Lady Rams swim up, up and away against Harrison
September 25, 2024 at 10:28 p.m.
Port Chester's ever-improving swimming Lady Rams knew they were out of their depth swimming up against Harrison, one of Westchester's top teams two conferences above them. But even though the Rams lost as they expected, that didn't stop them from setting four personal best records—three by a freshman phenom—and swimming creditably in every event.
And that is almost exactly what inspirational coach Colleen Cahill wanted to happen—almost because she always wants to win but realistically knows that isn't going to happen at this stage of her team's development. So she wants her Rams to push themselves to the max against the best because that is how they are going to get better.
And they are.
Freshman phenom emerges
In their away meet against Harrison last Friday (9/20) in the Martin Luther King Middle School pool, for example, Jazlyn Fernandez set a PR (personal record) in the 100-yard freestyle while budding freshman ace Anabel Jimenez, a longtime competitive swimmer with the Rye YMCA WaveRyders, set an unprecedented three PRs.
Jimenez did it in a variety of ways and distances—in the 50-yard freestyle, the 100-yard breaststroke and on the 50-yard breaststroke leg of the 200-yard medley relay.
And incredibly, in a sport where improvement is measured in fractions of a second, Jimenz dropped nearly 50 seconds from her best breaststroke time since last week.
"She has worked very hard at practice this week tweaking her stroke, starts and turns and it paid off big time! And Natalia Guzman also swam very well in this event," Cahill said.
In trying to put Jimenez's performance into perspective, Cahill explained how hard it is to do what Jimenez just did.
Anabel's amazing feat
"It's not easy to break PRs in every event you are in," Cahill said after the meet. "I am very proud of Anabel this week for breaking a record in each event she swam as well as the whole team for doing a great job vs Harrison, a team that is one of the strongest teams in Section 1 swimming and two conferences above ours."
She added that Adriana Martinez and senior co-captain Sophia Tellez tied for team high scorers, tallying four points apiece.
And then she mentioned a setback that contributed to an unorthodox way of competing.
Morgan Saunders, one of the senior co-captains, wanted to get off the injured list ASAP so she was limited to what they call water starts. That means she can't dive off the starting block into the pool but instead is limited to water starts, something that can add two to five seconds to a total time. "When milliseconds impact the final time, that is a huge setback," according to Cahill. "And yet Saunders still managed to swim close to where she was last year in terms of her best times without being able to practice. As she recovers, she will have the medical clearance to dive in the championships."
Anxious to make splash
Saunders’ desire to get back into the pool despite not being her best personifies the dedication, determination and desire to improve that is characteristic of the hard-driving Lady Rams.
In the 200-yard medley, for example, Chenoa Marquez (backstroke), Brenda Cordova (breaststroke), Martinez (butterfly) and Kim Rivera (freestyle) didn't finish first but still managed to drop 2.5 seconds from their previous best time, a significant improvement.
"This has now become the team's new season record for the team," Cahill said. And the Rams B team in that event (Katherine Condori, Jimenez, Mariangel Osorio and Jazlyn Fernandez) were right behind them. "I have been moving swimmers around in this event after every practice session and swim meet. And as a result, their times are evolving and changing for the better."
That coaching tactic also seems to be working in the way Cahill stacks her lineup in the various events.
The leading Lady Rams
For instance, Orellana and Tellez hit improved times in the 200-yard freestyle, Saunders, Kimberly Rivera, Condori and Jimenez all improved in the two heats of the 50-yard free, Martinez and Osorio improved their times in the 100-yard butterfly as did Rivera, Daidy Ruiz, Fernandez and Ashley Zapata.
In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the A team did well swimming with Saunders, Marquez, Rivera and Martinez. So did the B team that raced with a quartet that included Fernandez, Osorio, Zapata and Ruiz who really came through by dropping six seconds, a substantial improvement over their performance in the last swim meet. And Tellez and Condori just missed setting PRs in the 100-backstroke.
Huskers up next
In summation, Cahill said: "I was happy with everyone's swims against Harrison. The meet was psychologically a hard one because we knew going in that we were going to be competing two divisions up against one of Westchester's best teams. So our team did a great job and used this meet as an opportunity to push themselves to drop times and create new PRs. This will help put us in the same mindset next week when we swim against Yorktown, a team that is also two conferences above us."
That meet against the Huskers will be away Friday (9/27) at 4:30 p.m.
And W or L, the Lady Rams are looking forward to more PRs along with more major breakthroughs by their freshman phenom.
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