Madison YMCA Mariners Compete at East Field Championships

Significant snow fell on December 9, but that didn’t stop 43 Mariners’ swimmers from qualifying and attending the YMCA East Field Championship swim meet in Princeton, NJ. The meet took place over 3 days (December 8-10) with fierce competition against strong swimmers from ten NJ YMCA swim teams.

Highlights from the boys’ team include four first place finishes for 12-year old Collin Faraher (200-yd Individual Medley (IM), 100-yd IM, 50-yd backstroke, and 100-yd breaststroke). Faraher also placed third in the 50-yd freestyle and the 50-yd breaststroke. Other strong performances came from 10-year old Owen Smith with three second place finishes (200-yd IM, 50-yd backstroke, and 100-yd breaststroke), plus third place in the 100-yd IM and fourth place in the 50-yd freestyle and in the 100-yd backstroke. Tirian Chang (age 9) placed second in the 50-yd butterfly and Brendan Fowler (17) placed second in the 400-yd IM. Fowler also placed sixth in the 200-yd butterfly. Rounding out the boys’ team were a number of athletes with third place finishes including Anuthra Abeysinghe (10) in both the 50-yd and 100-yd breaststroke, Kyle Beebe (13) in the 100-yd backstroke, Atticus Chang (13) in the 400-yd IM, Ryan Snarr (12) in the 100-yd IM, and Owen Weller (12) in the 50-yd backstroke. Beebe also took fifth in the 100-yd butterfly and the 200-yd freestyle, Chang placed sixth in the 100-yd butterfly, and Snarr placed fourth in the 50-yd and 100-yd freestyle, as well as sixth in the 100-yd butterfly. Terry Luongo (14) had a strong fourth place finish in the 200-yd freestyle.

The girls’ team had a number of athletes swim strong races, including four individuals with top six finishes. Leading the way was 10-year old Molly Newman with two second place finishes (50-yd freestyle and 100-yd backstroke). Newman also placed third in the 100-yd freestyle, fourth in the 50-yd backstroke, and fifth in the 100-yd IM. Sadie Clarke (10) also had a second place finish, in the 200-yd IM event. In addition, Clarke placed third in the 100-yd breaststroke and sixth in the 100-yd freestyle. Bella Guarino (12) placed third in the 100-yd IM and the 100-yd freestyle, fourth in the 200-yd IM and the 50-yd freestyle, and sixth in the 100-yd breaststroke. Swimming in the high school division, Kaley Snarr (15) placed fourth in the 500-yd freestyle.

Rounding out the Mariners swim team were strong performances by the following athletes: Artha Abeysinghe, Fiona Beacom, Amanda Beneventano, Emily Brown, Katie Caviness, Ransom Chang, Nate Creamer, Anya D’Costa, Emma Dougherty, Sarah Dougherty, Jimmy Dougherty, Shane Farahar, Will Foucher, Katelyn Hoffelder, Annabelle Houng, Chris Houng, Emily Houng, Elena Latorre, Gianna Latorre, Chloe Lemos, Anika Lippke, James Lord, Gwen Lukasavage, Jule Schaefer, Riley Snarr, Ryan Sprague, Veda Swaminathan, Chloe Thorn Lesson, and Maddie Zietsman.

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.