Sports Recap: A Look Back at Swim & Diving Success

Chappaqua

Chappaqua swimming coach Dan Levy was proud of his team, which took home first in the Northern Westchester Swim Conference’s Division I championship meet. He is now hoping that leads to more success in the future.

“We just hope that this is the bridge to more good seasons for us,” Levy said. “Everybody sees the fun that we have and the bottom line is having fun. It’s a six-week season, really four weeks if you go the first dual-meet to the last, so we just try to make it as fun as possible.”

That’s important because it isn’t necessary like that during the rest of the year.

“We try to break it up and do things differently than winter swimming, which is much more intense,” Levy said. “We work hard but also have fun and that word spreads. The parents see that and they want there kids to have fun for the summer.”

Besides winning the conference championship meet, Chappaqua also made waves in the county championships, where it finished second.

“We had lot of success in the relays,” Levy said. “We have a lot of good swimmers that were in the relays. But besides that, everybody who swam at counties did equal to or better from what we thought they were going to do. In a lot of cases, they swam the best that they did all season.”

Levy further elaborated on why his team was so successful at the counties.

“For example, we would have in one event two people that would make the final,” Levy said. “Relays that we thought we would be fourth or fifth in we were winning. It was just one thing after another.”

Katie Duncalf, Tommy St. Vincent, Ellis Ritchie, Kasia Malendowicz, Isabella Weiner, Christopher Koster, Margaux Weiner, Gaige Elms, Kevin Posner, Adam Quine, John Koster and River Elms all played key roles in helping Chappaqua place second in the final night of the three-day event.

Then if that weren’t enough at the NWSC all-star meet, Malendowicz achieved the meet record in the 12-and-under girls butterfly with a time of 27.98 seconds.

Willowbrook

Without commitment, it’s tough to be successful at anything in life.

If Willowbrook’s diving season this summer is any indication, its divers should be pretty successful in life as it took first place in the NWSC Division 1 diving championships.

“The kids were committed,” Willowbrook diving coach Victor Byrne said. “They have been diving a lot more than last year. Many of them have been diving for a whole year and that makes a big difference. Not just the way they dive but also in their attitude, they are a lot more confident.”

Part of that confidence comes from enjoying something that they like to do.

“One of the things that I can’t emphasize enough not just to the kids but to the parents is that if you do something and you like it, you are going to become good at it,” Byrne said. “I am happy to say that my kids really love the sport.”

Willowbrook was spurred on to the title with three-individual first-place finishes. One of those first-place finishers was Stevie Meyerson, who took first in the 13-and-under girls meet; and Sara Blacker and Aaron Wald, who garnered first in the girls and boys 18-and-under championships respectively.

Meyerson was undefeated the whole summer.

“She (Meyerson) falls in that category I was just talking about, she really enjoys diving,” Byrne said. “She is one of my divers that dives year-around. She hasn’t missed a practice.”

As for Blacker, Byrne was pleased to see the development that she made from the beginner of the year to the end.

“It’s a wonderful feeling to have one of your kids want to get better,” Byrne said. “Any sport to get to be the best, you have to want to be the best. Whenever we have practices, she shows up. I am very happy with her attitude.”

As for Wald, he is just a natural according to Byrne.

“You come across only so many times in any sport where you can say this kid was a natural, that he was born to do this sport and Aaron Wald is one of those kids,” Byrne said. “He is very athletic and very gifted. He is one of those that good isn’t good enough, he wants to be better. He thrives on learning the difficult dive that most kids are afraid to try.”