1) Congratulations to the Norwich Purple Tornado girls swim team on a great 2023 season. All five talented ladies; Nina Kman, Mikayla Sastri, Rory Shtrauch, Julia Llewellyn, and Alex Shtrauch, all swam well at the Section IV, Class B championship. (Photo from Norwich Swimming & Diving Facebook), 2) Congratulations to Norwich’s Nina Kman on becoming a three-peat two-time sectional champion. (Photo from Norwich Swimming & Diving Facebook)

MAINE-ENDWELL – On Saturday, the Norwich Purple Tornado girls swim team traveled to Maine-Endwell to compete in the Section IV, Class B championship.

The team has been standing proud with five dedicated and strong swimmers, who coach Gantt said took a total of 45 seconds off their swim times this season, which shaving time is always a goal the team wants to accomplish.

Host Maine-Endwell won the overall meet with Norwich coming in seventh place on the team leaderboards. Norwich had so much to celebrate about as they had six top eight finishes on the day, including a great performance from Nina Kman.

Kman won both the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle events to become a three-peat two-time sectional champion. Kman, a junior, is tied for the most sectional titles with coach Gantt while she holds the most individual titles in program history for the entire Norwich Swimming and Diving program.

Mikayla Sastri also swam in these respective events, where she came in fourth place in the 200 and third place in the 500.Kman and Sastri also competed on the 400 freestyle relay team, along with Rory Shtrauch and Julia Llewellyn, where they came in third place with a time of 4:03.21.

Llewellyn and Rory Shtrauch had great final performances as seniors in their other events. Llewellyn picked up two personal bests in the 100 yard butterfly and in the 100 yard backstroke. She achieved fourth place in the backstroke with a best time of 1:07.95 while swimming a best 1:08.32 in the butterfly for sixth place.

Rory Shtrauch came in eighth place in the 100 yard backstroke while finishing 12th in the 100 yard butterfly. Rory’s sister Alex Shtrauch had a great first experience at sectionals as a seventh grader with an 11th place finish in the 100 yard freestyle and took 15th in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Great job, Norwich and best of luck to Rory and Julia.