PFY Swim Team

Our Boys and Girls Teams win the Penn Del B North Championships. This is the 4th year in a row for the girls and 3rd for the boys. The girls had a 5-0 record and the boys had a 4-1 record. There were also age group champions as well. The Girls 13-14 and Open age groups were undefeated age group champs and the boys 8 & Under, 11-12, & 13-14 were also league champsions.

As of Jan 28th 2011

10 & Under Boys
Zack Wolbert – 3rd 50 Free 28.19, 8th 100 Free 1:03.49, 8th 500 Free 6:08.19, 3rd 50 Back 31.93, 4th 50 Breast 35.94, 4th 100 Breast 1:19.05, 2nd 50 Fly 30.29, 2nd 100 Fly 1:05.30,

11 Year Old Boys
Zack Wolbert – 6th 50 Free 27.23, 10th 100 Free 1:00.09, 10th 1650 Free 21:45.25, 7th 100 Back 1:09.32, 6th 50 Breast 36.06, 6th 100 Breast 1:19.58, 5th 50 Fly 29.15, 3rd 100 Fly 1:03.53, 5th 200 Fly 2:27.53, 5th 100 IM 1:06.20, 5th 200 IM 2:26.78, 4th 400 IM 5:19.16

13 Year Old
Colin Orlowski – 7th 200 Fly 2:12.01

12 Year Old Girls
Emily Wolbert – 9th 500 Free 5:25.83, 9th 400 IM 4:55.77

13 Year Old Girls
Emily Wolbert – 5th 1000 Free 11:14.14, 9th 1650 Free 18:52.61, 7th 200 Fly 2:15.83,

Vasa Work Out #1 – (Rest no more than 1 min in between set & no more than 2:00 between exercises)
o 3 x 1:00 minute of Cable Fly Pulls (use the paddles)
o 2 x 20 reps of Seated Rows (Cross the cables and keep your head up and stick out your chest on each rep)(Use the hand grips)
o 2 x 30 Lying Jumps with cords added (Make sure you are jumping on each and that you may need a partner stand on the end of the Vasa to keep it stable)
o 2 x 50 Wide Chins (Using the grips)
o 2 x 50 Reverse Grip close Chins

Vasa Work Out #2 – (Rest no more than 1 min in between set & no more than 2:00 between exercises)
o 3 x 30 reps of “Strap” Fly Pulls (You will need to hold the end position for:30 after the 30th pull each set)
o 3 x 20 Lying Leg Presses with some cords added (Make sure you are going as lows as you can)
o 2 x 100 Wide Grip Chins (Using the grips)
o 2 x 20 Knee Up (Ab exercise)
o 3 x 20 Upright rows (Keep elbow high and bring handles all the way up to your chin)

Vasa Work Out #3 – (Rest no more than 1 min in between set & no more than 2:00 between exercises)
o 2 x 30 reps of Cable Fly Pulls (You can use the hand grips rather than the paddles if that works better)
o 2 x 15 reps of Seated Bi Curls (You will have to hold your posture as upright as you can working on your core the whole time)(Use the hand grips)
o 2 x 40 Lying Jumps with some cords added (Make sure you are jumping on each and that you may need to have a partner stand on the end of the Vasa to keep it stable)
o 2 x 50 Chins (Using the grips)

Lena Yang Swims for Gold at MidAtlantic Jr. Olympics
Boys 15-19 Win Division for 2nd Straight Year

Lena Yang (16) won the 200 Meter Freestyle event and anchored the 400 Meter Free Relay to a 1st place finish at the Middle Atlantic Jr. Olympics at Penn State University last weekend. Yang, an East Stroudsburg South student, medalled in each of her 10 events for the Pocono YMCA Swim Team, placing 2nd once and 3rd twice, and never finishing less than 6th. The Open Boys (15&Up) finished first in their division for the second year in a row, winning both of their relays. Zack Wolbert (10) was runner-up for High Point Trophy for his age group, taking three seconds and a third, and never finishing less than 8th in his 10 events.

Local YMCA and high school swimmers generally compete in 25-yard pools, but USA championship meets are held in longer 50-meter pools. Over the past few months, Coach Mike Wolbert has encouraged his swimmers to attend extra ‘long course’ meets across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that hard work clearly paid off. The Piranhas sent only 24 swimmers to the July 29-August 1 event, yet still placed sixth overall out of 55 teams. Nearly all the swimmers had at least one ‘personal best’ performance, and most finished in the top 16 at least once, earning points toward the team total. Additionally, eight Piranhas qualified for the Eastern Zone Long Course Championships later in August.

