MONTCLAIR, NJ – For the past several weekends, the Montclair YMCA Dolphins have been competing in championship meets that provide swimmers with additional opportunities to qualify for the 2017 NJ YMCA State Championships.
The NJ YMCA Bronze Championships took place at the Raritan Bay YMCA in Perth Amboy, February 11-12. At the Bronze meet, 87 Dolphins competed to achieve qualifying times for the NJ YMCA Silver Championships. Fifteen of the swimmers made one or more Silver cuts. Five of those swimmers qualified for the Y Silvers for the first time this season: Fifi Amanuel (age 12) of West Orange, Amy Chen (16) of Montclair, Santiago Galvan (12) of Clifton, Zubin Kremer-Guha (14) of South Orange and Gabriel Remache (13) of Nutley. Tina Pavlidis (13) of West Orange qualified for the Silver championships in an impressive four additional events at the Bronze meet: the 100 free, 100 and 200 breast and the 200 IM.
At the Silver Championships, more than 1,200 swimmers from 30 New Jersey YMCA teams competed at GCIT in Sewell, NJ, February 18-19, for the top spots at the silver level and a chance to go to the Y State Championships. Sixty-six Dolphins competed at Silvers and six swimmers delivered eight Top 3 finishes: Gaea Caro (13) of Montclair, first in the 100 Breast; Tyna Davis (10) of Bloomfield, first in the 50 Back and third in the 100 Back; Nathan Espiritu (13) of Bloomfield, third in the 200 Free; Christian Gilio-Malabre (14) of West Orange, first in the 100 Breast; Elizabeth Habjan (12) of Montclair, second in the 50 Free; and Enzo Wood (13) of Glen Ridge, first in the 1650 Free and third in the 200 Back.
Fifteen Dolphins advanced, based on time, to compete at States in 27 events, bringing the Montclair Y’s 2017 NJ YMCA State Championship Team to 35 swimmers. In addition to the six top finishers mentioned above, Blake Velardi (12) of Glen Ridge; Christina Gilio-Malabre (14) of West Orange and Diego Pla-Silsby (11) of Montclair each qualified to advance to States. The Montclair Y placed eighth overall.
Head Coach Paulo Madeira said, “We are excited about the great results that many of our swimmers had in the Silver Championships. Qualifying for the State Championship meet is a great accomplishment and I look forward to seeing some more great swimming at States.”
The YMCA of Montclair Dolphins swim team offers a year-round opportunity for competitive swimming in both YMCA and USA Swimming competitions as well as seasonal instructional clinics for aspiring competitive athletes. The team is comprised of girls and boys from age 6 through high school. More than 200 athletes train with the team each year. They compete at all levels, based on their skill set.
For more information about the Montclair YMCA Dolphins swim team, contact head coach Madeira at pmadeira@montclairymca.org or 973-744-3400.
Montclair YMCA Dolphins swim team will send 35 to NJ YMCA Championships added by Editor on
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