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Byron-Bergen/Le Roy girls swim team wins league championship

By Howard B. Owens

The Byron-Bergen/Le Roy girls swim team won the Genesee Regional Championship over the weekend, placing first out of seven teams at the meet.  

The team scored 492 points. Notre Dame/Batavia finished second with 419 points.

Swim Coach Sara Stockwell said it has been 10 years since Byron-Bergen won the league championship meet.

Senior Alaura Rehwaldt won the 100-meter butterfly and broke her own school record with a time of 1:03.59.

Alaura Rehwaldt, Jorie Strzelecki, Peyton Koukides and Natalee Shepard won the 200-meter freestyle relay and also broke their own school record with a time of 1:46.36.

Information and photo submitted by Sara Stockwell.

O-A swimmer wins two sectional titles, Swimmer of the Meet honors

By Howard B. Owens

Oakfield-Alabama senior Ryan Schildwaster won two Class D sectional titles in swimming yesterday. He took first place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:10.44. He also won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57 seconds. 

In addition to the titles, the coaches selected Schildwaster as Swimmer of the Meet.

"This is a well-deserved honor for a very dedicated young man and an exceptionally talented athlete," said Coach Patricia Buczek. "Congratulations Ryan on a swim well done."

Photo and information submitted by Patricia Buczek.

Le Roy's girls swimming team opens with victory over Notre Dame

By Howard B. Owens

Le Roy's varsity girls swimming team hosted Notre Dame for their season and home opener on Thursday, winning 102-74.

Highlights:

  • Natalee Shepard, 100 Freestyle 101.65
  • Peyton Koukides, 100 Breaststroke 1:20.62
  • Shepard & Koukides were on the 200 M & 400 Freestyle winning relays

Information and photos by Tim McArdle

Le Roy loses in Attica in swim meet

By Howard B. Owens

Le Roy's boys swim team met a tough opponent, Attica, on Friday, losing 105-53.

Brady Fix did win two races, the 50 free at 25.26 and the 100 butterfly at 1:04.21.

Photos and information submitted by Tim McArdle.

Photos: Batavia swims past Eastridge 87-56

By Steve Ognibene

Last evening at Eastridge High School, Batavia girls swim team defeated Eastridge 87-56. Batavia won points in eight of 11 events, picking up their second win of the season.

For a complete list of results click here: Eastridge vs. Batavia

Photos by Steve Ognibene.

To view or purchase photos, click here.

Ray Leach, record-setting running back named region's top football player for 2018

By Howard B. Owens

Ray Leach's list of records is impressive:
  • Section V single season, rushing yards, 3,012;
  • Section V single season, touchdowns, 49;
  • Section V single season, points scored, 310;
  • Section V career record, rushing yards, 6,023;
  • Section V career touchdowns, 111;
  • Section V career points, 720;
  • State playoff record for yards rushing, 474;
  • State playoff record for touchdowns, 8 (twice);
  • State playoff record for points scored, 50.

So it's no surprise that Leach has been named Football Player of the Year for All-Greater Rochester by the Democrat & Chronicle.

Brennan Briggs, who coached his fourth team in the past five years to a Section V championship. This season was the first time a Briggs-coached team reached the state championship game. 

Also making first team: Joshua Barber and Ethan Biscaro. Taiyo Iburi-Bethel was named to the second team. Alex Rood, Joe Martinucci and Andrew Francis all received honorable mention.

Chris McClinic, Alexander, also made second team. Honorable mentions went to Terrez Smith, Ty Woods, Dylan Busch, Jake Jasen, Ethan Heineman and Hayden Walton.

Honorable mention for Notre Dame: Gabe MacDonald, Keith Szczepanski, Mason Randall, Tim Klotzbach, Tyler Totten.

Honorable mention for Pembroke: Theodore Pintabona, Colby Cerasani, Trent Smith, Trevor Vaughn.