Medals were awarded to the top 8 individual swimmers and top 3 relay teams for each event. Emily Wolbert (12) medalled six times: 400 Free (5th), 100 Breast (8th), 200 Free (8th), 200 Fly (3rd), 200 Breast (8th), and 400 IM (5th). Colin Cruz (16) took 3 individual medals — 400 IM (6th), 100 Breast (3rd) and 1500 Free (6th) — to go along with his two relay wins. Emily Cabral (12) was 5th in the 200 Back and 8th in the 400 IM. Janay Parrish (15) finished 5th in both the 100 and 200 Meter Breaststroke. Michael Ingelsby (17) was 7th in the 800 Free and 50 Free races. Other individual medals were won by Avanti Banks (17), 7th in the 100 Fly; Alex Burns (14), 5th in the 50 Free; Ben Dutka (18), 2nd in the 50 Free; Lauren Mezzanotte (16), 8th in the 50 Free; Ivan Puskovitch (9), 7th in the 100 Breast; and Baileigh Vanderhoof (14), 6th in the 100 Fly;

Relay teams earn extra points toward the team total, and the acheivement of the PFY relay swimmers was a major factor in their overall success.

Boys 15-19 400 Meter Freestyle Relay
1 Colin Cruz (16), Keenan Bartlett (18), Kamahl Bron (18), Michael Ingelsby (17)

Boys 15-19 400 Meter Medley Relay
1 Bartlett, C.Cruz, Bron, M.Ingelsby

Girls 15-19 400 Meter Freestyle Relay
1 Lauren Mezzanotte (16), Avanti Banks (17), Janay Parrish (15), Lena Yang (16)

Girls 15-19 400 Meter Medley Relay
2 Mezzanotte, J.Parrish, Banks, Yang

Girls 13-14 800 Meter Freestyle Relay
4 Alana Slater (14), Baileigh Vanderhoof (14), Margaux Palaski (13), Alex Burns (14)

Girls 13-14 400 Meter Freestyle Relay
8 Vanderhoof, Slater, Palaski, Burns

Girls 13-14 400 Meter Medley Relay
7 Slater, Vanderhoof, Palaski, Burns

Girls 11-12 200 Meter Freestyle Relay
16 Emily Cabral (12), Alora Cruz (11), Nadine Parrish (11), Emily Wolbert (12)

Girls 11-12 200 Meter Medley Relay
14 Cabral, A.Cruz, E.Wolbert, N.Parrish

Girls 11-12 400 Meter Freestyle Relay
15 Cabral, A.Cruz, N.Parrish, E.Wolbert

The Pocono Family YMCA Swim Team welcomes and trains swimmers as young as 4 years old, and there are many opportunities for kids to compete against swimmers at their own level throughout the year. The summer season ends with a meet this Saturday, August 7, at Pocono Mountain West; training for the winter YMCA season will begin in October. For information on the developmental and competitive team programs, visit the PFY website at www.pfyswim.org.

The July Jr. Olympics featured swim teams from the Middle Atlantic region: eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware; full results are available at www.maswim.org. The Eastern Zone includes teams from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delware, Maryland and Virginia. The Eastern Zone Sectional Championships will be held August 12-15 at Penn State University. Eight Pocono swimmers have qualified for the Zone meet:

10 & Under Boys
Ivan Puskovitch (9) – 100 Breast, 200IM, 50 Breast, 100 Fly
Zack Wolbert (10) – 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free, 50 Fly, 100 Fly,
50 Back, 50 Breast, 100 Breast, 200 IM

11-12 Girls
Emily Wolbert (12) – 100 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Fly, 200 IM, 400 IM

13-14 Girls
Alex Burns (14) – 50 Free
Baileigh Vanderhoof (14) – 100 Fly, 100 Breast

15-19 Girls
Janay Parrish (15) – 100 Breast
Lena Yang (16) – 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Breast

15-19 Boys
Mike Inglesby (17) – 50 Free

Jeff Walker tries to swim 100 Free Jeff made fun of Eric Moussambani Malonga after he swam the 100 free in the 2000 Olympics in the slowest time in the event. Jeff said he could do better and our swimmers challenged him to do it and he not only failed but almost did not make it alive.

