FSPY Boys 'Black' Team Loses to Lakeland Hills

The Fanwood Scotch Plains YMCA (FSPY) boys ‘black” swim team competed against the 2009 YMCA state champion Lakeland Hills swim team recently and came within a single hard-fought race of beating them.

Through the individual medley races, FSPY trailed by as many as 10 points.  Marcel Green (11-12) notched the sole first place in that event. 13-14 Ryan Gajdzisz and 15-18 Alex Burzynski each finished second. Personal best times were posted by 9-10s Nick Heath and Jake Lessner, 11-12s Eric and Henry Chang and by 13-14s Matt Giardiello and Jeff Peart.

During the freestyle events, FSPY began to mount a comeback, starting with a one-two finish by 9-10s Colin Sullivan and Josh Davidson. Fellow 9-10 swimmers Tyler Daniskas and Kyle Foster contributed to the effort with personal best times in the 50 free. 11-12 Alex Skoog took first, 13-14s Anthony Gurrieri and Aaron Markey ended up in a dead-heat tie for second and third, and 15-18 Will Brown finished second.

In the breaststroke, Lakeland maintained a slim lead despite first-place finishes by 9-10 Brody Rash, 11-12 Alex Wang and 15-18 Greg Baliko.

The backstroke events started strongly for FSPY as 9-10s Sullivan and Heath put together a one-two finish, each with a personal best.  Fellow 9-10 Chris Hoerrner also posted his best time. Second-place finishes were posted by 11-12 Skoog and 13-14 Gajdzisz. 

 The final individual event, butterfly, had strong performances by 11-12s Green and Matthew Auda who finished one-two respectively, and by 13-14s Tyler Lessner and Peart who touched first and third.  Brothers Mike and Dan Napolitano touched second and third respectively for the 15-18s. Personal best times were turned in by 9-10 Zach Arber and 15-18 Joe Dunn.

 Going into the freestyle relays, the boys needed to win three of the four races, but were able to win only two of them. The relays included a thrilling race with the 9-10 boys who were out-touched by .03 seconds.