Honorable mention in eight-man football for Oakfield-Alabama/Elba: Colton Dillon, Gage Dieterle, Ty Mott, Kyle Magliocco, Peyton Yasses, Seth Sepalla.

First team in other fall sports:

  • Lukas Milligan, Pavilion, boys volleyball
  • Maiya Reinhart, Batavia, girls swimming

Photos: Swimming -- Notre Dame/Batavia vs. Attica

By Steve Ognibene

The host Attica Blue Devils split with Notre Dame/Batavia in swimming action last evening at Attica High School. 

In the girls meet, Attica prevailed 58-37, paced by double individual winner Reagan Bifarella, who won the 200 Free (2:10.07) and 100 Free. Jordan Stachowiak added a win in the 500 Free (6:19.54); Jackie Keicher in the 50 Free (:28.38); Libby Kibler in the 100 Breast (1:20.43); and Brianna Acker in the 1 meter Diving (164.63). 

The Blue Devils also took all three relays with Regen Orlowski, Emily Gersitz, Kibler, Keicher in the 200 Medley (2:18.96); Keicher, Stachowiak, Gersitz, Bifarella in the 200 Free Relay (1:57.16); and Bifarella, Stachowiak, Abby Baratta, Kibler in the 400 Free Relay (4:28.73). The Irish got two wins from Rachel Nickerson in the 200 IM (2:35.53) and 100 Fly (1:09.32), and another win from Skye Colantonio in the 100 Backstroke (1:12.08).

The Fighting Irish boys dominated over Attica 60 - 36 behind double winners Cooper Mattice in the 200 Free (1:57.84) and 500 Free (5:11.64); Aaron Treleaven in the 100 Fly (1:09.26) and the 100 Back (1:04.36); and Dan Nickerson in the 100 Free (:55.69) and 100 Breast (1:16.03). Harrison Southall picked up the win in the 200 IM (2:20.98) for the Irish. 

The Irish also won all three relays with Mattice, Tyler Fuller, Treleaven, and Matt Doeringer in the 200 Medley (1:59.49); Southall, Treleaven, Nickerson, Mattice in the 200 Free Relay (1:4.90); and Southall, Harry Schafer, Doeringer, Nickerson in the 400 Free Relay (3:54.85). 

Eric Peters was a double winner for the Blue Devils in the 50 Free (:25.90) and the 1 meter Diving (161.48).

Story submitted by: Eric Geitner, Swimming and Diving head coach.

To view or purchase photos click here.

 

GC YMCA gets grant from USA Swimming Foundation to offer free or reduced-cost swim lessons

By Billie Owens

Press release:

The Genesee County YMCA was chosen as one of 151 Make a Splash Local Partner programs in the United States to receive grant funding from the USA Swimming Foundation in 2018. The awarded money will go toward Genesee County YMCA’s continued efforts to provide free or reduced cost swim lessons to underserved communities.

The USA Swimming Foundation awarded a total of $702,819 to programs across the country that will help provide swim lessons to an estimated 27,239 children, the most distributed since Make a Splash’s inception in 2007.  

 “We are excited and honored to be chosen for this grant,” said Aquatics coordinator Megan Boring. “The funding we received will be put toward our goal of reaching 50 new kids from within our community to have them be a part of the YMCA’s Learn to Swim Program.

"We are specifically reaching out to children in our community who may not be able to afford swim lessons, and therefore have not learned how to swim. We feel this is a great opportunity to introduce kids on how to be safe around water and learn the basics of swimming.”

The Genesee County YMCA will be working with the Genesee County Youth Bureau to identify participants who would most benefit from free or reduced-cost swim lessons.

The YMCA’s Learn to Swim Program has been around for more than 100 years. At the Genesee County YMCA, we offer swim lesson classes to all ages and abilities.

  The USA Swimming Foundation vetted more than 200 applications through a competitive annual review process and chose 151 programs to receive funding, many of whom are first time Make a Splash grant recipients.

