New Canaan Y Swimmers Smash Team, State Records at Y Nats

 

For decades, some of the most elite athletes to train in New Canaan have come up through a once little-known, always competitive United States Swimming program through the New Canaan YMCA.

A team that spans all youth age groups and has grown immensely popular and helps feed hugely successful teams at New Canaan High School (under inimitable head coach and NCHS math teacher David Fine, himself a Y alum), the U.S.S. squad, dubbed the ‘Caimans,’ draws from much of lower Fairfield County. Its athletes are in the water for about 11 months out of the year—and literally in the water for much of that time, often twice a day, with practices starting at 5:15 a.m.

Now 20-plus years out of the program myself and in touch regularly with others who swam under coach Rich Ludemann, I’ll vouch briefly that the sport—and the Y program specifically—teach lessons that stick well beyond the pool deck.

The Caimans—particularly an incredible core group of girls—recently had huge success at the annual Y Nationals meet in Greensboro, NC, breaking several team and even state records. NewCanaanite.com got tipped off on their success by assistant coach Chandler Crosby—whom I used to pick up and drive to morning practice, back in 1992-93—and Chan opened up a line with head coach Mike Ferraro.

Mike talks to us about the commitment and dedication of the Caiman athletes, the nature of the program and about some standout performances specifically.

Here’s our exchange.

 

New Canaanite: The Caimans broke seven team and two state records at Y-Nationals. Before we get into specifics, tell us what this says about these kids and the program there at the YMCA. The level of commitment of these athletes may not be something a lot of New Canaanites know about. Take us through a day in the life of one of these kids.

Mike Ferraro: This national team is a group of hard working kids that love to race. New Canaan has been known for having kids that love to race. This group is something special. We have some experienced seniors mixed with talented young swimmers. The level of excellence and commitment from these athletes is at the highest level. A typical day in the life of the Caiman national team member looks like this: Up early so they could be in the water at 5:15 a.m. starting their 1hr and 30-minute practice. [At] 6:45 a.m. the swimmers are finished with their morning workout and take a shower and get ready for a full day at school. When school ends they are on the pool deck at 2:45 p.m. to stretch out. [At] 3 p.m. the swimmers begin their second workout of the day, a 2-hour swim practice that ends at 5 p.m. After the practice they have a 45-minute dry land practice which can be pull-ups, ab exercises, and ply metrics on land. At 5:45 p.m. they are done with practice and take their second shower of the day. By 6:30 p.m. they are usually home eating a huge well deserved dinner and finishing up their homework. We train Monday to Saturday with double swim practices on Mondays and Wednesdays. Obviously this is a tremendous amount of work, but our talented swimmers balance this demanding physical work load with AP classes and maintain extremely high GPAs. We are sending many seniors off to prestigious universities as well as to top Ivy League schools. To do this schedule for 11 months a year gives you an idea of the determination, dedication and passion these young men and women possess for what they are doing. I couldn’t be more proud of the National Team this year.

 

Let’s talk specifically about the swims down at Y-Nationals. I understand from my pal Chan that the girls broke team and state records in the 400 free and 200 medley relays. Tell me something specific about each swimmer. It could be what makes them a special athlete, how they move through the water or something quirky about their personality.

What’s great about these new team records is they are also new state records replacing the time Wilton put up in 1997. These record breaking relays have four swimmers on them with totally different personalities, but when they are together they have an unbreakable bond. They race for each other and have a trust in each other that is electric. Our lead-off swimmer was Libby O’Hare, a sophomore at NCHS who is top in the nation in breaststroke, and can swim an amazing 50 and 100 freestyle as well. Libby is so strong and really came alive in this race going life time bests in both relays. The second relay swimmer was Katie Colwell. Katie has come so far in this sport in such a small amount of time. She is a sophomore at NCHS as well who is in her third year of swimming. To go from 1 minute in the 100 free to dropping 9 seconds, and achieving an 11th place finish in the nation, is itself unbelievable. Katie is a pure racer and although young she seems to always rise up at championship meets. The third leg of the relay goes to our team leader and senior Jenna Egan. Jenna is a leader in and out of the pool. She has been part of many nationals and has been on numerous record breaking relays over the years. She had an amazing nationals both on relays and individually. Jenna’s talented leadership skills coupled with her positive personality she possessed down proved why she was the backbone of the relay and the team. Jenna will be missed next year when she heads to Loyola University to continue her swimming career. The anchor spot goes to Jenna’s younger sister, Meghan Egan. Meghan is a sophomore at NCHS who is naturally talented, has a great work ethic, and loves to race. She had an incredible high school season this year for the Rams and was able to carry that into phenomenal performances at Y-Nationals. In relays there is no one better than Meghan to finish a race. She has a fierce personality when it comes to competing and refuses to lose, she has a pure racers mentality. Fearless and powerful, Meghan brought our relays home with impressive times to help us crush both the team and state records from the past.

