By Ariana Fine
Special to the Voice
In their first meet of the season, West Haven Swim Club Wizards brought in a 375-270 win over the Oxford Otters Nov. 16. The team swam another win against Newtown on Nov. 23.
West Haven v. Oxford
For the boys 8 & under medley relay, Theodore Burgess, Emerson Finlayson, Jack Holthaus and Alain Ayala came in first. In 9-10 200-yard medley relay, West Haven came in first for both girls (Alessia Caggiano, Aylin Romero Lopez, Madelyn Lisi and Julianna Beers) and boys (Michael Meglio, Cayden Joseph, Blaise Shubin and Grayson McCarthy). The team continued its winning stretch in the 200-yard medley relay with the boys 11-12 (Jesus Torres, Gabriel Gyurkovics, Marvin Castillo and Clayton Moore), girls 13 & over (Olivia DeLauri, Naomi Shubin, Sophia DeLauri and Emily Falanga).
In the 100-yard freestyle, Madelyn Lisi came in first for girls 9-10, Michael Meglio for boys 9-10, Morgan Beers for girls 11-12, Jesus Torres for boys 11-12, and Emily Falanga for girls 15 & over. In the butterfly for the 8 & unders, Mackenzie Vargas led for girls and Jack Holthaus for the boys for the 25-yard butterfly. In the 50-yard butterfly, Madelyn Lisi, Cayden Joseph and Marvin Castillo came in first for their respective age groups, followed by Naomi Shubin in the girls 13-14 and Olivia DeLauri in the girls 15 & over100-yard butterfly.
Sophia DeLauri was first in the girls 13-14 and Emily Falanga in the 15 & over 200-yard freestyle. Other first-place finishes included Alessia Caggiano for girls 9-10, Michael Meglio for boys 9-10, Sophia Egan for girls 11-12, and Marvin Castillo for boys 11-12 for 50-yard backstroke. In the 100-yard backstroke, Natalia Lowe and Olivia DeLauri beat out the competition for their age groups.
In the individual medleys (IM), Mackenzie Vargas started out the wins for the girls 8 & under 100-yard IM, followed by Emerson Finlayson for the boys, and Blaise Shubin for the 9-10 boys. Marvin Castillo won in the 200-yard IM for the11-12 boys, Sophia DeLauri for the girls 13-14, Amy Lahav for the girls 15 & over.
In the breaststroke, Alexa Collins and Jack Holthaus came in first in the 25-yard races. In the 50-yard breaststroke, it was Julianna Beers (girls 9-10) and Blaise Shubin (9-10 boys), followed by the 100-yard breaststroke with Naomi Shubin (girls 13-14) and Olivia DeLauri (girls 15 & over). With meet beginning the final individual races with the 50-yard freestyle, Alexa Collins (girls) Emerson Finlayson (boys) started the wins for 8 & under, Madelyn Lisi (girls) and Blaise Shubin (boys) for 9-10, Jesus Torres for boys 11-12, Naomi Shubin for girls 13-14, and Emily Falanga for 15 & over.
The freestyle relays saw the firsts continued to pile up with Alexa Collins, Peyton Edo, Emma Prutting and Mackenzie Vargas in the girls 8 & under 100-yard freestyle relay. In the boys 9-10 200-yard freestyle relay, Nathan Ruzbarsky, Logan McCauley, Esai Ortiz and John Guilmette won. Natalia Lowe, Emily Guthrie, Ivanka Ortiz Rolon and Aubrey Holthaus finished out the meet’s final wins for West Haven in the girls 13 & over 200-yard freestyle relay.
Win Against Newtown
West Haven took home many firsts at this home meet, including Emma Prutting, Alexa Collins, Mackenzie Vargas and Peyton Edo for girls 8 & under 100-yard medley relay; Theodore Burgess, Emerson Finlayson, Jack Holthaus and Alain Ayala for boys 8 & under 100-yard medley relay; Alessia Caggiano, Julianna Beers, Madelyn Lisi and Aylin Romero Lopez for girls 9-10 200-yard medley relay; and Michael Meglio, Cayden Joseph, Blaise Shubin and Grayson McCarthy for boys 9-10 200-yard medley relay. For the girls 11-12 200-yard medley relay, Sophia Egan, Alyssa Geremia, Gwyneth Faoro and Morgan Beers led, followed by Clayton Moore, Gabriel Gyurkovics, Marvin Castillo and Jesus Torres for the boys. In girls 13 & over, West Haven’s Olivia DeLauri, Aubrey Holthaus, Sophia DeLauri and Emily Falanga edged in a first, and then the boys 13 & over with Mario De Leon, Esteban Chavez,
Ayman Elaziz and Xander Estes.
In the individual freestyle events, Emerson Finlayson won for boys 8 & under 25-yard, followed by other West Haven team members in the 100-yard:, Madelyn Lisi (girls 9-10), Michael Meglio (boys 9-10), Gwyneth Faoro (girls 11-12), Jesus Torres (boys 11-12), Naomi Shubin (girls 13-14), Xander Estes (boys 13 & over).
For their respective age groups, the following swimmers won for butterfly: Mackenzie Vargas, Jack Holthaus, Blaise Shubin, Marvin Castillo, Naomi Shubin and Ivanka Ortiz Rolon. In the longer 220-yard freestyle events, Gwyneth Faoro, Clayton Moore, Sophia DeLauri, Xander Estes and Emily Falanga won. For backstroke, firsts were pulled in by Emerson Finlayson, Alessia Caggiano, Blaise Shubin, Sophia Egan, Marvin Castillo, Vanessa Chen, Ayman Elaziz and Olivia DeLauri.
In the IMs, Alexa Collins, Jack Holthaus, Blaise Shubin, Marvin Castillo, Sophia DeLauri and Olivia DeLauri won. Aniela Blaszczak, Emerson Finlayson, Cayden Joseph, Morgan Beers, Gabriel Gyurkovics, Aubrey Holthaus, Esteban Chavez and Olivia DeLauri followed with first in the breaststroke races. Mackenzie Vargas, Jack Holthaus, Madelyn Lisi, Grayson McCarthy, Jesus Torres, Brooklyn Loehfelm, Esteban Chavez and Emily Falanga rounded out the wins for West Haven in their individual freestyle events. For the last relay races, West Haven pulled in wins for nearly all of the freestyle races.