Records Broken At Schenectady-Saratoga Sharks’ Region 1 Invite

Courtesy of Jerry Adams

Led by Ridgefield Aquatic Club’s Kieran Smith (swimming Unattached due to CT high school rules), Olivia Jack from the host team and  Katherine Douglass of Chelsea Piers Aquatic Club, the Union College Pool, Shenendehowa HS and Adirondack District record books were re-written this past weekend at Schenectady-Saratoga Sharks’ Region 1 Invite.

Crimson Aquatics from New England won the Men’s, Women’s and Combined Team titles as The Sharks finished 2nd in each category.  The Region 1 invite annually features teams from New England, Niagara, Connecticut and Metro NY.

Smith, the 2017 Jr World Championship Silver-Medalist who is headed to Florida in the fall, wowed the standing room only crowd all weekend, highlighted by his 11-second win in the 400 IM in 3:47.68.  Smith set meet, pool and Adirondack District records winning the 1650 free (15:04.79), 500 free (4:20.22), 200 free (1:35.94) and 200 fly (1:48.73).

Smith also won a 3-way nail-biter between 3 US Jr National Team swimmers in the 100 breast in a record 55.93, just edging out Crimson’s Yale commit Calvin Yang and Ridgefield’s unattached AJ Bornstein, who is headed to Michigan in the fall.  In the 200 breast, Yang got the best of the field, running down Smith over the last 75 winning in 1:59.42 as Bornstein out-touched Smith by .02 for Silver.

Schenectady-Saratoga’s Jack – headed to Penn State in the summer – broke pool and district records, winning the 100 breast in 1:00.61. Jack got out front from the start and held on – out-touching Chelsea Piers’ Katherine Douglass and future Virginia Cav Kaki Christensen.  Jack also broke records in the 200 IM, holding off Christensen and Crimson’s meet high-point winner Anna Feng in 2:02.86.  Christensen held off Jack to win the 200 Breast by just over a second in a record 2:13.05.

Jack also played a big part in The Sharks’ 3-relay sweep of the 400 and 800 freestyle and 400 medley relays.  Mattie Williams, Mary Kate Conway and Lisa Dong joined Jack, winning the medley in a record 3:46.91.  Conway, Jack and Dong were joined by Johns Hopkins commit Elaine Lipkin to win the 800 free relay in a record 7:32.67.  Isabel Bushway anchored the gold-medal 400 free relay.

National Age Group Record-holder Douglass impressed all weekend, showing off her versatility and speed.  Douglass won the 400 IM in 4:19.76 after going 4:17.90 in the morning.  Douglass also broke pool and district records holding off Feng in the 100 fly in 54.84.  In the 50 and 100 free, Douglass ran away from the pack, with record-breaking swims of 22.59 and 49.05.

CPAC’s Bridget Semenuk was the final record-breaker, winning the 200 free by 3 seconds in 1:48.19.  Victor’s Megan Deuel won a tight 3 swimmer race in the 200 back in 1:59.20 – less than a second ahead of Crimson’s 14-year-old Sadie Rumeman and Current Swimming’s 13-year-old Natalie Mannion.

Other winners from the weekend were CPAC’s Elizabeth Boeckman in the women’s mile; Victor’s Taryn Wisner in the women’s 500 and 1000 freestyles; CT Aquabears’ Colin Merrill in the men’s 1000 free; Luke Hruska (UN-Ridgefield) in the 100 fly; Yang in the men’s 200 IM;  Albany Starfish Joey Gravino in the men’s 50 free; Delmar Dolfin Brendan Cartwright in the 100 free;  Crimson’s John Zeiger in the men’s 200 back;  Runeman in the women’s 100 back; Clifton Park Piranha Neil Horne in the men’s 100 back; and Deuel in the women’s 200 fly.  Crimson Men won the 400 and 800 free relays, and Adirondack Bluefins won the men’s 400 medley relay.

Notable swims from younger age-groupers included 14-year-old Connor Hunt – swimming unattached from Ridgefield with a 15:45.09  in the 1650 (9:33.77 1000 split), 4:37.12 in the 500 and 4:05.44 in the 400 IM.  Adirondack Bluefins’ 13-year-old Sam Brown swam a 2:01.57 IM., and national top 10 times with a 1:56.99 and 53.16 in the backstrokes.  13-year-old Ian Lee of the Regional Y of Western Ct swam a 1:47.01 in the 200 free and 49.07 in the 100.