NFA swimmers have a good day despite the score

By Mike Zummo
Posted 9/25/19

The score may not reflect it, but the Newburgh Free Academy girls’ swim team had a good day on Wednesday against the Valley Central Vikings, even though they suffered a 116-68 loss.

“I …

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NFA swimmers have a good day despite the score

Posted

The score may not reflect it, but the Newburgh Free Academy girls’ swim team had a good day on Wednesday against the Valley Central Vikings, even though they suffered a 116-68 loss.

“I was very pleased with how we swam,” Newburgh coach Pat Kavanagh said. “I know Valley Central won the meet by quite a bit. Sometimes in this sport, you know going into the meet whether you’re going to win or lose. The times are the times and you know what you have.”

The Goldbacks won three events on Wednesday afternoon, the first coming in the 200-yard individual medley when Megan Cameron came from behind the freestyle leg and edged out Valley Central’s Mackenzie Dickman by mere fractions of a second.

Her time of 2:27.43 was a season high.

“That’s something we try to stress in our program: to finish well and be there to the end and race well all the way to the wall,” Kavanagh said. “Both of my girls in that race did that.”

Jordyn Bryant came back from fourth to take third place from Valley Central’s Katherine Canavan by more than a full second.

“She was in fourth in the last 50 and came back and finished third,” Kavanagh said. “That was a nice win and nice event for us.”

The Goldbacks’ 400-meter relay team of Meghan Wurster, Kamryn Betcher, Grace MacHugh and Shaylea Triller finished the night strong as they beat the Vikings’ by more than four seconds after falling behind early in the race.

“Shay has been an anchor on a lot of our relays for a while,” Kavanagh said. “She’s turning into one of our top sprinters in the section. She’s still got a lot to learn but it’s nice to have a swimmer with that kind of talent at the end of a race like that.”

Wurster also posted a season-high in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:05.81, although she finished second. She also posted a season high in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:34.77.

Jordyn Bryant, (50-yard freestyle) and Triller (100-yard freestyle), along with the 400-yard freestyle relay team also swam for season highs.

“We were focusing on challenging the other team in the lanes and put together good races,” Kavanagh said. “We came away with some season-best times. We come away with some personal best times and sectional qualifying times. It’s a little deceiving.”

Overall, it hasn’t been an easy season for the Goldbacks, who fell to 2-2 on Wednesday afternoon. They don’t have use of the Newburgh Free Academy pool after a leak in the main drain closed it down in February.
There was an item on the district’s Capital Bond, which passed in May to “renovate the pool room”. Plus, the Goldbacks don’t have the depth to fill out all dual meet events with 15 swimmers and 1 diver.

“We’re a close-knit group and we’re doing the right thing,” Kavanagh said. “That’s what we’re trying to stress. Those times today put us at a good spot for the end of the season. That’s where we train to swim fast.”