 

Kristen Moss broke two team records, the 1000 and 1650 free—the mile a 17-year-old team record that she broke by 17 seconds. First off, I’m told it’s the second time she ever swam that race. How much does that, that it was something new and maybe not over-thought, have to do with her swim? Tell us more about her, sounds like an amazing kid. She’s a Wilton High School student—tell us about the different areas around here that the Caimans draw from. I hear she’s headed to Penn, where a few of us old-time New Canaan Y swimmers under Rich Ludemann also were recruited as swimmers about 20 years ago, including myself, Geoff Munger and Jon Mishkin. How are you feeling about her choice of college?

Kristen Moss is an incredible athlete and person. She is so naturally talented that I have always said to her any event she wants to put her mind to she can crush. I felt as though some of the distance events would be a great match for her because she can control her speed to the hundredth of a second and has tremendous endurance and mental toughness. All season we worked on “pacing” for this event. We worked on the strategy of the race and rehearsed the swims in a broken fashion. Kristen was fully prepared to smash these records because she felt confident. Kristen will excel at UPENN next year because just like her swimming races, whatever she sets her mind to achieve she will. I wouldn’t be surprised if we watch some Penn records fall as well. We get swimmers from many other towns outside of New Canaan. Darien, Wilton, Trumbull, Westport, Norwalk and Stamford are a few local towns our swimmers come from. New Canaan has had a great reputation of putting out top athletes and we will continue to do so. The New Canaan YMCA is an environment like no other. Both the administration and the Caiman parents fully support myself and my coaching staff, everyone involved in our competitive swim program has a lot invested. The swimmers have a close bond with each other and support one another like family. Our National athletes also give back to the YMCA community and to our younger athletes by assisting Coach Chandler with his 8 and under practices. When your part of the Caimans you have a mix of tradition and Family that is unstoppable.

 

Tell me about your other swimmers who broke records, Mia Bullock and Lizzy Colwell.

Mia Bullock is another great swimmer who broke the teams 200 fly record by 2 seconds. This record is one of the oldest team records on the books, dating back to 1987. Mia is a sophomore at Staples High School in Westport and has such great talent in all four strokes. In addition to breaking the team record and placing 17th in the 200 butterfly, she placed 16th in her 100 butterfly as well. Mia’s 200 butterfly performance places her 15th in the country for 15 year olds. Lizzy Colwell is an 8th grade phenom who has been breaking breaststroke records her entire career. Lizzy is Katie’s younger sister and attends Saxe Middle School in town. She is in a small, talented group of swimmers who can claim they participated in Y-Nationals as a 13 year old 7th grader last year. This year, being a veteran, Lizzy was able to approach her races without that fear rookies bring with them to this national competition. Her 200 breaststroke broke a 2010 record held by Olivia Leunis. Lizzy also crushed the 100 breast record held by Leunis with an amazing 1:05.37 breaking the old record by 2 seconds. I am excited to see what Lizzy’s future holds.

Swimming is a sport where, at least on the competitive level, there’s a real sense of camaraderie among the athletes, whether they’re breaking records or not. Talk a little bit about these kids and what they’re getting beyond the physical benefits of swimming.

The New Canaan YMCA Caiman National Team, Senior Team (13 & over), JO Team (11- & 12-year-olds), Star Team (9- and 10-year-olds), and Pride Team (8 & under) are filled with talented young swimmers who are learning everyday not just about technique or how to train, but life lessons that will help them succeed when they are long retired from this awesome sport. Time management, how to win and lose with pride, how to be a quality teammate, how to set a goal and work for it, as well as how to enjoy the journey are all life skills I try to impart on these kids on a daily basis. Committing to something and seeing it through is important to me. These life lessons are priceless and all of our swimmers learn them when they enter the Y whether they break records or not. It doesn’t matter what lane you’re in or how fast you go, when you’re a part of the Caimans your family on this team. The Caimans here at the New Canaan YMCA are learning the Y’s core values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. I couldn’t be more proud of the young men and women in this town who call themselves Caimans!