“We are thrilled to be awarding this funding and so proud that it will be used to create a valuable swimming experience for thousands of children who may not have had the opportunity to learn how to swim,” USA Swimming Foundation Executive Director Debbie Hesse said.

“These exciting and lifesaving opportunities would not be possible without the support of our USA Swimming Foundation partners and donors, who continue to help us make a difference across this country.”

More than 850 Make a Splash Local Partners in all 50 states promote water safety education in their communities and provide scholarships and transportation for children to participate in their swim lesson programs.

For more information on the Make a Splash grants distributed, visit www.USASwimmingFoundation.org.

For more information on swim lessons at the GLOW YMCA contact the YMCA at 585-344-1664, or visit www.glowymca.org.

GCC swim teams open season

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

NJCAA Swimming & Diving Results
Men's Score: Genesee CC 118 Erie CC 72
Women's Score: Genesee CC 77 Erie CC 66

The Genesee Community College men's and women's swimming and diving teams hosted their first event this season Oct. 25 with impressive results. Despite the loss of points with no divers entered in the competition for either the men's or women's teams, the Cougar men won 118-72, while the Cougar women won 77-66.

Of the 11 events the Cougar men competed in, they took first place in nine of 11 events, while the Cougar women took first in seven of 10 events they competed in.

The men won four freestyle races, two relays, one breaststroke, one backstroke and one IM.

The women won three freestyle races, one relay, one backstroke, one butterfly and one IM.

For the men in individual events, two Cougars took a pair of events each to lead GCC. Matthew Langerman won two freestyles (500 and 200 yards), while Ferran Martinez won the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard breaststroke.

Men's team members that won just one event included: Alex Bookmiller (1000-yard freestyle), Joan Ferrer (100-yard freestyle), and Nathan Richardson (100-yard backstroke).

For the women in individual events, three Cougars won two events each to lead GCC. Natalie Amico won the 100-yard butterfly and the 500-yard freestyle. Angel Priest took the 200 IM and the 100-yard backstroke, while Nanako Shiozawa won two freestyle races at 100- and 200-yards.

The two relay events the men's team won were at 400-yards in freestyle and medley, while the women's team took the 400-yard medley.

Sectional swimming action

By Destin Danser

Last night 15 teams from Section V, Class C gathered at Victor High School for sectional finals. Byron-Bergen-Le Roy represented Genesee County, placing 13th overall. 

Combined Team Rankings:

  1. Avon
  2. Marcus Whitman
  3. Dansville
  4. Wayland-Cohocton
  5. Bath-Haverling
  6. Addison
  7. Attica
  8. Gananda
  9. Midlakes
  10. Letchworth-Perry
  11. Cuba-Rushford
  12. North Rose-Wolcott-Red Creek
  13. Byron-Bergen-Le Roy
  14. Williamson-Sodus
  15. Warsaw

The Section V swimming sectionals wrap up tonight in Bath-Haverling with the Section D finals, where Genesee County will be represented by Pembroke and Alexander. 

Photos by Destin Danser Photography. Click Here to view more or purchase prints. 

Genesee Region Swimming Championship results

By Destin Danser

Eight teams from the Genesee Region League met at Gates-Chili High School on Saturday for their regional championship meet. Results are listed below:

Boys:

  1. Harley Allendale Columbia
  2. Pembroke
  3. Attica
  4. Oakfield-Alabama-Elba
  5. Alexander
  6. Byron-Bergen-Le Roy
  7. Notre Dame
  8. Wheatland Chili

Girls:

  1. Harley Allendale Columbia
  2. Pembroke
  3. Alexander
  4. Attica
  5. Byron-Bergen-Le Roy
  6. Notre Dame
  7. Oakfield-Alabama-Elba
  8. Wheatland Chili

Photos by Destin Danser. Click here to view more or purchase prints.