Vasa Movies (Great Tips)

Wolbert Wins Districts, States & Junior Olympics

Zack Wolbert (10) has been swimming competitively as a member of the Pocono Family YMCA Piranhas Swim Team since he was three years old. Now, at the tender age of 10, his years of training, dedication and hard work have paid off. Under the guise of his Father, PFY Piranhas Swim Team Head Coach, Mike Wolbert, Zack achieved quite the feat this 2009-2010 swim season as he won the 10 & Under Boys 100 Individual Medly and 50 Butterfly at both the YMCA Eastern Districts and YMCA States meets, in addition to winning the 100 Butterfly at Middle Atlantic’s Short Course Junior Olympics.

At the YMCA Eastern Districts meet held March 13-14 at La Salle University in Philadelphia, Wolbert took first in the IM with a time of 1:08.75, finishing ahead of the second place swimmer by 5 seconds, and won the 50 Fly in 29.85. Wolbert’s 50 Fly swim was not only a Personal Best Time but a meet
record as well. A day after his impressive wins at Districts, Wolbert headed to the Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell, NJ to participate in the final day of the 2010 Short Course Middle Atlantic Junior Olympics meet and win the 9-10 Year Old Boys 100 Butterfly with a time of 1:05.22,
bettering his Personal Best Time by 3 seconds and touching the wall 2.5 seconds ahead of the second place finisher. A week later Wolbert and 30 other members of the Piranhas Swim Team headed to Penn State University to compete at YMCA States over the weekend of March 20-21. Wolbert repeated his
dual wins from Districts with first place finishes and Personal Best Times in the 100 IM with a 1:08.69, and the 50 Fly with a time of 29.53. Wolbert also swam impressive anchor legs of the 10 & Under Boys 200 Freestyle Relay at both YMCA Districts and YMCA States with splits of 26.95 and 27.37, and finished second in the 100 Freestyle at JOs with a Personal Best Time of 1:00.90 and an eighth place JO finish in the 50 Backstroke with a final time of 33.70.

Districts, States & Nationals
The Pocono Family YMCA Piranhas Swim Team wrapped up a championship season with a strong showing at YMCA Eastern Districts, YMCA States and YMCA Nationals.

On the heels of both the PFY Girls & Boys teams winning the PennDel League Championships for the 2009-2010 season, the Piranhas produced its largest District Team ever! 56 swimmers qualified to swim at the YMCA Eastern Districts meet held at La Salle University over the weekend of March 13-14, 2010 with 53 of those 56 swimmers able to attend the meet. Piranha highlights from the District meet included 3 District Champions and a meet record, with Zack Wolbert (10) taking first place in both the 10 & Under Boys 100 IM and 50 Fly, his 50 Fly swim of 29.85 setting the new meet record, Emily Wolbert (12) taking first in the 11-12 Girls 200 Free and Sam Velez (12) winning the 11-12 Boys 50 Fly.

PFY District Qualifiers were:
Alora Cruz (10)
Madeline Neveille (9)
Nadine Parrish (10)
Kailey Burns (10)
Araceli Dunn (10)
Emily Dwyer (10)
Hannah Tepper (9)
Zack Wilbert (10)
Ivan Puskovitch (8)
Liam Naturale (9)
Connor McCall (10)
Michael Riutort (9)
Colin Walters (9)
Holden Gerner (9)
Emily Wilbert (12)
Emily Cabral (12)
Stephanie Marcucci (12)
Maggie Pulaski (12)
Janel Llewellyn (12)
Meaghan Dwyer 912)
Kimmie Konz (12)
Mary Cerbone (11)
Irene Gendelman (11)
Colin Orlowski (12)
Sam Velez (12)
Colin Naturale (11)
Brandon Swingle (11)
Kevin Inglesby (11)
Ben Gerner (12)
Lascelles Dunn (11)
Chris Metzger (11)
Alex Burns (13)
Baileigh Vanderhoof (13)
Alana Slater (13)
Janay Parrish (14)
Emily Joyce (13)
Kate Neville (13)
Tessa Walters (13)
Brianna Opromollo (13)
Kaela Vanderhoof (13)
Ben Gendelman (13)
Lena Yang (15)
Avanti Banks (16)
Alex Dunigan (16)
Lauren Mezzanotte (15)
Jaimie Juschitsch (17)
Kamahl Bron (18)
Colin Cruz (15)
Ben Dutka (17)
Michael Inglesby (16)
Keenan Bartlett (17)
Chris Pickarski (17)
Carlos Rodriguez Jr (15)
Matt Pankiewicz (17)
Pawel Branksi (16)
Sean Clarke (17)

