Sunbury YMCA Tops Jersey Shore

When you swim against the Sunbury YMCA Dolphins (SUNY), you better bring your ‘A’ game. They are a dominating team in the water and overwhelm the competition with numbers and speed. The past two years, the Dolphins blanked Jersey Shore 10-0 as the black and orange were unable to mount significant competition. This past Saturday, however; Shore was able to pick up three age group wins and come within points of a fourth at Susquehanna University’s James W. Garrett Sports Complex Swimming Pool.

Jersey Shore has placed an emphasis on developing younger swimmers to grow the program and it appears that the plan is making progress. The three age groups that defeated SUNY were the 8-and-under girls and boys plus the 10-and-under girls.

The 8-and-under-boys won 35-14 while the girls cruised to a 52-18 victory. The girls started off with an uncontested win in the opening 100 medley relay. Even when there was competition, they were able to win the majority of the individual events. Taylor Fleming, Meaghan Keegan, and Maegan Sorgen went 1-2-3 in the 100 yard IM while teammates Allison Moore and Jordon O’Connor took the two top spots in the 25 yard backstroke.



Jersey Shore’s Cassie Kitchen waits her turn for flip turn drills during warm-ups.



When SUNY 8-and-under girls were able to win an event, Shore was right behind them taking the number 2 and 3 slots. SUNY’s Molly Paulsen won the 25 yard butterfly with Shore’s Keegan and Natalie Charnego picking up 4 points with a second and third place finish. Paulsen won the very next event, the 50 yard freestyle, but Shore again captured the next two spots with Isabelle Griswold and Sorgen. "We have a great group of 8-and-under girls on the team this season,” said head Jersey Shore head coach Patty Kennelley. “You can tell they enjoy coming to practice, they all get along and they work hard at practice. With the depth I have with these girls, and as their strokes get stronger, I am able to put them in events they would not normally pick for themselves, like the 100 IM and 50 Free. But once they swim these events, they want to swim them all the time."

The 10-and-under girls had a tougher time. SUNY consistently placed two swimmers in the top three spots in almost every individual race. The Dolphin’s Elizabeth Bason and Anna Benner took first and second in the 50 yard freestyle with Hannah Stemler finishing second. Shore’s Sam Keegan won the 50 yard breaststroke but SUNY picked up 4 points as Kylie Mallams and Talle Troupe finished second and third. Although SUNY took the final relay, it was not enough to overcome the points accumulated by Shore’s capture of four individual events to SUNY’s two.

The 12-and-under girls lost their age group by five points, 44-39 as SUNY was able to capture the majority of individual events. The Shore girls were able to finish strong by going 1-2 in the final 200 freestyle relay.

The dual meet season for Jersey Shore is over with the Central Pennsylvania YMCA Swim League slated for February 20 at the Williamsport High School pool.