Emma Harmyk, first-year Dolphins swimmer in the freestyle. (Photo from Coach Diefenbacher), Nick Mitchell, a first-year Dolphins swimmer in the freestyle (Photo from Coach Diefenbacher).

CHENANGO COUNTY – The Norwich YMCA Dolphins were back in action before the Christmas break at the Oneida YMCA on December 14 and Cortland YMCA on December 21.

The Dolphins continued to drop time with over 84 seconds of collective time drops and the 9-10 girls (Nora Diefenbacher, Kate Hull, Reigan Aikins, Kennedy Foulds, Mila Beltz) continued their undefeated dual meet streak at both meets. Additional age group wins included the 11-12 girls consisting of Maggie Williams and Briella Shalna; 13-14 girls consisting of Alice Boland, Kaelyn Conant, and Maria Funk; as well as the eight and under boys of Theodore Williams and Kevin Walsh and 9-10 boys; Lawton Ferris, Joseph Anderson, Gunner Felice, Carter MacEda, and Stefen Straight.   

The coaches said, “We continue to learn from and improve on our swims. From our younger swimmers to our older swimmers, whether they are veterans of the sport or just started, they are applying what they are learning in practice towards their races. Not all of the races end up being their best, but they are able to learn from those opportunities to do better in the next race."

We have had several swimmers qualify for States in multiple events and now have one month until the Central NY YMCA District Championships on Feb 1 and 2. We have several more swimmers within one second of the State qualification for their events.

Between now and then, we will be working on refining technique and race strategy with one more dual meet against Watertown on Jan 4 and the Snowman Classic Invitational to try and better our times before the District Championship. The swimmers are doing great and they should be proud of their achievements. 

- Information from the Norwich YMCA Dolphins