Montclair Dolphins Limber Up For State Championships With Biggest Qualifying Squad in Years

MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The Montclair YMCA Dolphins will take on top swimmers from across the state in the coming weeks as the biggest squad in recent years races in the championship meets that mark the end of the short course season.

Swimmers at each championship aim to beat their personal best times in a variety of events to make cuts for the next level championship.

• First up on Feb 6-8, a pod of nearly 100 Dolphins will compete in the New Jersey YMCA Bronze Championship for swimmers aged 8-18 in New Providence. That is one of the biggest squads the team has ever sent to the championships.

• The following weekend, a squad of more than 55 Dolphins have already qualified for the Silver Championships. That is up from a squad of 37 last year, and more swimmers are likely to qualify at the Bronze Championships.

• The fastest swimmers will go again in the State Championships. Already, a pod of 18 Dolphins has qualified for state, up from a count of 16 last year. The 8-12 year-olds will compete at States on the weekend starting Feb 20, and the 12 and older swimmers will go for gold on the weekend of March 5.

• A squad of 29 of the youngest Dolphins will compete in the 8 and under State Championships on Feb 28.

• The aim is for the fastest Dolphins to qualify for the National Championships. Swimmers will also set their sights on qualification for an invitational event, the Sunkissed Championship, on March 26-28. So far, 30 Dolphins have qualified.

“I’m most encouraged with the significant growth in our participation at the upcoming NJ YMCA Silver Championship meet at this point in the season,” said Kyle Laracy, Director of Competitive Aquatics at the YMCA of Montclair. “This meet is always challenging to qualify for — generally the top 25-50 or so in the state. Also, when I look at the number of YMCA of Montclair swimmers entered to compete in the 10 and younger age groups, we are on par with the largest and most highly ranked YMCA teams in New Jersey, many of whom are perennially in the top 10 Y teams nationally. Our ultimate goal is to field a YMCA National team. Our MYM older swimmers are maturing and getting closer to accomplishing that goal.”

Top qualifiers so far:

Girls:

• Maeve D’Amico (11, from Cedar Grove) with state times in 10 events and 8 Sunkissed times
• Ruby Delano (10, Montclair) – 3 state times
• Holly Hukkanen (15, Nutley) – 2 state, 8 Sunkissed times
• Sophia Landrove (9, Montclair) – 4 state times
• Brenna Laracy (15, Montclair) – 7 Sunkissed times
• Harper Loughlin (13, Montclair) – 8 Sunkissed times
• Magnolia Shimizu-Tragni (15, Montclair) – 8 Sunkissed times
• Sarah Silveira (10, Bloomfield) – 4 state times
• Colette Smokowski (15, Montclair) – 12 Sunkissed times

Boys:

• Frank D’Addone (13, Glen Ridge) – 6 Sunkissed times
• Gabriel Espiritu (15, Bloomfield) – 4 state, 4 Sunkissed times
• Simon Firth (10, Montclair) – 5 state times
• Carter Prala (14, Montclair) – 3 state times
• Soren Razo (13, Glen Ridge) – 9 Sunkissed times

The events will cap what has already been a successful short-course season in 25-yard pools for the Dolphins. They will then turn their sights to competing in the long-course season in the 50-meter pools from late Spring and Summer.

At the final home dual meets in January, the team celebrated the senior boys and girls who will be graduating from the team this year. The seniors were Marlon Bravo, John Cooper, Ronan Groves, Kate Hujsa, Anna Iraj, Miles Magnes, Sefina Morrison, Beatrice Olderog, Bryce Ramos, Dean Rodriguez, Sara Search, Kayleigh Surichaqui and Liam Timbie.

Spring Tryouts to join the Dolphins Swim Team are set for March. Registration is open at the link here.

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ABOUT THE YMCA OF MONTCLAIR
Established in 1891, the YMCA of Montclair welcomes all. We are a nonprofit that strengthens individuals, families, and community. We focus on empowering young people, improving health and well-being, and inspiring action in and across communities. Serving Bloomfield, Bloomingdale, Clifton, Cedar Grove, Glen Ridge, Haskell, Hewitt, Montclair, Verona, Wanaque, and West Milford. For more information, please visit montclairymca.org.

ABOUT THE YMCA OF MONTCLAIR DOLPHINS SWIM TEAM
The YMCA of Montclair Dolphins swim team offers a year-round opportunity for competitive swimming in both YMCA and USA Swimming competitions as well as seasonal instructional clinics for aspiring competitive athletes. The team is comprised of girls and boys from age 6 through high school. Approximately 200 athletes train with the team each year. They compete at all levels, based on their skill set.

(Written by Simon Webb)