Madison Mariners Excel at YMCA Bronze State Swimming Championship

By Sally Mulligan

The Madison YMCA Mariners swim team put in a stellar performance at the YMCA Bronze State Championship swim meet held on February 10th and 11th at Witherspoon Middle School in Princeton, New Jersey. Sixty-seven members of the Mariners swim team ages 9 to 18 qualified for the championship event, with several swimmers achieving individual best times or qualifying for the YMCA Silver Championships or YMCA State Championships held later in February. Ribbons were awarded for places 1 through 16 in each individual and relay event.

The female Mariners excelled in all age brackets with a number of swimmers earning ribbons for placing in the top 16 in one or more events. The 9-10 female Mariners had an outstanding meet. Anna Alden placed 8th in the 50 free; Emily Brown placed 15th in the 100 breast; Emily Houng placed 2nd in the 100 back, 5th in the 50 back, 14th in 50 free and 13th in the Individual Medley; Grace Mulligan placed 3rd in the 100 breast and 5th in the 50 breast; Chloe Thorn Leeson placed 3rd in the 100 Individual Medley, 4th in 50 back, 5th in the 100 free, 6th in the 50 breast and 9th in the 100 back; and Katilyn Troiano placed 11th in the 50 fly. In the female 11-12 age bracket, Alison Barton put in a stellar performance, placing 1st in the 50 free, 1st in 100 free, 2nd in 100 breast and 2nd in the 100 fly; Fiona Beacom placed 6th in the 100 free; Katelyn Hoffelder placed 10th in the 100 free; and Jule Schaefer placed 12th in the 100 Individual Medley. In the female 13-14 age bracket, Gwendolyn Lukasavage placed 6th in the 200 free. In the female 15-18 age bracket, Katharine Caviness placed 15th in the 100 fly; Hannah Corcoran placed 9th in the 100 fly; Emma Dougherty placed 13th in the 100 breast and 15th in the 100 free; Sarah Dougherty placed 3rd in the 100 back and 11th in the 200 free; Kaley Snarr placed 8th in the 100 fly and 11th in the 100 back; and Madeleine Zietsman placed 8th in the 200 breast.

The male Mariners also had an outstanding meet with individual swimmers earning ribbons for placing in the top 16 in each age bracket. In the 9-10 age bracket, Trevor Ledon placed 14th in the 100 breast; Jack McLoughlin placed 15th in the 100 breast; and Declan Robertson placed 5th in the 50 breast. In the 11-12 age bracket, Ransom Chang placed 5th in the 50 free. In the 13-14 age bracket, Nate Creamer placed 7th in the 200 back and 10th in the 50 free; Shane Faraher placed 10th in the 200 breast; Aiden Kagan placed 10th in the 200 IM; and Botond Rice placed 3rd in the 100 breast, 8th in the 100 back and 10th in the 200 free. In the 15-18 age bracket, James Dougherty had a terrific meet, placing 2nd in the 50 free, 3rd in the 200 free, 4th in the 100 free, and 5th in the 100 and 200 fly.

The following Madison Mariners swim team members also qualified and raced at the Bronze Championships and swam impressive times across the board: Artha Abeysinghe, Laney Albanese, Carol Barton, Maddie Boland, Elizabeth Brubaker, Caroline Caviness, Caroline Cortese, Anya D'Costa, Brett Davis, Kathleen Degnan, Ashley Driscoll, Emma Gundlach, Charles Hilgendorf, Brywn Hines, Annabelle Houng, Armaan Jindal, Maanya Jindal, Caitlin Jobe, Elizabeth Kandziolka, Tanishka Khanna, Layla Knoll, Sasha Knoll, Elena Latorre, Alyssa Lee, Chloe Lemos, Anika Lippke, Kareena Parikh, Ashwin Patel, Anjali Phadnis, Daniel Posy, Sophia Posy, Yannick Rodrigo Candappa, Kiva Schraven, Riley Snarr, Samantha Soltis, Marguerite Spagnuolo, Emma Straub, Nicholas Troiano, Ethan Wagner, and Madeline Wilt. Congratulations to the Madison Mariners and their coaches for a terrific showing at the YMCA Bronze Championships.

As a cause-driven charitable organization, the Madison Area YMCA is dedicated to nurturing the potential of every child and teen, and improving the community’s health and well-being and giving back by providing support to our neighbors.