The Boardman Girl’s and Boy’s Swim Teams competed at their NEAC Conference Championships on Saturday January 4th at Wooster Natatorium. This 8 team conference includes Warren G. Harding, Wooster, Akron Firestone, Canton GlenOak, Massilon Perry, Massillon
Washington, and Canfield.
Boy’s Team Scores: Boardman 447, Akron Firestone 330, Wooster, 329, GlenOak 234, Perry 182, Canfield 159, Warren Harding 156, Massillon 96
The Boardman Boys won 7 out of the 12 events including 2 relays. The Medley Relay set the tone of the meet by placing 1st by over 5 seconds to 2nd place Canfield. Their time of 1:37.08 ranks them top 10 in the state of Ohio. Members of this relay include River Flatley, Noah Basista, Matthew DunLany, and Jordan Stackpole. The 400 Free Relay (Will Linker, River Flatley, Matthew DunLany, Noah Basista,) at the end of the meet placed 1st and narrowly missed setting meet record by going 3:13.45.
Senior Noah Basista won the 200IM (1:55.46) and reset his own meet record in the 100 breaststroke by placing 1st with a time of :57.10. Noah was also named Male Swimmer of the Meet. “This is quite the honor as it is voted on by the other coaches in the conference. Noah had a great meet and his swims looked effortless. He is a motivated athlete who has been working very hard in the weight room and in the pool,” stated Coach Carlo Cordon.
“This conference meet comes at the right time for our team. We are finishing up our two a day practices, and our swimmers are excited to see what hard work does for them. By the end of them meet, close to 100% of our kids had their lifetime best swims, stated Cordon. Coach Cordon was also named NEAC Boys Coach of the Year by the other coaches in this conference. “I am honored to receive this award, but it’s definately a shared award with Coach Chad and Coach Chelsea.”
1st place Individual Conference Champions include: Matthew DunLany in the 100 Fly (51.59), Will Linker in the 100 Free (48.25), Teddy Anzevino in the 1 Meter Diving (370.95). Top 8 finishers include: Matthew DunLany 2nd in the 500 Free, Will Linker 3rd in the 200 Free, Jordan Stackpole 3rd in the 200 IM and 4th in the 100 Free, Ethan DunLany 6th in the 200 Free and 4th in the 500 Free, Caleb Satterfield 7th in the 200 IM and 7th in the 100 Breast, River Flatley 2nd in the 50 Free and 2nd in the 100 Back, Siman Mascola 8th in the 50 Free and 6th in the 100 Breast, Justin Yocum 5th in the 100 Fly, Carter Cailor 5th in the 500 Free. “We are especially proud of one of our senior captains, Jacob Thomas, who had his lifetime best races in the 50 and 100 Free. His hard work and grit have really paid off this season,” mentioned Cordon.
Girl’s Team Scores: Akron Firestone 490, Wooster 361, Boardman 306.5, Canfield 294.5, Perry 216, GlenOak 167, Massillon 114, Warren Harding 95
The Boardman Girls had an impressive showing against state powerhouse Akron Firestone and Wooster. “Our girls set the tone right out of the gate by dropping 3 seconds in the medley relay and placing 2nd behind Akron Firestone,” mentioned Coach Cordon. Members of this relay included Alexis Mihok, Abby Yocum, Sarah Varga, and Alyssa DiNapoli. The same four girls also placed 4th in the 200 free relay. The Spartan Swimmers also had a 5th place finish at the conclusion of the meet in the 400 Freestyle relay with swimmers Casey Wert, Ava Velasquez, Madi Kelso, and Ella Huston. “We knew we would have a tough time winning the conference meet based on the depth of talent on Firestone’s and Wooster’s teams, but we stressed to our girls about trusting their training and just racing.
Our senior captains of Tyler Williams, Sarah Varga, Alyssa DiNapoli, Abby Yocum, and Madi Ricciuti led the show and helped out our younger swimmers by showing confidence an actually just having fun and racing! They did a tremendous job and Chad, Chelsea and I are extremely proud of all of them.”
Top 8 Finishers Include: Madison Ricciuti 2nd in the 1 meter diving, Anna Olivier 5th in the 1 Meter diving, Alexis Mihok a 3rd place finish in the 200 Free and resetting her own freshman record with a 2:00.00 in that event and 5th in the 500 Free, Hayley Ho 6th in the 200 IM, Sarah Varga 7th in the 50 free and 5th in the 100 Fly, Alyssa DiNapoli 3rd in the 100 Free and 3rd in the 100 Back, Ella Huston 8th in the 100 Fly and 6th in the 100 Back, Abby Yocum 3rd in the 100 Breast, and Julia Basista 7th in the 100 Breaststroke.