Lady Rams in swim of things setting PRs galore with strong wins over Brewster and Pearl River
October 2, 2024 at 10:44 p.m.
Port Chester's ever-improving Lady Rams swim team warmed up for the conference championships at the end of the month with key wins over Brewster and Pearl River in the past week or so while breaking multiple PRs (personal records) along the way.
The Brewster meet came down to the final relays and the Lady Rams made them count before winning 46-43 while P.C. made waves against Pearl River before pulling away to a 55-32 win in an unusual tri-team meet in which they lost close to Yonkers.
Splashing to new heights
But it was the way the Lady Rams keep improving and setting personal records that really sets them apart on the local swim scene.
In their latest home meet Monday (9/30) at the Carver Center, for example, the Lady Rams’ close win over Brewster made all those 6 a.m. pre-school practices pay off because Port Chester had to score in virtually every event to win. And they did.
Ariana Orellana opened the P.C. individual scoring with a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Brenda Cordova came in first in the 200-yard IM (individual medley) with Chenoa Marquez right on her heels to score valuable third place points. And the team was on its way.
Kimberly Rivera and Jaclyn Fernandez finished 1-2 in the 50-yard freestyle. Freshman phenom Adriana Martinez won the 100-yard butterfly. And Cordova and Orellana finished second and third in the 500-yard freestyle. But Brewster was matching P.C. almost stroke for stroke with the up-county team leading 29-28 at that point.
Team strength breakaway
That's when the Lady Rams’ overall team strength started to come into play with P.C. relay teams taking first and second place in the 200-freestyle with Morgan Saunders, Sophia Tellez, Rivera and Martinez leading the way for the A-team. Ashley Zapata, Juliana Trinidad, Fernandez and Daisy Ruiz finished right behind them on the B-team. New swimmer Katherine Condori gave the team a surprise win in the 100 backstroke, startling even herself with a PR and an unexpected victory by 10 seconds over the second place finisher. Marquez and Anabel Jimenez kept piling on the points with second and third place finishes in the breaststroke. And then the winning quartet of Saunders, Cordova, Marquez and Martinez pulled away to win the 400-yard relay by 30 seconds to give the Lady Rams just enough breathing room to win the meet.
The emotional lift
It was Saunders who gave the team an emotional lift by coming back from a leg injury that limited her participation, but she showed her determination by swimming some of her best times anyway, including a strong showing in the 100-yard freestyle And those improvements came even though she couldn't dive into the pool at he start of a race and had to take off from a standing start in the pool, a handicap that cost her at least eight-tenths of a second. She was also limited in executing proper turns. But that didn't stop her from competing.
Inspirational Lady Rams head swim team coach Colleen Cahill, a former collegiate swimmer for Fordham/Marymount Tarrytown, was equally impressed by the way her team set several PRs in an away meet loss to Peekskill on Monday, Sept. 23 with the record setters including:
*Condori in the 50-yard freestyle, Martinez in the 100-yard-free, Tellez in the 50-yard-free and Trinidad in both the 50-yard and 100-yard free.
*The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Martinez, Estefana Bautista, Cordova and Orellana won their event by more than 30 seconds.
And in the tri-meet against Yonkers and Pearl River at Yonkers Montessori Academy last Thursday (9/26) Mariangel Sorio set PRs in the 50 free and 100 butterfly, Cielo Vintimilla and Natalia Guzman hit PRs in the 50 free and Rivera in the 100 freestyle.
Rare double-scoring meet
Cahill explained that the rare double-scoring meet at Yonkers Montessori consisted of two meets being run at the same time with the scores in the various events counting simultaneously as though they were registered separately against Yonkers and Pearl River.
So, while the Rams lost to Yonkers 57-35, Cahill was nonetheless impressed by the way Martinez, the frosh phenom, kept dropping times and breaking PRs in different events the coach has her swimming in to get her ready for the upcoming championships at the end of the month (10/26) in Yonkers. Cordova and Marquez are also proving capable of scoring in any event. "They represent a dream trio to coach because they are so good in every event they swim," Cahill said.
Cahill called the win over Pearl River a “team win" because everyone stepped up in races against some of the fastest swimmers in their conference as well as Section 1. Especially noteworthy performances came from Jimenez, Rivera, Guzman and Saunders in the freestyle events and Condori in the backstroke.
The ‘team win' concept
"But I could really mention every swimmer on the team because they are all working hard, doing so well and improving every week," Cahill said. "And that helps explain the 'team win' concept because we are getting so many second and third place finishes and scoring high up in the relay events with a total team effort."
All of which explains why Cahill and her Lady Rams are looking forward to their rematch against Peekskill Wednesday (10/9) at 4:30 p.m. at their Carver Center home pool along with away rematches against Brewster (10/21) and Mount Vernon (10/22), both at 4:30 p.m. and both the final tune-ups before the end of fall season championships Saturday, Oct. 26 in Yonkers at 9 a.m.
That means there are a lot more PRs on the horizon for the Lady Rams before the fall season ends with records destined to fall like leaves before the Lady Rams start to chill out like the weather before they call it a day.
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