Batavia Sea Devils bring home four state titles

By Steve Ognibene

Pictured above are members of the Batavia Sea Devils who competed in YMCA New York State Swim Meet held this past weekend at University of Buffalo.  

It was an outstanding and the Sea Devils had four swimmers that brought home championship titles.

Maiya Reinhart won the 13-14 girls 50 free, 100 free, and the 100 fly; Chris Lemley won the 15-19 boys 100 backstroke; Jackson Fix won the 9-10 boys 50 backstroke; and Aaron Trelevan won the 9-10 boys 100 free.

Maiya set a new state record in the 50 free with a time of 24.51. In addition, the following individual Y records were set: Lauren Hume (15-19 girls) 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free; Alex Kunes (15-19 boys) 500 free and 100 breast; Maiya Reinhart (13-14 girls) 50 free; Cooper Mattice (11-12 boys) 200 IM; and Jackson Fix (9-10 boys) 50 back. 

Batavia Y records were broken in the girls 15-19, 200 Free relay by Maddie LaGrou, Elle Fulton, Lauren Hume, and Maiya Reinhart

The relay team of Reagan Bifarella, Norah Janes, Elle Fulton and Maiya Reinhart broke two relay records for the girls 13-14 age group, the 200 Medley Relay and the 200 Free Relay.

For all the results go to: http://www.yswimmingnewyork.org/ 

To learn more about joining the Batavia Sea Devils go to their Facebook page here: Batavia Sea Devils

Photo and info provided by parents of the Batavia Sea Devils.

Young Batavia swim team developing strong swimmers

By Howard B. Owens

The Batavia girls swimming team put together a 94-63 win over Wilson at the GCC pool Thursday and the girls were clearly excited about the victory after the meet.

As the second smallest Class B team in the Monroe League, team wins are hard to come by for Batavia, but the program continues to develop promising young swimmers said Co-head Coach Sarah Geitner.

"We have a lot of very young swimmers, but everybody has fantastic attitude and wants to learn," Geitner said.

Because the school doesn't have its own pool, it can't field a modified team so it's a little tougher to build a varsity program, Geitner said.

"At the start of the season, we weren't sure if there would even be enough girls for a team and now that we're up to 14 girls, we're really excited," Geitner said.

Two girls joined the team this week.

At the top of the young roster are freshman Natalie Amico, junior Emily DiBacco, seventh-grader Elle Fulton and sophomore Brooke Leddon, the team's lone diver.

For the 14 girls on the team, team spirit was in strong supply at Thursday's match. Not only did the swimmers cheer their teammates, they cheered the Wilson swimmers as well.

Geitner said she would like to get more of the girls involved in the YMCA swimming programs to take an interest in joining the Batavia High School team.

"In order to grow a better program, we want to encourage more Y swimmers to come in and take the test," Geitner said.

To purchase prints of photos, click here.

Are professional athletes role models?

By Brian Hillabush

 By now, everybody has seen the photo of Olympic star Michael Phelps smoking marijuana out of a bong.

Phelps is 22 years old and won a record eight gold medals in the 2008 Olympics, propelling him to iconic status. He picked up many many endorsement deals and fans in the process.

But he attended a party at the University of South Carolina with a female student he was seeing when the now-famous photo was snapped. 

Some people think Phelps needs to be role model because he is a professional athlete and should not doing anything like this in public, while many people don't think it is a big deal because he is college age and doing what many kids that age do.

What is your opinion?

Would you want your children to look at professional athletes as role models?
( polls)

Pembroke boys and girls win final home meet of the year

By Brian Hillabush

Sue Fleming of Pembroke submitted these results from the final Pembroke home swim meet of the season, a make-up with Notre Dame. The Dragons won both the boys and girls meet. The first photo is of the team continuing the tradition of throwing coach Tripp into the pool. Fellow coach Dave Seward followed at his own will. They do this every year in the final meet of the season. 
The second photo is of her son Chris winning the 100 freestyle.
 
