Pauline Gineva a Shining Star This Swimming Season

Freshman Pauline Gineva electrified a low-key season end for Central Regional’s girls swim team after they won Shore Conference B South.

And coach Cindy Stout is confident that even bigger things will happen in the future.

"We’ll be there in two years," Stout said.

She had a  young team with only five seniors, led by Alyssa Keenan. Keenan participated in the 4x200 freestyle relay that swam to a school record 1:50.45 in the recent Shore Conference championships. Sophomore Maeve Burg and freshman Juliette Mueller also swam on that relay. Their time eclipsed the previous record set in 2007 by 15 seconds.

Gineva  swam a 50-yard freestyle split on that relay for a school record :26.81, surpassing an 11-year-old record. Gineva also swam a personal best 1:07 in the 100 backstroke this season. For Gineva, it was a very quick bounce back from a Dec. 10 surgery that kept her out of the lineup for less than a month.

Stout said her team had more power points than the previous year. She was gratified to see most of of her swimmers lower their times throughout the season, which is the first measure of success.

The girls team didn’t have the spectacular showing of the boys team, which, led by Evan Mahoney,  set records in the county and Shore Conference meets.  There were only three girls swimmers on high level club teams. That speaks well of the dedication that many of the girls showed during the summer recreation swim program. Cindy and her husband Steve Stout ran the summer program, which helped prepare them for the season.

The girls team scored 119 points in one meet. Stout said she couldn't recall them scoring more than 91 points at any one time in the past.

"In the Shore Conference, it was not like the boys team where they tapered for the big meets at the end of the season," Stout said. "But in our season, we were solid. There are so many quality swimmers in the Shore Conference championships. It was just nice to see the girls ready."

Along with Gineva, Stout singled out Mueller’s great efforts in the freestyle events. She had personal bests 2:13.02 in the 200 and :59.92 in the 100. Stout also praised the efforts of junior Kelly Solan in the 200 individual medley and the 100 breaststroke. Solan is part of the youth movement in the program that assures the Golden Eagles of ongoing success.