Ossining Spartans Prepare For WFSL Championships: Rocco, Meyerhoeffer Advance To Junior Olympics

At the USA Swimming Silver Championships meet hosted by the New York
Sharks at the Felix Festa Middle School in Clarkstown, New York from March
3-5, members of the local Spartans Swim Team posted impressive finishes, with
two members advancing to the next level of championship swimming, the Junior
Olympics, which will be held March 17-18.

Facing stiff competition from dozens of swimmers in each event, Emily
Rocco, 9, advanced to the Junior Olympics (JO) in three individual events:
the 10 & under girls’100 yd free, the 50 yd fly, and the 100 yd fly. Emily is
the first Spartans Swim Team member to qualify for JO in three events. Her
finish of 1:11:10 in the 100 free landed her fifth overall. In the 50 fly,
she took second overall with a 35:58 finish, and clipped an astounding 8
seconds off her 100 yd fly to finish in 1:22:46. Emily finished the 100 yd
back in 1:22:65, a mere half a second off the JO time standard.

Stella Meyerhoeffer, 9, qualified for JO in the 10 & under girls’ 100
yd IM, finishing second overall in 1:20:58. She finished the 50 yd free in
32:81, and the 100 yd fly in 1:27:38. Stella took 1st in the 50 yd back in
37.62, and 4th in the 100 free in 1:12:17. In the longer 200 yd IM, Stella
took fourth in 2:54:03, beating her split time for each stroke in the four
legs of that race.

Sammy Novo, 10, swam a fast 1:35:90 in the 10 & under girls’ 100 yd
breast, finishing 6th overall. She placed 8th overall in the 50 yd back in
38:72. She finished the 100 yd IM in 1:22:68 and the 50 yd breast in 43:82.
She finished the 50yd free in 32:33.

Nico San Martin finished the 14 & under 200 yd free in 2:07:71(-1), and
the 50 yd free in 27:20. Yousef Kamal, 7, swam the 10 & under boys’ 100 yd
fly in 1:36:82, to the chagrin of his 10 year-old competitors. Sarah Kamal
finished the girls’ 10 & under 100 IM in 1:29:37 and the 100 yd back in
1:37:19.

Thomas Overacker took 18th overall in the 12 & under boys’ 50 yd back,
finishing in 35:32. Alex Carrazzone finished the same race in 38:78.
Hailey Roksvold finished the 10 & under girls’ 50 yd back in 41:51 and the 50 yd
fly in 41:86. Allison Hogan finished the 10 & under 50 yd fly in 43:80 and
the 50 yd back in 42:27.

The Spartans Swim Team competes in the Westchester-Fairfield Swim
League (WFSL) in addition to the USA Swimming meets, and the WFSL semi-finals were held on February 27-29 at the Yonkers Montessori Academy’s Mark Twain Pool. Over the three day meet, Spartans swimmers competed for the right to swim at the WFSL Championships to be held on March 11. The following swimmers made the cut: Demi Bauer, Daniel Browne, Katelyn Browne, Dillion Burstein, Serafina Capasso, Alex Carrazzone, James Cevasco, Emma DelPrincipe, Gavin De Maine, Molly De Maine, Joe DiBenedetto, Yohance Douglas, Jason Duque, Maggie Dymes, Sammy Englebracht, Sophia Farmakopoulos, Michael Fenech, Katie Flynn, Billy Ford, Maggie Ford, Marcelo Galindo, Jessica Garcia, Mathias Gomez, Maxwell Gustin, Thomas Gustin, Demetrios Gutierrez, Allison Hogan, Joyce Jiang, Sarah Kamal, Yousef Kamal, Stella Meyerhoeffer, Vlad Moise, Sammy Novo, Carolyn Overacker, Thomas Overacker, Adriana Pani, Deeya Patel, Lilly Pawliczak, Christopher Rocco, Emily Rocco, Hailey Roksvold, Ryan Roksvold, Max Saich, Emma San Martin, Nico San Martin, Gabby Santana, Dan Schatz, Tara Tassio, Kenny Velez, and David Zhu.

Coach Mike Kane invites interested swimmers through age 17 to train
with and compete on the team, with individualized training 1-6 days per week on a monthly basis. The team offers professional coaching with four
experienced swim coaches in the state-of-the-art Joseph G. Caputo Community Center pool in Ossining. Drop by the pool, visit Spartansswimteam.com, or inquire at Spartansswimming@gmail.com to follow-up.

--Contributed by Susan Gibbs de San Martin