LYC swim team partnership with Sussex Family YMCA deemed a success
In the film “Finding Nemo,” Dory tells Marlin to just keep swimming in the face of adversity, and one local swim club did just that this summer.
During the 2023 Delmarva Swim Association summer season, the Lewes Yacht Club swim team joined forces with Sussex Family YMCA in Rehoboth Beach to have one of its most successful seasons. While the end was a sweet reward for their efforts, the swimmers on the combined team faced a few uncertainties to achieve their success. To begin, the LYC team discovered that while they could practice at their home pool, construction in the area would not allow them to host any meets in 2023.
“Never really having a home during these competitions, they never really had a home field advantage,” said assistant coach Thomas Weeks at the team’s Aug. 2 banquet.
Weeks said a lot of the LYC athletes swim at the Y during the winter, and in the beginning of the year, the team was able to do time trials at the Rehoboth Beach location. He believes some of the swimmers' familiarity with the Y pool was a huge benefit. Weeks added that second-year coach Mike Vansant has had a positive impact on the program. Assistant coach and LYC swimmer Jenna Reinhold added to Vansant’s praise.
“He’s definitely brought the competitive nature to the summer swimming,” she said. “Beforehand, it was a lot of just getting people across the pool, but getting us to be more competitive in the league has really pushed kids toward making improvements and wanting to pursue swimming as more of a competition.”
Having grown up in the community, Weeks said he knew the family atmosphere and camaraderie would be present, but he also feels Vansant has appropriately added competitiveness into the mix. Assistant coach Camrynn McTeer agrees with her colleagues.
“We had a winning season this season, and that’s never happened before,” McTeer said. “Mike really pushed the kids to give them that competitive edge, and they finally saw his vision and they benefited from that this season.”
McTeer, Weeks and Vansant all came to LYC last season. Last year, she said, they were getting their bearings as a team, while this season the coaching staff was able to implement proper training regimens and fulfill a vision for the team.
The efforts of the coaching staff and swimmers paid off when championships rolled around. After sending 40 swimmers to last year’s competition, LYC/Sussex Family YMCA was able to get 60 swimmers qualified for the final event of the season. Making the feat all the more impressive, the team was bumped up to the higher division after competing in the middle division in years past.
The team took home second place overall, second place in the boys' division, and for the first time ever, first place in the girls’ division. Notable performers throughout the season and in the championships on the girls’ side were Victoria Evans, Gracie Maughan, Elise DiAntonio, Mia Jaoude and Jenna Reinhold. Jack Bain, Max Bradshaw, Jacques Hillion, Dylan Sherman, Beckham Hassell, Lincoln Fyock, Gabe Blanshine, Grant Sherman and Braxton Handley on the boys' side were very successful during the championship relays.
Makos swim team
The 2023 season marked another championship for coach Strohm Edwards and the Mako Swim Club, making it three in a row for the prestigious team.
“Ninety-nine percent of our swimmers achieved their best times this season,” Edwards said, adding that a few of those swimmers finished in the top 50 nationally.
Leading the way in setting personal and breaking Delmarva Swim Association records was Jaxen Edwards, who finished first in the 11-12 boys’ group for the 50-yard breaststroke, 50-yard free and 100-yard individual medley. He broke the meet record at the championships with a time of 1:00.69 in the 100 IM. He partnered with Ethan Schirmer, Lisandro Vasquez and Levi Corcoran to break the records for the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays. Jenna Chambers, Macyn Hockman, Gabriella Damouni and Anna Mumford also broke the record in the 200 freestyle relay at the championships.
Overall, the Makos won the 9-10 girls’ 100 free relay, 11-12 girls’ 200 free relay, 11-12 boys’ 200 free and medley, 13-14 girls’ 200 free and medley, 13-14 boys’ 200 free and medley, and the 15-18 200 free and medley relays.
Finishing first during the championships, in addition to the record breakers, were Jayleigh Akers, Lee Akers, Jorja Burke, Charlize Damouni, Kensi Hawk, Carson Kirby, Jack Wells, Jacob Madden and Breyden Wright.
Edwards was named head coach of the Middle Atlantic team for the third year in a row, leading the girls’ team to a title for the second year in a row.
