VALHALLA, N.Y. - On Wednesday, Dec. 18, the John Jay/Fox Lane Thundercats dove in with Byram Hills-PVW at WCC, and not only took the meet 99-84, but a number of the swimmers settled matters for the upcoming state championships in March.
Up first, Thomas Brown of John Jay will ride the wave in the 100 Fly.
“I qualified by a good margin,” he said of his first-place finish.
The senior wasn’t done either. Along with Aidan Polese, Henry Dauterman and Spencer Grayson, the 200 Medley Relay team took first and also qualified for the states.
Fox Lane’s Grayson doubled down too. First in the 100 freestyle, his 48.70 first place time makes up for not reaching the states last year.
“This year I got it done early, it feels pretty good,” said Grayson, who also took first in the 50 and 100 Freestyle.
Dauterman there as well, he’s not far off from a daily double. The 200-meter free relay of Ryan Loveless, Jack Tsai, Patrick Polese and himself are currently one second short of qualifying for the states.
“We need to work on our start, and our transitions, and we’ll have it in the bag,” said Dauterman.
First in the 100-meter breaststroke, Dauterman has company in the individual winner’s circle.
“It’s my race,” said Patrick Polese after his first-place finish in the backstroke.
It’s the uniqueness of the race that appeals to him.
“You’re not coming off the blocks, and it’s really dependent on the underwater turns,” said the Fox Lane swimmer.
The main challenge being that the swimmer cannot see the wall upon approach. Using the flags and counting the strokes, he said, “The turns and the rolls definitely make or break the event, and it’s just one of things I’ve been good at.”
The same goes on this day for Ryan Loveless in the 200 individual medley, and his second-place finish in the 500 meter was even better.
“I’m someone on the team that does a lot of distance. So, I’m training for it, and today I qualified for the states,” said the Fox Lane student.
As a result, his mind is set at ease for the rest of the year.
“I get to cruise now,” Loveless joked.
In the same boat for the 200-medley relay, Aidan Polese is close to the wire with his second-place finish in the 200 freestyle.
“I was .17 off the state cut,” said the Wolf, and he thinks it’s just a matter of skipping the 200 medley before his next try.
Finally, Finn Egan took on the 500 meter, and the youngest on the team, the eighth grader got a lesson in endurance.
“After the first one hundred meters it hit me right in the gut,” said the sixth-place finisher.
But the Fox Lane middle schooler was far from complaining.
“I’ll take the beating every day, because the race improves my swimming abilities,” Egan concluded the day.
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