Marquez breaks PCHS freestyle record in first outing of new winter season
December 6, 2023 at 11:25 p.m.
He may not be faster than a speeding bullet, doesn't wear a cape over his bathing suit, and has no illusions or delusions about being any kind of superhero, but sophomore All-League cross-country runner Santiago Marquez, Port Chester's triathlon import from Venezuela, hit the pool and broke the school record for the grueling 500-yard freestyle event by more than 40 seconds in the winter season's opening meet away against Westchester powerhouse Harrison Monday (12/4).
Marquez also won the 100-yard backstroke and excelled on various relays.
'Amazing' first meet
Even though the Rams lost the close meet by a score of 48-42, the overall result was "amazing," inspirational new Rams swim team coach Colleen Cahill said after the meet.
"Amazing" covers a lot of water because what Cahill was talking about was the number of first-time Ram swimmers who not only swam but swam well.
The leading newbies
For example:
*First-time competitors Brandon Moody (butterfly) and Christian Yupangui (freestyle) churned through fast third and fourth legs on the Rams A-IM (intermediate) relay team that led off with the Rams’ two fastest swimmers, Marquez (backstroke) and Tiernan McLoughlin (breaststroke).
*New swimmers Andres Chica and Christian Montenegro got their feet wet competing in the grueling 200 Individual Medley, one of high school swimming's most grueling events.
*McLoughlin, a sophomore, and Moody came on strong in the 200 Individual Medley, probably the hardest event of all because you have to have both endurance and skill in all four competitive strokes, fly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle sprint. "Having a freshman and sophomore filling this role shows what future potential our team will have in years to come," said Cahill.
*Junior Anthony LaBella racked up a fast time his first time out in the 50 freestyle and Matthew Palma looked good as well.
Nostalgic moment
In the meet's most nostalgic moment for the Rams, junior Christian Yupangui made his impressive debut in the 100-yard freestyle. It was just five years ago that Cahill remembered his spending his free time in the Middle School attending his older sister Karen's Lady Rams swim team meets, even calling out starts for the warm-ups.
"It was wonderful seeing him compete for the Rams for the first time," Cahill said.
And so it went up and down the lineup, from senior captain Miguel Infante-Rojas swimming a strong race in the 100-free and coming back to anchor the 200 freestyle relay on an A team that included LaBella, Christian Montenegro and William Langenbach while the B team swam with Chica, Jacob Gordillo, Juan Mejia and Kevin Pintado.
Highlights galore
But the main event and the meet highlight for the Rams was Marquez lining up for the 500-yard free as the only Port Chester swimmer in the event and running away with it, hitting the finish line with a first place time of 6:10.93, more than 40 seconds faster than the school record set by Mario Flores in 2018. Marquez came back to win the 100-yard backstroke with Montenegro looking good in that race in his first crack at that distance.
Other highlights ranged from McLoughlin leading the top performers in the 100-yard breaststroke with Mejia also turning in a strong performance to Palma and Moody taking off in the 100-yard fly. The final event of the meet included a strong showing by both the A and B Ram 400-yard relay with the A competitors including Moody, Palma, McLoughlin and Marquez while the B team went with Infante-Rojas, Jordan Moncada, Vega and Yupangui.
Optimistic outlook
"Overall, I think this Rams team is really out to swim well," Cahill said. "They are extremely motivated and are willing to work hard to improve. We are tracking our individual times and looking forward to seeing how many personal records our team will break going forward. We are only in our fourth week of working together. And we are going to keep going onward and upward from here."
That means the Rams will be looking for more PRs (personal records) and maybe even school records in their next meet Friday (12/9) at 4:30 p.m. away against Yonkers. And the way the Rams are off and running, the pool could turn into a raceway.
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