Hi Team-

As anticipated, I am only 2 days removed from the State meet and I am bummed out to not be seeing you all at the pool. I went to BTC to do a few things and it was sad for me without you all! It happens every year. 

My main purpose of this email is not to drone on about my nostalgia but to bring you news of the State meet, because wow was it a good one! I am so proud of all my swimmers! Once the meet starts I hardly pay attention to the score, but we won by a significant amount. On paper it was not predicted to be as large of a margin as it was, us 3686.5 to St. Alban's 2799, and Vergennes' 2408, but so many of your swimmers swam lights out and we nailed it. 

Swimtopia always gives me a report with the results of the meet (attached below) and with our 90 athletes we had 273 best times, and that is pretty phenomenal!

Starting with our 6&Under category we had Marian Lively on the girls side dropping time in her 25 free, at her first States meet ever! We had three 6&Under Boys at the meet: Ari Borsellino, Aidan Dalhstrom, and James Boehm were crushing it in their 25 freestyle respectively, with a 9th, 7th, and 4th place finish. Aidan and James followed it up with a 5th and 4th place finish in the 25 backstroke. James also is one of the very few 6&Unders who can do a legal 25 butterfly and he did it in a relay and in an individual event at the meet! Way to go 6&Unders! You are the bright future of our team!

For the 8&Unders, we had a full team of kids doing the maximum number of events (5 individual and 2 relays) across the 2 days. We had many in the 100IM, which is a phenomenal feat for an 8&Under to accomplish. The IMers were lead by Sadie Clogan and Henry Newcomb with Iris Herrington, Quinn Melasky, Eliza Mack, Julian St. Peter, and Declan Laraja rounding out the field. Eliza Mack had some big time drops, in the 25 fly and won her heat, and placed 7th in the event! Bennett Main also had some big time drops and a good meet. Henry Newcomb and Julian St. Peter had great meets as well, placing in the top 10 in all of their events. It is hard for me to pick a few names because they all really swam so well!

The first event of the meet, the 9-10 girls relay medley relay set the tone for the whole meet and it was incredible. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about that finish! Our team of Kinley Nahstoll, Isabella Altadonna, Sumi Koerner, and Sydney Brown swam phenomenally. It was a close race but when Sydney Brown entered the water on the last leg for freestyle it was looking like Vergennes had an insurmountable advantage, but Sydney put her head down and did not breathe. She was not going to lose the race and she didn't, she out touched the Vergennes freestyle swimmer earning the win for her team! Wow that was a great race, well done girls! After that our 9-10 girls and boys all swam so well. Our 9-10s are deep, Norbu Lama, James Mack, Thomas Melasky, Wilson Harvey, Nash Boehm, Sumi Koerner, Isabella Altadonna, Sydney Brown, and Kinley Nahstoll had many top 10 performances. Also we had first time states participants rounding out the field, Kezi Cullivan, Dare Tedder, and Aviv Singh it was great to have you! Here's to many more years of your summer swim season ending with the State Championship swim meet!

Moving on to our 11-12s, again there were so many all-star performances it is hard to pick out just one. But if I had to pick one swimmer to highlight, it would be Eva Tiron. She had an incredible meet. Every swim was a significant best time. She had many wins (4) and one second place finish. She swept the freestyle events, winning the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle. Way to go Eva! Also Mavis and Kendall St. Peter had some wins and many top 3 finishes. Great job girls! Wesley Karlhuber represented the 11-12 boys in his events bettering his times and scoring points for the team!

All of our 13-14 Girls and Boys Relays scored first place finishes, way to go team! For the girls, Alissa Pavlov, Natalie Sauer, and Xandra McLean had extraordinary meets. They dropped time in every one of their events and were in the top 8 for all of them. Way to go! Charlie Stinchcombe and Jack Main had great meets as well, they both dropped time and scored points for the team. Jack Main had a full event load and dropped almost 20 seconds on his 500 to earn a 5th place finish for the team! I also want to highlight the exceptional team spirit of this age group. They are so supportive and kind to one another. I want to give a shout out to Dahlia Herrington for staying all afternoon session on Sunday so our girls could have 2 complete relays, thank you Dahlia!

Last but not least our 15-18 year olds, wow, wow, wow! First I want to thank Abby Fitzpatrick for doing 6 events in one day. She said I can only come 1 day so put me in everything you can! I am sorry Abby that I couldn't find another relay to put you on to make it a record 7 events in one day. Phenomenal team spirit Abby, way to take one, or in your case, 6 for the team! I want to recognize our seniors, Adriel Mendez, Maddie Woodson, and Marin Hemmett they all had great meets and will be missed next year! Marin Hemmett and Emma Main won almost every event they did, each with 4 wins and 1 second place! Way to go multiple state champs! 

For the boys, we had 3 new State Records! Aiden Boyle set records in the 15-16 Boys 200 free with a 144.01 and the 500 free with a 4:42.89! Holy smokes Aiden, that was fast! And then, for those of you who have been on this team for a while, you can probably guess who set the 3rd state record...you are right, none other than Simon Russell! Simon broke his brother's 50 fly record in a time of 22.32! Also I want to give shout outs to Jack Foster and Brice Dubief for bettering their times and scoring points in every event they did!

This brings me to the end of my novel! I am so proud of all my swimmers. Bringing a team of 90 swimmers to the State Championships is wonderful. If you didn't make it this year, don't worry we can get you there next year! 

It is an honor to be your head coach and a great privilege to guide your swimmers on their swimming journey. Thank you all for your hard work this year and your many hours volunteering. Summer swim cannot happen without your efforts! As Post Malone and Morgan Wallen say in their song, Teamwork makes the dreamwork and I am so proud to be leading this team!

Before I forget, all the states and leagues awards are organized and ready for pick up at the club! So please do that before you and I forget about them! A winter at the club does not do them any good. 

Thank you all for a great season and hopefully I will see you at the pool soon!

Coach Hilary