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In the final day of the Sun Kissed meet, in the individual events Bebe Thompson won the Sr Girls 400 IM  with a time of 4:29.75, and the 200 Fly with a 2:07.52. Shane McNamara won the Sr Boys 400 IM, setting a new Empire team record of 3:55.62, and Kierstin Chu won the Girls 100 Back with a time of 58.76.  Julia Ruggiero took first in the 13 & U Girls 100 Free with a 54.60, and Nico Ferrara tied for first place in the Boys 13 & U 100 Free, setting a new team 11-12 record of 52.71.

In the relay events, the Sr Boys 200 Free squad of Shane McNamara, Wyatt Semenuk, Dan DiGiacomo, and Sivan Mehta took first place with a time of 1:25.14.  Empire took first in both the boys and girls 13 & Under relays. The crew of Bridget Semenuk, Julia Ruggiero, Jazmine Smith, and Maddie Hartigan took first for the girls at 1:43.66, and the team of Andrew Babyak, Andrew Holzman, Aidan Flannery, and Eric Moss swam a 1:40.76 to take first for the boys.  In the Boys 13 & U 200 Free relay Nico Ferrara, Ryan Schaum, Liam Bogart, and Jared Copeland won the event and set a new Empire 11-12 team record of 1:41.84. 

Congratulations to our High Point Award winners, Julia Ruggiero in the Girls 13 & Under, Bebe Thompson in the Senior Girls, and Shane McNamara in the Senior Boys! 

Empire won the Mens Divison, the Womens Division, and the Combined Team meet overall.

Congratulations to everyone on a great meet -- nothing left to do but dance!

In individual events, Bebe Thompson took first place in the 200 back with a 2:02.26, and set a new 13-14 team record of 4:58.77 in her Sr Girls 500 free prelim swim Saturday morning.  Sarah Schlesinger came back Saturday night and took first place in Sr Girls 500 free finals with a winning time of 5:00.91. Julia Ruggiero took first place in Girls 13 & U 200 IM with a time of 2:14.84.

Shane McNamara won the 200 breast stroke with a time of 1:59.84 that set a new meet record, a new team record, a new Metro record, and qualified for the US Open Meet!  Dan DiGiacomo won the Sr Boys 500 free with an NCSA Jr Nationals qualifying time of 4:34.97.  Also qualifying for NCSA Junior Nationals was Aaron Saccurato in the 500 Free with a swim of 4:39.41, and Ian Cooper in the 200 back with a time of 1:52.41.  Nico Ferrara's swim of 24.36 in the Boys 13 & U 50 Free, set a new 11-12 team record.  Ryan Schaum's swim in the 13 & U  Boys 200 Fly set a new team 11-12 record of 2:15.77.

In relays, the squad of Shane McNamara, Dan DiGiacomo, Raoul Rodriguez, and Sivan Mehta took first in the Boys Sr 400 free relay  with a new team record of 3:07.96.  Shane McNamara 's lead off swim of 45.82 also set a new team record in the Mens Open 100 free.  The Sr Girls  relay squad of Bebe Thompson, Marissa Thompson, Kasia Malendowicz, and Sarah Schlesinger set a new team 13-14 record with a time of 3:37.32.  Also taking first place Saturday was the Girls 13 & U 400 Free relay of Jazmine Smith, Julia Ruggiero, Bridget Semenuk, and Maddie Hartigan with a time of 3:44.40, and the Boys 13 & Under 400 free relay of Liam Bogart, Nico Ferrara, Ryan Schaum, & Jared Copeland took first place with a time of 3:40.82 that set a new team record in the 11-12 division. 

Woven in and among all these first place finishes, national qualifying times, and record breaking swims, are the many untold personal best times that are just too numerous to mention. Congratulations to all our athletes on your hard work in practice that is paying off in your performances at this meet!

Shane McNamara had a busy day at the Sun Kissed Invitational meet Friday.  He won the Sr Boys 100 Breast with a time of 55.49 that broke the meet record, our team record, the Metropolitan Swimming record, and qualified him to compete in the U.S. Open Meet! He also won the Sr Boys 200 IM, setting a new Sun Kissed meet record and Empire Team record time of 1:50.40.   Also winning their events Friday were Julia Ruggiero  in the Girls 13 & U 200 Free (1:55.62), Andrew Babyak in the Boys 13 & U 200 Free (1:56.19) .  Daniel DiGiacomo won the Sr Boys 200 Free with an NCSA Junior National qualifying time of 1:40.87, and also qualified for Junior Nationals in 200 IM with a 1:55.54.  Sivan Mehta also qualified for NCSA Junior Nationals Friday with a time of 51.37 in the Sr Boys 100 Butterfly. 

 Winning relays on Friday were the Boys 13 & U team of Liam Bogart, Andrew Babyak, Ryan Schaum, and Nico Ferrara (4:02.73), and the Boys Open 400 Medley of Raoul Rodriguez, Shane McNamara, Sivan Mehta, and Daniel DiGiacomo who set a new team record with their first place time of 3:28.00.

Liam Bogart set two team records on Friday in the 11-12 200 Back (2:08.84) and  his relay lead off leg in the 400 Medley Relay set a new team 11-12 100 Back record (59.95).  Ryan Schaum set a new 11-12 200 Fly record of 2:15.77, and Nico Ferrara set a new 11-12 200 Free team record of 1:55.89.  A new 13-14 Girls relay team records was set Friday by the squad of Bebe Thompson, Marissa Thompson, Kelly Amar, and Sarah Schlesinger (4:00.64).

Congratulations to everyone on another great day of fast swimming!