 
Pembroke Girls 54        NotreDame Girls 40
Pembroke Boys 57        Notre dame Boys 39
 
 
200 girls free style- 2nd place Samantha Grodem 2:16:77 pembroke
200 boys Free Style- 1st place Tyler scoins 2:09:87  pembroke
                        2nd place Nick Barth 2:10:24 pembroke
 
200 boys Im          2nd place Shelby O'Neil  2:32:98  pembroke
100 girls free style   2nd place Samantha Grodem 27.75 pembroke
50 boys free          1st place Adam Swereniak  24:75 pembroke
50 boys free 2nd heat 1st place Luke Thomas   28:12 pembroke
100 girls butterfly 2nd place Alexandria Wilson 1:22:49 pembroke
100 boys free style    1st place Chris Fleming 57:13 pembroke
                          2nd place Tyler Scoins 1:10:46 pembroke
100 girls free style   1st place leah Gass 1:19:97  
                        2nd place Melanie Mercurio 1:27:03 both pembroke
Boys 100 backstroke  1st place Dylan Pratt 1:05:32
                                          2nd place Chris Fleming 1:05.72 both pembroke
 
 
 
 
At The Batavian we are interested in all the local sports information from youth to high school to bowling. Please contact brian (at) thebatavian (dot) com to submit results or get information on how to get your team and league coverage.

Some highlights from the GR swim meet this past Saturday

By Brian Hillabush

Whealtand-Chili's Nick Westrich was the boys swimmer of the meet and Notre Dame's Lucy Norton was the girls swimmer of the meet at Saturday's Genesee Region League Championships at Gates-Chili.

Norton (100 freestyle, 100 backstroke) was a double winner and Westrich (200 IM, 100 breaststroke, 400 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay)  was a quadruple winner. 

Westrich set meet records in the IM and with the 400 free relay.

Byron-Bergen's Baxter Ritsema (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle) was a double-winner for the boys and ND's Haley Alexander (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) was a double-winner for the girls.

Tyler Scoines won the 200 freestyle for Pembroke while in the last event of the meet Dylan Pratt, Ethan Burns, Chris Fleming and Adam Sewerniak won the 400 free relay, setting a school record time of 3:35. 

Wheatland-Chili finished first in the boys competition with a two point win over Pembroke.

Harley-Allendale-Columbia was the winner in the girls competition, beating out Byron-Bergen by two points.

 

(Thanks to Sue Fleming for the photo of the Pembroke relay team and result information.)

Hs highlights for Tuesday

By Brian Hillabush

The Batavia girls basketball team pulled off an upset Tuesday, surprising visiting Pittsford Sutherland 55-54.

"I hope this gives us (confidence)," Batavia coach Bill Wade said. "I told them after the game that we would be enjoying the game until 3:30 tomorrow, then we start getting ready for Brighton on Friday. I think the confidence started coming after winning the Attica Tournament and then beating Elba in overtime. I hope this takes us to the next level."

Batavia trailed 13-9 after the opening period, but Brittany Wormley scored eight of her 10 points, keeping the Blue Devils in the game.

Michelle Jordan took over the second half and scored seven of her 11 points.

Batavia wound up taking a 55-50 lead with moments left in the game when Kayli O'Keefe hit a 3-pointer to make it a two point game. She was then fouled and hit one of two free throws.

Jaycee Shirk had 16 points and 10 rebounds with Brittany Mazurkiewiecz and Stacey Hein dishing out five assists each.

Sutherland falls to 4-3.

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Nicole Sharick had five of her nine points in overtime to lead Pembroke to a 43-42 win over host Oakfield-Alabama.

Sharick went 3-of-3 from the charity striple down the stretch and had six steals in the game.

The Hornets actually had a two point lead but Danielle Smith scored with two seconds left to force the extra session.

Kelsey Lewis scored 13 points with seven boards for the Dragons (3-2).

