FSPY Swim Team has Remarkable Showing at National Championships

The Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA (FSPY) Swim Team had a remarkable showing at the 2023 YMCA Long Course National Championships held July 25-29 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina. FSPY took 6th place overall with the women’s team placing 4th and men’s team at 13th place against swimmers from over 75 YMCA swim teams across the country. FSPY’s team of 34 swimmers saw record-breaking and exemplary swims throughout the weeklong meet.

Clare Logan won 2 national titles in 50 back and 50 fly, broke her own national championship meet record in the 50 Back with her 28.51 swim and qualified for the 2024 Olympic trials in the 100 Back with a time of 1:01.69.

The Women 200 Meter Medley Relay Team of Clare Logan, Emily Constable, Billie Sherratt and Catherine Ritter capped Day 1 of the meet on a high and set the stage for a successful week when they became national champions, and new meet, New Jersey state and team record holders with a time of 1:55.53. This winning streak continued on to the Women 400 Meter Medley Relay on Day 3 with the same relay team as they finished 2nd with a time of 4:14.46, breaking meet and team records for the event. The relay team of Colin Kavanagh, Ian Dinesh, Owen Higinbotham and Owen Waibel saw a 5th place finish with a new team record of 3:55.23 in the Men 400 Meter Medley Relay. The team of Ritter, Sherratt, Jane Kavanagh and Logan finished 2nd with new open team records in both the Women 200 Meter Free Relay with a time of 1:45.93 and in the Women 400 Meter Free Relay at 3:53.87.

12 new team records for individual events were earned by the following:

Constable - 200 Breast (2:43.13)

C. Kavanagh - 50 Back (26.92), 100 Back (57.87)

J. Kavanagh - 13-14 Girls 100 Free (58.98)

Logan - 50 Back (28.51), 100 Back (1:01.69), 50 Fly (27.59)

Sherratt - 200 Fly (2:16.31), 400 Free (4:29.50), 200 IM (2:22.89), 400 IM (4:58.33)

Waibel - 50 Free (23.41)

FSPY swimmers landed spots in the A-D finals with fast prelim swims. Swimmers in the A and B finals earned points and time on the awards podium for the team. The following swam final heats during the week, finishing in the top 32 in their events:

Elle Cadigan (200 Breast-13th), Brandon Calderone (200 Fly-15th), Constable (50 Breast-2nd, 200 Breast-6th, 100 Breast-5th), Bridget Davis (800 Free-11th, 200 Free-21st, 400 Free-14th, 1500 Free-11th), Dinesh (50 Breast-18th, 200 Breast-12th, 100 Breast-18th), Kyle Dripchak (200 Back-22nd, 50 Back-31st, 100 Back-28th, 200 IM-29th), Aaron Frank (100 Free-32nd, 200 Free-30th, 200 Back-26th, 50 Back-30th, 100 Back-26th), Victoria Gee (50 Breast-14th), Maddie Goret (50 Breast-16th, 200 Breast-16th, 200 IM-28th), Will Heinze (800 Free-9th, 400 Free-19th, 1500 Free-10th), Higinbotham (200 Free-20th), Phoebe Kaplan (200 Fly-28th), C. Kavanagh (50 Breast-17th, 200 Back-10th, 50 Back-5th), J. Kavanagh (100 Free-17th, 50 Back-26th, 50 Free-25th), Laura Kim (50 Fly-23rd), Dylan Lagrimas (200 Breast-22nd), Lauren Lane (100 Back-21st), Logan (100 Free-5th, 50 Back-1st, 50 Fly-1st, 100 Back-2nd, 50 Free-4th), Harrison McClure (200 Back-31st), Tyler McGeehan (50 Breast-16th), Ritter (100 Free-10th, 50 Free-7th), Sherratt (200 Fly-2nd, 200 Free-6th, 400 IM-2nd, 400 Free-5th, 200 IM-9th), Mya Uku (50 Back-31st), Waibel (100 Free-11th, 200 Free-16th, 50 Free-4th).

In addition to the record-breaking relays, the following relay teams earned top 16 awards:

Men 200 Meter Medley (Dripchak, Dinesh, C. Kavanagh, Waibel) – 11th

Men 200 Meter Free (Waibel, Logan Swenson, Tim Kou, C. Kavanagh) – 10th

Women 800 Meter Free (Davis, Sherratt, Brooke McAndrew, Ritter) – 7th

Men 800 Meter Free (Swenson, Waibel, Higinbotham, Will Crall) – 10th

Additionally, two of FSPY’s senior swimmers had the opportunity to lead the devotional before the final events on Days 3 and 4. Davis, who is set to swim for the University of Connecticut, and Crall, who will attend Yale University in the fall capped their impressive YMCA swim careers by sharing meaningful and thoughtful messages of gratitude for their families, their FSPY teammates, coaches, peers and the overall YMCA swim community.

Congratulations to the FSPY Long Course National Team!

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The Fanwood-Scotch Plains YMCA Swim Team is a year-round competitive team offering professional coaching and technique instruction. For more information, contact Chris Karelus, Head Coach and Director of Competitive Aquatics at 908-889-8880 x 129 or ckarelus@fspymca.org.