Hydras race @ NY State Championships

The NY State Championships SC Yards was held over a two-day period at Nassau County Aquatic Center (NCAC) in Eisenhower Park, Long Island. Amongst 23 other teams competing at the Championships, the Hydras were represented with a strong group of 12 swimmers. As one of our focus meets for the winter session, we were all excited to race fast and most importantly – have FUN!!

By Ngozi M

The events on Saturday started in the early afternoon, so it was great for a change not to have to wake up early for a swim meet. We all met up in different car pool groups and headed for NCAC, a great facility built in 1998 for the Goodwill Games. For some of our members, this meet was another event for the winter session, while for others it was the first meet after a long hiatus. After warm-up and washing away some of the nerves, the Hydras were ready to race and support each other!

Bruce was our long-distance trooper! participating in 6 individual events plus 4 relays including the grueling 400 IM and 200 Fly (both events swam in one day)! For Berenice, Kyle, Colleen, and Ayme, it was their first time racing as Hydras and in a Masters Meet  – what a thrill! Berenice and Ayme had not raced in a while but quickly shook off the nerves after warm-up and were excited to race. We crowned Berenice our MVP for Saturday as she swam most of her events back to back, and executed them all with admirable effort and enthusiasm. Ayme was excited to swim fast…and she did and had lots of fun being part of Hydra relays!! Kyle, Ryan, and Colleen were our youngest swimmers ripping through the water in true fashion of recent post-collegiate swimmers, participating in a number of individual and relay events. Nat, Vicky, Nino, Frank, and Bryant were all part of the larger group that swam both days and as the long-term Hydras represented at the meet, did a great job racing fast, supporting our newer members and having fun! I had a lot of fun fixing up relays with Igor, taking pictures and screaming at the top of my lungs cheering my teammates on!

There are always interesting and funny events at any Masters Meet and the highlight of this meet had to be the “switched lane confusion” that happened on Saturday during one of the relay events. Vicky had flipped and started to return for the last length of her leg of the relay when she noticed someone in the distance in her lane… heading towards her!! For a second she thought maybe she had flipped and streamlined into another lane…ha! (this can happen)! Apparently, a guy from another team, after diving in for his leg of the relay and swimming a couple strokes, thought he was in the wrong lane and switched into the Hydras lane!! All we could see standing at the deck was a slight break in Vicky’s stroke and Frank at the starting blocks waving his hands frantically at someone in our lane!! Haha! Thank-fully no one got hurt and it made for a good story and laugh!!

Outside the pool, the highlight was definitely dinner at Borrelli’s, an Italian restaurant close by. Thanks to Frank who organized it, a bunch of hungry and tired Hydras had a great meal and a good time hanging out together.

The medals and ribbons at the end of it all are a secret treat for everyone – for those new to Masters Meets and for the veterans, and there was a lot of clanking of medals coming from the Hydras!!! as we walked out of NCAC.

GO HYDRAS!!!! And on to the next one!!