Berkeley Aquatic Swimmers Shine at Silver/Bronze Championships - Athletes Qualify for NJ Jr. Olympics and Senior States

Berkeley Aquatic Club (BAC) of New Providence recently hosted both the 2017 New Jersey Swimming 12 & Under Silver Bronze Champs (Region D) and the 13 & Over Silver Bronze Champs (Region C) at its new state-of-the-art aquatics facility on Central Avenue. BAC athletes competed against other age group swimmers from around the state with impressive results. In total, more than 1,500 swimmers from various teams attended these meets. For many, this was the last opportunity to earn Gold times qualifying them to compete in the 2017 New Jersey Swimming Junior Olympics at Rutgers University and Senior Championships at The Peddie School in March.

12& Under Silver/Bronze Meet Recap

In the 200 Yard Medley relay, BAC’s 10 & Under girls team made up of Lianna Pennetti of Millington, Erin Barisonek of New Vernon, Caitlin Hills of Summit and Kayla Marion of Basking Ridge won First Place with a time of 2:28:73, beating out 24 other relay teams. In the 11-12 age group, BAC’s team of Olivia Terry of Westfield, Delaney Moynihan of Chatham, Kate Curran of Berkeley Heights and Ankita Bhat of Basking Ridge earned First Place with a time of 2:09:63, shaving nearly 12 seconds off their seed time. The Boys team came in Second Place with a time of 2:13:16 due to the impressive swimming of Anurag Bhat of Basking Ridge, Ryder Zimmerman of Berkeley Heights, Troy Mayer of Mountainside and Alex Moon of Berkeley Heights.

In individual events, a number of swimmers achieved coveted Gold times. They include Ankita Bhat, 12, of Basking Ridge who earned Gold in Girls 11-12 50 Fly, 100 Free, 50 Breast and 200 Breast; Seif Elnawawi, 12, of Basking Ridge who achieved Gold times and First Place in Boys 11-12 500 and Gold in 200 and 100 Free; Erin Barisonek, 10, of New Vernon, earned Gold times and First Place in Girls 10 & Under 100 Fly, 50 Breast, 200 Free and 50 Fly. Erik Hoie, 11, of Chatham, achieved Gold times in 50 Fly, 200 Fly, and 1000 Free. Madeline Crawford, 9, of Chatham earned Gold in Girls 10& Under 100 Fly. Caitlin Hills, 10, of Summit earned Gold in Girls 10 & Under 50 Fly. Tobin Huang, 10, of Cranford, achieved Gold in Boys 10 & Under 100 Breast. Jonah Kim, 11, of Berkeley Heights, earned Gold in Boys 11-12 500 Free and 1000 Free. Nina Marquard, 12, of Bernardsville, achieved Gold in Girls 11-12 200 Fly. Ryan O’Day, 10, of Chatham achieved Gold in Mens 10 & Under 100 IM. Thomas Sartorio, 12, of Mountainside, earned Gold in Boys 11-12 100 Fly. Emily Wyrwa, 12, of Scotch Plains, earned Gold in Girls 11-12 100 Breast and 200 Breast. Emma Yang, 12, of Summit earned Gold in Girls 11-12 500 Free, 1000 Free and 200 Back. Olivia Terry, 12, of Westfield achieved a Gold time in Girls 11-12 1000 Free and 400 IM. Katie Crawford, 11, of Chatham, and Katya Ivanov, 11, of New Providence also earned Gold in Girls 11-12 1000 Freestyle.

A number of swimmers attending this meet also had the opportunity to swim the 1650 Freestyle event, consisting of 66 laps and equivalent to 1 Mile. Many of these athletes achieved Gold times for this event in their respective age groups including Seif Elnawawi, Jonah Kim, Katie Crawford and Nina Marquard as well as Margot Callahan, 11, of Summit, Kate Curran, 11, of Berkeley Heights, James Milburn Pyle, 11, of New Providence and John Walsh, 12, of Chatham.

BAC’s youngest swimmers were also well represented at this meet, many achieving new Gold and Silver time standards. Among them, Jack Kulp, 8, of Chatham, earned a Silver time in the Boys 10 & Under 500 Free; Ayah Bedri, 7, of Chatham achieved a Silver time in Girls 10 & Under 50 Breast. 8-year-old Youssef Elnawawi of Basking Ridge earned Silver times in 100 Individual Medley, 50 Breast and 100 Breast and Nicola Formon, 8, of Gillette, earned a Silver time in 100 Fly.

BAC’s Team Triumphs at 13 & Over Silver/Bronze Meet

There was also impressive swimming exhibited by BAC’s older swimmers at the 13 & Over Silver/Bronze Meet. Athletes aged 13-15 who achieved Gold times at this meet qualify to swim at the NJJOs, while those aged 15 and over qualify to compete at Senior States this March.

In individual events, Ashley Chang, 14 of Berkeley Heights took First place in three events (100 Back, 50 Free and 200 Free), earning Gold times in all. Clare Hannan, 14, of Mountainside took more than 15 seconds off in 200 Freestyle, earning Second place and a Gold time. Clare also came in First Place in 100 Fly and 200 Breast.

Will Nash, 14, of Chatham came in First place in 100 Back, 100 Fly, 200 Back and 400 IM, Second place in 200 IM and Third place in 100 Free. Will earned five Gold times, qualifying him to compete in these events at NJJOs. Aidan Herrighty, 16, of Mountainside, earned Gold times and First place in Men’s 15-19 100 Back, and 200 IM, and a Gold time in the 50 Free as leadoff swimmer in the 200 Free Relay.

Other athletes achieving Gold times at this meet include Evan Aiello, 17, of Basking Ridge in Men’s 15-19 50 Free; Audie Breslin, 15, of Washington in Men’s 13-19 1000 Free; Andrew Cuonzo, 14, of Gillette in Men’s 13-19 1650 Free, Chris Fabian, 14, of Basking Ridge in Men’s 13-14 200 IM and 200 Fly; Alexandra Maffei, 15, of Bernardsville in Women’s 15-19 200 IM, 100 Fly and 200 Free; David Martinez, 14, of Berkley Heights in Men’s 13-14 200 IM; Jason Wong, 17, of Mountainside in Men’s 15-19 50 Free, Olivia Richardson-Bozzo, 15, of Chatham in Women’s 15-19 1000 Free; and Moataz Zayed, 14, of New Providence, in Men’s 13-14 200 Fly and 200 Breast.

A number of athletes also showed significant time improvements in every one of their six events, the maximum number of events allowed per swimmer at this meet. These include Keely Ekert, 13, of Gillette, Andrew Cuonzo, 14, of Gillette, Angelina DiDonato, 13, of Watchung, Abhinav Khandrika, 13, of Millburn, Ethan Low, 13, of New Providence, Claire Ou, 13, of Berkeley Heights, Ryan Park, 14, of Watchung, Sahdev Patel, 13, of Green Brook, Kevin Steiger, 13, of Basking Ridge, Matthew Stryszak, 14, of Chatham, Sophia Toomey 14, of New Providence, Joshua Yekelchik, 16, of Basking Ridge, and Jessie Zietsman, 14, of Madison.

Berkeley Aquatic Club is proud of the efforts of all its swimmers during this season and wishes good luck to those who will have qualified to compete at NJJOs and Senior State Championship meets.

BAC will be hosting tryouts later this month for those interested in joining the competitive team. Information and registration can be found at the following link https://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=njbac&_stabid_=128760

BAC also offers swim lessons, Active Adult Aquatics, Yoga and many other programs. Details can be found at www.berkeleyaquaticclub.com .