The Lock Haven YMCA swim team celebrated the end of the
2013-2014 season with an Awards Banquet at the Lock Haven Elks Lodge this past
Sunday. While the two seniors (see program below), 32 swimmers that made
YMCA Districts (here), and the 8 members that advanced onto States (here) were recognized for
their high achievements, head coach Jim Meriner spent much of the afternoon on
the swimmers who made contributions to the cohesiveness and camaraderie of the
team throughout the whole winter.
Every year, swimmers leave the sport
because they age out or spend time concentrating on another sport. Those empty slots are readily filled by
swimmers of all age groups, young and old.
To acknowledge the effort of new swimmers, the ‘Rookie Award’ was given
to first year swimmers who competed at most home and away meets.
Jonathan Hughes was one of nine who
earned this award. “He attended our
meets and never allowed all the confusion and excitement to get to him,” said
Meriner. “In fact, he was more like a seasoned veteran out there, not an
unexperienced first year swimmer.” In addition to Hughes, the other
swimmers that garnered rookie awards were Joseph Caimi, Logan Edmonston, Kylie
Garman, Autumn Garman, David Lindsay, Brody Rhine, Chrissy Smith, and Julian
Wilt.
Coach Meriner then moved onto the Coach’s
Award. These are given to those swimmers
who are the glue that holds teams together, always at practice and practicing
correctly, great attitudes and work ethic, and cheer and encourage
others. Loren Glossner was one of
the recipients of the award. “At
the second practice (9-12 year olds), the kids are still learning to listen and
behave to some extent,” Meriner told the crowd. “Loren is the
exception. She hears what we say the first time, goes and does it, and
never needs to be told twice what to do.”
Nash Berfield, Ethan Dale, and Madison Bair also received
the award.
First place finishes and numerous
placings helped the YMCA team to a 10-1-2 regular season record but some
swimmers were recognized at the banquet for more than just their ability to
score points. Emily Bartlett was just one example of several
swimmers that earned the Extra Effort Award.
“Emily is
a good swimmer, who does everything she can for our team: practices hard,
listens well, swims any event without complaint, swims well, and scores
points,” said Meriner. “She is more
than just a person who can score points; she is a big help to the coaches with
her attitude and effort.” Other swimmers that populated the list for the Extra Effort award
were Emily Bartlett, Elise Cygan, Anna Drouin, Madison Myers, Sam Rockey,
Leslie Shadle, Maia Crowell, Loren Glossner, Carter Drouin, and Josie Lins.
All Lock Haven YMCA swimmers dropped
time at some point throughout the season in at least one event. Special acknowledgement occurred at the
banquet, in the form of the Most Improved Award, for those few, such as Jack
Drouin, that moved into a higher level of competition by their hard work. “From last summer to spring, Jack has made tremendous
improvement in every stroke, especially breaststroke,” said Meriner. “He was able to qualify for the district meet in the
freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke, and was very close in the IM.
That illustrated steady improvement across the board, with Jack now competing
with swimmers who are looking to be state qualifiers, which is a much
higher level of competition that before.” Swimmers Morgan
Brian, Rebekkah Meriner, and David Orndorf were also recipients.
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