Talent coming up the ranks of the Aquianas Synchronized Swimming Team

            The New Canaan YMCA Aquianas Intermediate and Age Group swimmers had their first meet of the season on March 21-22 at Hamden High School in Hamden, CT and came home with a total of eight gold, eight silver and six bronze medals from the competition. Intermediates are typically new to the sport while Age Group competitors are more experienced synchronized swimmers.

            In this East Zone Intermediate and Age Group Invitational meet, 15 teams from NJ, MA, PA, NH and NY participated.  New Canaan is currently the largest team in Connecticut.  "The girls have started out their season strong.  We have so many new swimmers competing and we see a lot of talent in the group.  New Canaan is the East Zone powerhouse and we are going to need all this upcoming talent to maintain our number one slot going forward" said Coach Krista Bessinger.  

            In the Intermediate classification, New Canaan’s swimmers brought home their first  medals-two golds, three silvers and a bronze.  "This was one of the most competitive events I have ever taken swimmers to" said Coach Thea Bardin.  "There were multiple routines in each category so we were up against very stiff competition."

            For the ten and under swimmers, Kate Chidley, Ella Mylod and Lauren Vogel  took the silver medal in the trio event with a score of 38.3. In duets, Maggie McManus and Rachel Panzano narrowly missed a medal, placing fourth with a score of 37.3.  The duet from York Synchroettes inched them off the medal stand with a score of 37.8.  In the team event, the New Canaan YMCA Aquianas team of Katherine Connolly, Eileen Flynn, Brooke Glatzhofer,  Mylod, Katherine Reiter, Maleika Stewart and Olivia Weiss captured the bronze medal.  "None of these swimmers had ever competed before this meet so these are wonderful results" said their Coach Thea Bardin.  "They have three meets left in the season and we expect them to grow with each one. "

            In the 11-12 intermediate group, the Aquianas captured three more  medals.  The trio of Annabel Hendrick, Natalia Londono and Teresa Salamone  won with a score of  45.6, well ahead of second place York Synchroettes (43.9).  Salamone also took a silver medal in the solo event with a score of 47.3. Ashley Evans and Camilla Kline narrowly missed medalling in duets and placed fourth with a score of 44.31.   In team competition, Evans, Hendrick, Kline, Londono  and Salamone were joined by Clara Miller and their team captured the silver medal (45.1);gold went to the York team(45.25).

            In the 13-15 Intermediate group, Elissa Feist took home a gold medal for her solo performance (55.9), winning by a wide margin over the Hamden Heronette soloist(47.9).  In trios Amy Greenberg, Yurika Oshima and Lydia Melland took 6th place.  The team of Greenberg, Kate Dalia, Jasmine Kitahara, Oshima, Gaele Renfijo, Emily Roney, Nicole Rutkowski and Emily Russell placed fourth.

            In the Age Group classification, the Aquianas brought home six golds, five silvers and five bronze medals.  The first gold came in 10 and under duets.  Katie Farrell and Sierra Rojas-Thomas teamed up to win that event with a score of 47.6.  Rojas -Thomas then took the gold in the 10 and under solo category and Farrell captured the bronze.

            In 11/12 Age Groups, the swimmers captured three silver and three bronze medals.  The team of Rojas-Thomas, Farrell, Alexandra Lin, Emma Flynn, Anisha Khosla, Isabella Montgomery, Ophelie Tousignant and Alice Chidley took third place with a score of 53.2; the Westfield Y Aquaducks took silver(53.6) and gold went to the ANA Synchers(55.5).

             In trios, New Canaan took both the silver and bronze medals.  Silver went to the trio of Lin, Khosla and Montgomery with a score of 53.0.  Flynn, Tousignant and Chidley took the bronze (52.8).  Duet silver went to Khosla and Montgomery with a score of 53.2.   In solos, Lin took the silver with a score of 52.9 and fellow teammate Flynn won the bronze medal with a score of 52.5.

            In the 13/15 Age Group category, the New Canaan YMCA Aquianas continued their winning ways.  The team of  Diya Banerjee, Molly Flynn, Elissa Feist, Anastasia Lenskiy, Selena Liu, Lauren Mayhew, and Erin Wheeler swam to first place in the team event with a score of 57.139. "We will be taking a team of 13-15 Age Group swimmers to swim in the Aquatica Cup in Peru this July" said their Coach Jen Muzyk. " They already look strong and have four more meets before Peru so we expect their routine will be very competitive in Lima."

            In solos, Wheeler took the silver medal with a score of 55.357.  In duets, New Canaan swimmers took both the gold and bronze medals.  The duet of Mina Shah and Rebecca Trinklein captured the gold with a score of 60.182.  Bronze went to Liu and Wheeler with a score of 56.306.  Feist and Flynn placed 7th in this event. "This was one of the most competitive events of the meet.  In all, there were 24 trios, so to take the gold and bronze and place 7th in this event was great" said Coach Muzyk.

             In 13-15 trios, Laura Cardi, Amelia Clark and Amanda McKenzie captured the gold medal with a  score of 57.484.  Fellow Aquianas Diya Banerjee, Sarah Dittmeier and Ankita Mukherjee took 5th place.

            The final medals of the meet were for compulsory figures.  Mina Shah took the gold medal for figures in the 13-15 age group and Julianne Beck took the silver medal.  Amelia Clark placed 6th and Rebecca Trinklein took 7th place.

            The next meet for the New Canaan YMCA Aquianas Intermediates and Age Group swimmers will be the CT Association Intermediate and Age Group Championships in Hamden, CT the weekend of April 25-26.