Swimming Rams continue to heat up the pools with 18 personal records in their last two meets
January 24, 2024 at 11:21 p.m.
It may be cold outside, but the surging and ever-improving Port Chester Rams swim team keeps heating up the pool with personal records (PRs).
They set eight personal records and one season's best time in a 91-71 loss to a combined Rye/Rye Neck/Blind Brook (R/RN/BB) team at the Hommocks Pool in Larchmont last Friday (1/19) and set 10 more PRs Tuesday (1/23) in a close away loss to Tappan Zee.
"The fact that we continue to break as many Personal Records as we do is nothing short of astonishing," inspirational new head coach Colleen Cahill said after the Tappan Zee meet. "This is the goal we set out as a team to do, but the rate at which we keep doing it is amazing. As a coach, I cannot ask for more from this group of swimmers. It’s very hard to continue with the improvement at the end of the season, but at every meet they keep doing it, and they keep doing it well! It is a testimony to how hard they work. Just think of it: 18 PRs in the last two meets of the winter season set by a young team that almost folded last season because the Rams were down to just eight swimmers, barely enough to compete. And now we have more than 30, enough to allow us to compete in every event during a meet, a luxury the Rams didn't have in the past."
Recruiting ups numbers
She doesn't say it, but those increased numbers are because she and assistant coach Anton Ruskin stepped up their recruiting, their enthusiasm helping fuel the enthusiasm of their growing number of swimmers turning out for weekday 5:45 a.m. training sessions at their Carver Center home pool, workouts that barely leave time to shower and change so they can make it to school in time for the first morning class.
But those training sessions have paid off with all those PRs resulting from how hard they have worked.
In the R/RN/BB meet, for example, Venezuelan triathlon import Santiago Marquez, an All-League cross country runner, led the way by scoring 10 points in various events—including a season best time in the 100-backstroke—while Hayden Anti chipped in with nine points and Tiernan McLoughlin scored seven points to finish as the team's top three scorers.
The PR swimmers
They were among the swimmers who set eight PRs with Marquez doing it in the 200-individual medley relay, McLoughlin setting his PR in the same event while Anti set his in the 50-yard freestyle.
The other PRs included Cristian Montenegro in the 500-yard freestyle, Jason Espinal in the 100-free and Christian Yupanqui, Juan Mejia and Aldar Mallama, all in the 50-freestyle.
In the Tappan Zee meet, the 10 PR record setters include Jordan Moncada in the 200-free and 100-yard backstroke, Miguel Infante Rojas in the 200-free, Marquez in the 200-yard individual medley, Jacob Gordillo, Luis Fanci Sigua and Espinal in the 50-yard freestyle, Montenegro in the 500-yard freestyle and Anti in the 100-yard backstroke.
Those PRs help set the stage for the County Championships Saturday (1/27) and Sunday (1/28) at 9 a.m. at the Mark Twain Middle School in Mount Vernon. And win or lose, Cahill predicts the Rams will set a lot more PRs. No matter how cold it is outside.
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