Egan Finishes Amazing Week at Counties

The last day of the Westchester County Swimming Championships had some more great performances from Larchmont- and Mamaroneck-area swimmers, highlighted by Orienta Beach Club's Liam Egan, who snatched his fourth gold and second county meet record of the week.

Egan won the 12-and-under 50-yard freestyle in a blistering time of 24.03 Thursday afternoon, an astounding .51 under the previous county record set by Greenburgh star Ryan Emanuel in 2000. Not surprisingly, after placing first in four events and scoring a perfect 36 points, Egan was awarded the Individual High Point Award for highest individual scorer in his age group, a feat he achieved back in 2008 when competing in the 10-and-under division.

"I feels good to win all four," said Egan, 12 years old. "My coaches were just telling me to stay focused, to do as well as I could, and to never give up until I was finished."

Placing 8th in the 12-and-under 50-yard freestyle and also securing his fourth medal of the week was Winged Foot Golf Club's Jack Collins, who posted a time of 28.59 seconds.

After finishing second in the 13-and-under 200 Yard IM on Tuesday, fellow Orienta swimmer Chris Aventuro took home his first gold of the county championships, placing first in the 14-and-under 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:07.77.

Egan and Aventuro later teamed up with Danny Collins and Brendan Egan to help Orienta's 13-and-under 200-yard freestyle relay place 6th in 1:55.57. Earlier in the day, Brendan Egan placed seventh in the 10-and-under 50-yard butterfly in a time of 34.61.

Another swimmer that saved her best for last was Larchmont Shore Club's Kayla Leslie, who placed 2nd in the 17-and-under 100-yard backstroke in a time of 1:03.53.

"I was really excited going into the backstroke," said the 16-year-old Leslie, who swims for the Ursuline School and Gaels in the winter. "It's my favorite stroke. The first lap is pretty smooth and then you get to the second lap and it's all about endurance. I just told myself, 'I'm not getting tired, 'and just went for it."

Placing third in the event and wrapping up a very successful county meet was Larchmont Yacht Club's Maggie Tracy, who posted a time of 1:03.73. Tracy was a large contributor to LYC's point total this week, leading them to a third place finish in the final girls team scores and a ninth place finish in the combined team scores, the highest by any area team.

"I thought we performed great," said Larchmont Yacht Club Head Coach Dominick Galimi, whose girls team ended the four-day meet with 84 points. "I knew we were in contention. We started out a little slow on Monday, but we picked up steam Tuesday and Wednesday, and got some big points tonight and held everybody else off. Our 10 & Under and 17 & Under girls really did great in the relays. Our relay points were really the reason why we were able to get third."

In other events, Larchmont Shore Club's team of Haley Fullerton, Emily Olson, Amanda Broderick, and Shelby Hackenburg placed first in the 13-and-under 200-yard freestyle Relay, finishing under one second away from the county meet record in 1:52.35. In the 12-and-under 50-yard freestyle, Winged Foot Golf Club's Nicole Katchis finished fourth in a time of 27.29.