Exit 18W Aquatics Army finishes second at Swim Six Championships

Posted in: Sports on August 4, 2010 at 12:48 pm |

Members of the Ridgefield/Ridgefield Park summer swim squad, the Exit 18W Aquatics Army, revel in the rhapsody of finishing a strong second at the Swim Six League's championship meet on Saturday, July 31, at the Ridgefield Pool. Photo by Bill Allen-NJ Sport/Action

By W. L. Bill Allen, Jr.
Director, NJ Sport/Action

RIDGEFIELD–   They’re baaaaack!

Following in the tradition of the co-op wrestling team fielded jointly by Ridgefield Park and Ridgefield  Memorial High Schools, the newly created joint Ridgefield Park/Ridgefield summer swim squad finished a strong second at the Swim Six League’s championship meet on Saturday, July 31, at the Ridgefield Pool.

That runner-up effort was the best for a team from Ridgefield or Park since the summer of Y2K.
The meet, though, was tainted by controversy in that the team which totaled the most points, Englewood Field Club, was found to have cheated and was, therefore, disqualified from the team title totals.

“I was going over the meet sheets prior to the start of the meet and saw that they (Englewood Field Club) had kids listed for too many events,” recounted Sharon Ramirez, the manager of the Ridgefield Pool.

“In summer swimming, each swimmer can only be in three events total and I pointed out to (EFC head coach Edgar Zambrano) that he had some kids listed for three individual events, plus a relay.

“He said he fixed that, but, during the meet, we noticed that some of the names on the sheets didn’t matchup with the kids who were actually competing.

“So, we decided to let the kids keep their individual medals, but to give EFC fifth place as a team, instead of first.

“I’m not sure exactly what the scores were or if we’re going to refigure the totals without counting EFC’s points and use those numbers as the official totals. The way it looked on Saturday, it was very, very close. I think EFC had around 230, Washington Township had about 200, we had 180, Ramsey had 170 and Hasbrouck Heights was around 120.

Meshkot Hassani

“In any case, second is the best we’ve done since back when I was coaching in 2000, so we’re all very happy,” noted Ramirez, a member of the Saint Joseph of Palisades High Class of 1996 who was graduated from Manhattan College in 2K.
Among the most prolific points producers on the day for the Exit 18W crew were Meshkot Hassani, Christiano Kolonevic, Annie and Michelle Wang and Gabby Rovito.

A 12-year-old who went through the entire Swim Six season unbeaten, Hassani was the team’s Most Improved Swimmer. At the league’s championship meet, Hassani won both the 12-and-under 100-yards individual medley (1:35.42) and the 11-12 100 butterfly (:47.21), while 11-12 boys 200 freestyle relay quartet total a first place time of 2:25.42. Joining Hassani in that foursome were Kolonevic and fellow 12-year-olds Joe Corcoran and Antonio DiMeglio.

In individual action, Kolonevic won the 11-12 50 breaststroke at :49.82 and finished third in free at :41.08.

Annie Wang, 10, won the 25 backstroke (:21.73) and finished third in ‘fly (:24.19), while her twin, Michelle, won the 25 breaststroke title (:22.13) and finished third in free (:20.92). The sisters also helped the 9-10 girls 100 free relay take second place at 1:20.60. Also in that foursome were nine-year-olds Talia Scheyer and Colleen Strowbridge.

An eight-year-old Rovito won the 7-8 25 ‘fly (:33.34) and anchored the 7-8 mixed 100 free relay quartet finish third at 1:41.90. Also in that group were eight-year-olds Laney Imer, Tim Hallaway and Ryan Oliveri.

The only other gold garnered by Exit 18W competitors at the LCM went to the 13-14 boys 200 free relay team of 14-year-olds Peter Jang, Alex Crudello and Demetri Mouzakitis and 13-year-old Frank Elenio, a unit which totaled a time of 2:24.70, with Elenio also finishing second in both the 50 back (:41.75) and ‘fly (:42.51) battles.

Tags: featured Ridgefield Ridgefield Park swimming