1) Norwich YMCA Dolphins swimmer Tim Guzewich qualified for the YMCA State championships in all three of his respective events (50 yard freestyle, 100 yard freestyle, and 100 yard backstroke) for the 15 and older boys group. (Submitted Photo) 2) Norwich YMCA Dolphins swimmer Aurora Shtrauch qualified for the New York State YMCA Championships in the 15 and older girls’ 100 yard backstroke. (Submitted Photo)

AUBURN – The Norwich Family YMCA Dolphins swim team is off to a strong start of the 2023 season. The team, which features age groups as young as eight and under girls and 15 and over boys and girls, had their first meet against the Auburn YMCA Stingrays this past weekend. Across all age groups, the Dolphins posted 19 personal best times and already dropped over 40 seconds worth of times from last season. The Dolphins also had five members qualify for the New York State YMCA Championships with others not far behind.

Nora Diefenbacher, Maggie Williams, Alex Shtrauch, Aurora Shtrauch, and Timothy Guzewich all have qualified for States, following the first meet of the season.

Nora represents the eight and under girls and won all three of the events she swam in, which includes the 25 yard freestyle, 50 yard freestyle, and 25 yard backstroke. She qualified for states in all three events as well. Maggie Williams also swam the 50 yard freestyle event, but in the 9-10 girls age group, where she earned first place with a time of 35.59 seconds to qualify for states.

After a strong varsity girls swim season, Alex and Aurora Shtrauch are continuing on their strengths with the Dolphins, where they’ve also both earned a spot at the state championships. Alex, who represents the 11-12 year old girls, finished second in both the 200 freestyle (2:30.16) and the 100 yard freestyle (1:10.40) with state qualifying times while Aurora, a high school senior, qualified for states in the 100 yard backstroke for second place.

Tim Guzewich, a member of the 15 and older boys team, had an excellent start to the Dolphins season with qualifying for states in the 50 yard freestyle, the 100 yard freestyle, and in the 100 yard backstroke events.

The Norwich YMCA Dolphins are hosting their first home meet on Saturday, Dec 2 at the Norwich High School pool, starting at noon.

Well done, Swimmers!

-Information from the Norwich YMCA Dolphins