett. "They have worked very hard for this meet and I was pleased with all the results. I think everyone had a lot of fun."

On Saturday's portion of the event, the day started off with Pleasant Valley Pool placing fourth out of 13 in the girls' 10 and under 100-meter medley relay. The legs that made up the relay group were Katie Kisker, Jessica Creedon, Meghan Convery and Paige Johnson, who finished with a time of 1:25.37.

Johnson also placed third out of 34 in the 9/10 25-freestyle race and second out of 30 in backstroke, while Kisker finished 17th in the 9/10 breaststroke event, Creedon came in 21st for freestyle and first for breaststroke, and Convery claimed fourth in the 9/10 butterfly and took anchor in the girls' 100 freestyle relay group, which placed third out of 13.

Kristin Miscia, Samantha Sargen and Georgia Pesot made up the rest of the freestyle relay group. Miscia placed 18th in the freestyle race, Sargen came in 12th for backstroke, and Pesot finished 14th out of 30 in the butterfly race.  In the boys' 10 and under medley relay, the team of Lucas McCluskey, Zach Dobson, Dylan Wachenfeld and Mark Fabian placed fifth with a time of 1:30.61. McCluskey also finished 12th in the 9/10 backstroke race, Dobson finished 13th in the 9/10 breaststroke, Wachenfeld claimed second out of 30 in backstroke and first in butterfly, and Fabian placed 20th in the 9/10 freestyle. 

Elizabeth Buckley, Caroline Giuseffi, Evelyn Bigini and Natalia Kellam finished third in the 11/12 medley relay at 1:13.96. Buckley also finished second in the 11/12 50 freestyler race and first in backstroke, while Giuseffi placed 11th in breaststroke and took anchor in the 11/12 100 freestyle relay group, Bigini claimed fourth in the individual medley and third in butterfly and Kellam came in 11th in freestyle and also took a leg in the 11/12 freestyle relay group.

Colleen Wachenfeld and Catherine Giuseffi took up the remaining two spots in the relay team.  Wachenfeld took the sixth place ribbon in backstroke and Catherine Giuseffi placed seventh in the 11/12 freestyle and 12the in breaststroke.

The second place boys' 11/12-relay team consisted of Richard Valente, Brian Fields, Alexander Klippel, and Oliver Tang. Valente took fourth in the breaststroke race and first out of 20 in backstroke, Fields finished fifth in the individual medley and seventh in the 50 butterfly, Klippel came in first out of 26 in freestyle and second in butterfly and Tang placed tenth in freestyle and ninth in backstroke. Other swimmers who placed well include Grace Sedlazek, who took first out of 29 in the 8 and under freestyle and second in butterfly, Christopher Fabian, who placed fourth in the 8 and under freestyle, sixth in backstroke and fifth in the eight and under 100-freestyle relay.

His teammates who swam with him in this event were Kevin Tang, Asa Faherty and James Glockenmeier. Tang also placed 15th in freestyle and eighth in breaststroke, while Faherty took 21st in freestyle and eighth in butterfly, and Glockenmeier came in second out of 27 in backstroke.

Gillian Warner managed second in the eight and under backstroke before taking sixth in butterfly. Warner also took a leg in the Sedlazek, Megan Pruskowski and Cate Hegeman team, which finished second in the 8 and under freestyle relay. Pruskowski came in 13th in breaststroke and Hegeman finished 18th in freestyle and sixth in breaststroke.

Day two began with Sarah Valente, Kristyn Julian, Amanda Wachenfeld and Jennifer Moore winning third in the medley relay. Valente went on to place another third in the 15 and older 50-freestyle and fourth in backstroke. Julian followed the relay's success by placing sixth in breaststroke and third in butterfly. Wachenfeld beat out all other competitors in the 15 and older individual medley and came in second in butterfly by less than .5 seconds. Moore rounded off the triumph of the relay group by coming in second in both the 15 and older freestyle and backstroke races.

The boys' medley relay team of assistant coaches Tyler Gibbons and Joey Patchett and swimmers Bradley Wachenfeld and Robert Patten came in fifth out of 11. Gibbons continued in the meet as ninth in the 15 and older freestyle and eighth in backstroke. Patchett also placed eighth during his 15 and older individual medley race, along with placing fifth in breaststroke. Wachenfeld was third out of 19 in backstroke and sixth out of 21 in butterfly. Finally, Patten placed in backstroke and took anchor in the sixth place freestyle relay group. His partners were Jimmy Clark, Tommy Marazzo and Brian Patchett. Clark claimed 13th in the freestyle races and 21st in butterfly while Marazzo took 12th in breaststroke and 20th in butterfly, and Patchett placed 14th in the individual medley and 16th in backstroke.

On the younger side of the older meet, Allison Byrne, Lauren Byrne and Emily Connolly finished consecutively in fifth, sixth and seventh in the 13/14 individual medley. A. Byrne finished her events in the breaststroke race, finishing 22nd overall. L. Byrne, likewise swam one other race, and took 17th in freestyle.

Connolly finished eighth in breaststroke, narrowly missing a three way tie for sixth by .4 seconds. 13-year-old Emma Wilson claimed sixth in freestyle and ninth in butterfly. Jackson Crewe, also 13, placed eighth in his freestyle category and fourth in breaststroke. After winning the 13/14 backstroke, Briana Thompson finished fifth in butterfly.

Now the nearly five hour-long matches are over, and the Piranhas say goodbye to the 2010 season. Coaches and retuning swimmers look forward to next year to see who shows up to that first day of tryouts in late June.

"I'll miss swimming with my [older] friends," said a young Pleasant Valley Pool swimmer. "But I always make new friends!"

Pleasant Valley had one of its best records this summer, only losing twice and beating the Bernards swim team, by only two points, for the first time in years.