Brynn Perfitt had 10 points and four steals and Dani Sage grabbed 24 rebounds for the Hornets (3-2).

 

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Anni Lehtola had 13 points and Nicki Laird added six points with 18 rebounds to lead the Trojans to a 56-32 win over Attica.

Rachel Pettys had nine points, eight boards and four assists for Alexander (4-1).

Margaret LeFleur had nine points to lead Attica.

 

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Byron-Bergen thumped visiting Holley 48-29 behind Mary Cocking's 13 points. Kaylee Ashbury had nine points and Kayleigh Puma chipped in eight points.

Julie Brooks scored 16 points for the Hawks.

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Haley Alexander and Lucy Norton were double winners as the Notre Dame swim team beat Wheatland-Chili 95-79.

Alexander won the 200 IM in 2:30.88 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:19.80. Norton won the 100 butterfly in 1:15.29 and the 100 freestyle in 1:03.11.

Jennifer Wilson won the 100 backstroke in 1:18.21 for the Wildcats.

The Wheatland-Chili boys won 110-67 as Ben HOgan (200 freestyle, 500 freestyle), Dave Chamot (50 freestyle, 100 freestyle) and Nick Westrich  (200 IM, 100 breaststroke) were all double winners.

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Jason Harasimowicz and Ivan Madaferri each had a goal and an assist to lead the Notre Dame hockey team to a 3-1 win over Bishop Kearney/Eastridge.

Tyler Kessler also had a goal with Luke Calla and Dylan Versage adding a helper apiece.

 

 

Notre Dame swimming videos

By Philip Anselmo

We found this pair of videos posted on YouTube. They were taken at a Notre Dame swim meet at Genesee Community College in Batavia last week.

Batavia Daily News sports, Thursday

By Brian Hillabush

The Daily News reports Batavia freshman Catherine McAllister has qualified for the finals in two events at the Section 5 Girls Swimming Championships at Webster Aquatic Center.

She qualified third in Class B in the 100 backstroke in the prelims Wednesday with a time of 1:02.66, just shy of the state qualifying time of 1:02.00.  That time broke Kathy Hancock's 23-year old school record time of 1:03.91.

McAllister also qualified third in the 200 IM, with a time of 2:17.95. McAllister, Taylor Henry, Sarah DiBacco and Alayna Miodozeniec qualfied sixth in the 400 freestyle and 200 medley relays.

Henry qualified 11th in  he 100 backstroke and DiBacco will be in the consolation finals of the 500 freestyle.

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Daily News Sportswriter Alana Stage wrote a nice feature on the Casper boys on the Le Roy football team. Stage talked with the three boys (Jordan, Jon and Josh) and their mother, Crystal, in the piece.

Jordan and Josh are twins and both lineman for the Oatkan Knights and Jon is a fullback.

Stage writes about Crystal's initial feelings about not wanting her kids to play football, the injuries suffered by Josh and Jordan.

For more information on Le Roy's Far West Regional game on Saturday and video interviews with Jordan, Travis Fenstermaker and coach Brian Moran, check back to The Batavian this evening.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Swimming records

By Brian Hillabush

Area swimmers have done well in the past, and the Genesee Region League holds some Section 5 records.

The boys have done well in Class C and D in the past.

Byron-Bergen's Luke Fink set the record for the 200 freestyle (1:44.11)  and 500 freestyle (4:43.71) in 1998.

Notre Dame's Chris Norton holds the 100 butterfly record (:52.58) for Class D, which he set in 2004. Oakfield-Alabama/Avon is listed as the record holder in the 200 medley relay (1:44.64), set in 1993. Did these two schools swim together back then?

Batavia's Bethany Brown holds the record in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.23) and 200 freestyle (2:01.11) in Class C for the girls.

 (area coaches interested in getting coverage on The Batavian should e-mail brian (at) thebatavian (dot) com)

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