Sports
SVY Swim Team Ranks 10th At Nationals
The boys placed in fifth, and the team overall finished in tenth place at the national meet in North Carolina last week.
The Somerset Valley YMCA swim team finished strong at last week's national meet with the boys team placing in fifth place, and the whole team ranking in tenth out of over 200 YMCAs.
The YMCA National swim meet was held in Greensboro, N.C. from April 2-5. SVY had 34 swimmers represented in the meet out of over 1,000 competitors.
SVY Head Coach Matt Donovan didn't know what to expect this year after losing 30 seniors, 21 of whom were Y National qualifiers, last season. He anticipated it would be a "rebuilding year," but this season proved otherwise.
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“This group has been chomping at the bit for a very long time with that massive senior group ahead of them. It was their time to shine and I am so very proud that they took full advantage of this opportunity,” Donovan said in a statement from the YMCA.
Donovan, who has been the team's coach for 12 years, said that there were only 10 seniors on the team, and only three had scored on a national level prior to the meet. But when the team hit the pool for the first day of nationals, they broke several records.
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The 200 Medley Relay team of Victor Luo and Dylan Sali of Bridgewater, Brad Zdroik of Hillsborough, and Jeff Donovin of Piscataway finished in second place and broke the NJ swimming record. The four boys also earned a silver medal in the 400 Medley Relay.
The SVY boys broke a record and received a bronze medal in the 200 Free Relay with swimmers Zdroik, Jesse Novak of Bridgewater, Andrew Nesbitt of Somerset, and Doug Chung of Hillsborough.
The girls placed in sixth place in the 200 Free Relay with swimmers Jacquelynn Parker and Julieyanna Parker of Hillsborough, Dana Yu of Bridgewater and Katrina Kuhn of Piscataway.
“On the whole, the team did really, really well. This is the most swimmers who have made it to finals in the four years I’ve been at Nationals,” Yu said in a YMCA statement. Yu is one of the team captains.
The team went into the meet as three-time state champions, having won the title again in Lancaster, Pa. in March.
