Published in the March 17, 2017 edition
2017 YMCA New England Champion 8 and under team celebrate a remarkable feat. Pictured, from left, Naomi Breay, Amelia Doetsch, Paige Kelley, Marianna Kay and coaches Melissa Rinaldi and Laura McCormack. (courtesy photo)
MELROSE—The Melrose YMCA 8&U Girls team took a bite out of the competition at the 2017 New England YMCA Swimming Championships and became New England champions, a feat that hasn’t happened in decades for the Melrose YMCA Shark team.
Naomi Breay, Amelia Doetsch, Marianna Kay and Paige Kelly helped propel the Sharks to victory, the first of such age group victory in over 30 years. The event, held at the Zisiger Aquatic Center at M.I.T. on March 11, is a qualifying one, and these swimmers, along with the team’s 9-10 boys and girls, represented Melrose in the finest of fashions.
According to meet organizers, it is virtually unheard of to win a YMCA championship with only four team members because in order to win the meet all four team members must qualify in three events and get into the top 20 to score points for the team. That happened with all four Sharks.
Braey swam the 25 Fly :18:60 (17th place), 25 Back 21.32 (29th place) and dropped over 2 seconds in her 25 fly to place and score team points.
Doestch killed it in the 25 Fly at 16.66 (2nd place), 50 Free at 34.98 (5th place) and 25 Free at 15.22 (2nd place). She earned personal best times in two of her three races. Kay swam the 25 Fly at 18.26 (13th place), 50 free at 35.93 (8th place), 100 IM at 1:33.74 (9th place). She dropped a second in 50 free. Kelly swam the 25 Fly at 17.92 (8th place), 50 Free at 36.55 (12th place), 25 Free at 16.09 (7th place). She saw personal bests in all races.
The four girls stunned by winning the 100 IM relay with a time of 1:18.10. (Braey with backstroke, Kelly with fly, Kay with breaststroke and Doetsch with free) and the 100 free relay with a time of 1:06.07
In the end, it was a fight to the finish between Indian Valley YMCA of Greater Hartford, CT and the Melrose YMCA Sharks. Both teams went back and forth and Melrose was down by four points as the meet headed into the last 2 events: the 100 Free Relay and 25 Free (individual event). To win the meet, Melrose had to win the relay (second to last event) and Place its two swimmers (Kelly and Doetsch) entered in very last event (25 free) in the top 8 and ahead of Indian Valley.
The thrilling outcome of 100 free relay: Kay lead off for the Sharks and that was all she wrote. Marianna touched for Paige to enter the water in first place and Melrose never lost the lead, crushing the second place team by over a second to win the relay and the meet.
But Melrose needed more. Doestch and Kelly both swam best times in the 25 free and flew ahead of their original seeding to place 2nd and 7th overall, beating all of the Indian Valley Y swimmers for the meet win.
Other results from the first weekend of championships:
9-10 Girls: Cecilia Kay(50 Fly) :38:30 45th place(100 IM) 1:22.51 25th place(100 back) 1:20.87 22nd place. Cadence Singleton (100 Breastroke) 1:33.93 23rd place (50 Breastroke) :43.84 25th place
Relays: 200 Medley (Ella Twomey, Cadence Singleton, Cecilia Kay, Zoe Blumenthal) 2:53.54 38th place. 200 Freestyle (Cadence Singleton, Ella Twomey, Zoo Blumenthal, Cecilia Kay) 2:31.03 39th place
9-10 Boys: Cameron Dunn (50 Fly) :37.81 23rd place (50 Back) :38.35 21st place (100 Free) 1:11.37 18th place.Drew Hebert (50 Fly) :38.73 30th place (100 Fly) 1:28.15 15th place (100 Back) 1:29.05 29th place.Philip Murray (100 Breaststroke) 1:29.54 8th place (50 Breaststroke) :43.41 13th place. Brandon Zhao (50 Back) :38.35 44th place (100 Free) 1:13.92 29th place (50 Free) :32.74 24th place. Thomas Butler (50 Breast) :46.21 32nd place.
Relays: 200 Medley (Cameron Dunn, Thomas Butler, Drew Hebert, Brandon Zhao) 2:34.59 15th place. 200 Freestyle (Drew Hebert, Brandon Zhao, Thomas Butler, Cameron Dunn) 2:19.11 17th place.
The YMCA Championships continue on March 19.
