Orienta's Egan Wins Third Gold in Day 3 of Counties

There were familiar names making headlines on Day Three of the Westchester County Swimming Championships Wednesday afternoon, as a number of swimmers from Larchmont and Mamaroneck added to their medal tally and earned crucial points for their teams.

Orienta's Liam Egan, who is quickly proving to be in a league of his own, made it three-for-three on Wednesday, taking first place in the boys 12-and-under 50-yard breaststroke in a time of 32.35 seconds and earning his third gold in as many days.

"I knew that it would be a good race," said Egan, who headed into the final of the event as the second seed. "I knew breaststroke wasn't my strongest event and that I'd have to really work the hardest out of everyone. I came out and got a really good start and just tried holding everyone off."

Egan will try to complete the coveted four golds in four days on Thursday, competing in the 12-and-under 50-yard freestyle where he is the top seed.

Finishing 5th in the boys 12-and-under 50-yard breaststroke, and earning his third medal of the week, was Winged Foot Golf Club's Jack Collins. Collins has also had a busy and successful County Championship so far, already having placed 5th in the boys 12-and-under 50-yard backstroke and 6th in the boys 12-and-under 50-yard butterfly before Wednesday.

"It's nothing that I'm not used to," said Collins about racing so many times in consecutive days. "I'd rather be finishing top three every race but you can't always get what you want. The competition here is pretty solid. It's tough to be at the top."

Another swimmer making herself at home on the podium was Larchmont Yacht Club's Maggie Tracy. A day after leading off LYC's first place and meet-record breaking girls 17-and-under 200-yard freestyle relay, Tracy finished second in a highly competitive Girls 17-and-under 100 Yard Freestyle in a time of 56.17 seconds. American Yacht Club's Melissa Fulenwider won the event in 54.83 seconds, and Orienta Beach Club's Giovanna Patafio placed sixth in 57.61 seconds.

"My strategy was to go all out on the first lap," said Tracy. "I just wanted to get as far ahead as I could and come back with what I had. She's [Fulenwider] a really tough competitor."

A few minutes after the final of the girls 17-and-under 100-yard freestyle, Tracy was right back in the pool, helping LYC's girls 17-and-under 200-yard medley relay place second in a time of 2:2.8. Larchmont Shore Club placed fifth in the event, posting a time of 2 minutes and 6.27 seconds.

"Having both races during finals is tough because they go off so close to each other," said Tracy. "But it's fun. Tomorrow night is backstroke and then we're done and we're going to Playland with the team."

In other events, Orienta Beach Club's James Murray, Quinn Degen, Matthew Aventuro, and Brendan Egan placed fourth in the boys 10-and-under 200-yard freestyle, with the team of Charles Ryan, Matthew Marchini, Jack Andreana, and Kevin Baker from the Larchmont Shore Club finishing in seventh. Larchmont Shore Club also took second place in the girls 10-and-under 200-yard freestyle relay.

Heading into the final day of competition, Larchmont Yacht Club sits in third place in the girls team scores with 78 points, and eight in the combined team scores with 89 points. Orienta is sixth in the boys team scores with 62 points and 12th in the combined team scores with 66 points, while Larchmont Shore Club is ninth in the girls team scores with 43 points. With 16 points, Winged Foot Golf Club is in 27th place in the combined team scores.