District swimmers placing in the Top 12 for individual races and Top 9 in relay events were able to advance on to the YMCA States meet held March 20-21, 2010 at Penn State University. The Piranhas had 31 swimmers advance on to the State meet. Swimmers placing in the Top 12 for both individual and relay events at States make their way to the awards podium, and PFY proudly had swimmers step up to receive awards in 25 races with special note of Zack Wolbert who made 3 trips to the awards podium including two as the State Champion for his swims in the 10 & Under Boys 100 IM and 50 Fly, along with his podium appearance as part of the 10 & Under Boys 200 Freestyle Relay Team.

PFY State Qualifiers were:
Alora Cruz (10)
Madeline Neveille (9)
Zack Wolbert (10)
Ivan Puskovitch (8)
Liam Naturale (9)
Connor McCall (10)
Emily Wolbert (12)
Emily Cabral (12)
Stephanie Marcucci (12)
Janel Llewellyn (12)
Meaghan Dwyer (12)
Colin Orlowski (12)
Sam Velez (12)
Brandon Swingle (11)
Kevin Inglesby (11)
Alex Burns (13)
Baileigh Vanderhoof (13)
Alana Slater (13)
Janay Parrish (14)
Lena Yang (15)
Avanti Banks (16)
Alex Dunigan (16)
Jaimie Juschitsch (17)
Kamahl Bron (18)
Colin Cruz (15)
Ben Dutka (17)
Michael Inglesby (16)
Keenan Bartlett (17)
Chris Pickarski (17)
Carlos Rodriguez Jr (15)

Capping off the 2009-2010 swim season was the highly anticipated YMCA Nationals meet held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida April 7-10, 2010. Swimmers must achieve qualifying times to participate in Nationals and PFY had 6 qualifiers this season with 5 making the trip to Florida with Piranhas Head Coach Mike Wolbert.

PFY National Qualifiers were:
Lauren Mezzanotte (15)
Lena Yang (15)
Alex Burns (13)
Avanti Banks (16)
Kamahl Bron (18)

Congratulations to the entire PFY Piranhas Swim Team for a fantastic 2009-2010 season!

WBY 35 th Annual St. Pat’s Swim Your Own Age
The Pocono Piranhas descended upon Luzurne County in a feeding frenzy of dominance to rule the pool at the Wilkes-Barre YMCA 35th Annual St. Pat’s Swim Your Own Age meet on Sunday, February 21, 2010.

PFY’s Mini Team was represented by 3 swimmers for the morning session who set the stage for their older teammates to come in for the afternoon and clinch the win. William Cerbone (7), Corinne McCall (7) and Ivan Puskovitch (8) swam a total of 15 races before lunchtime with five first place, four second place and four third place wins including six Personal Best Times, one District qualifying swim, two meet records and two High Point winners. Both meet records broken in the first session were earned by Ivan Puskovitch who set the new record for the 8 year old boys 100 IM with a time of 1:16.90, breaking the old record by 2 seconds which had been set in 1985, and the 8 Year Old Boys 25 Breast record which stood for an impressive 32 years before his swim of 18.57 set the new standard. Puskovitch and McCall walked away from the morning session the recipients of the High Point Awards for 7 Year Old Girls and 8 Year Old Boys. McCall earned a total of 30 points to lock in her High Point win and Puskovitch earned a total of 33 points to secure his. At the
close of the morning session PFY was well on its’ way to an overall team win with a total of 85 points.

The afternoon session saw 19 Piranhas swim, representing six of eight age groups to extend the lead set by their younger teammates with a total of 88 swims, 54 Personal Best Times, 38 District qualifying swims, three meet records and three High Point winners. Alex Burns (13), Kailey Burns (10), Emily
Cabral (12), Mary Cerbone (11), Monica Gosselin (11), Kimmie Konz (12), Janel Llewellyn (12), Stephanie Marcucci (13), Connor McCall (10), Christopher Metzger (12), Kathryn Neville (14), Madeline Neville (10), Zoe Olm (11), Colin Orlowski (12), Carlos Rodriguez Jr. (15), Holly Storck (12), Samuel Velez (12), Emily Wolbert (12) and Zack Wolbert (10) placed PFY swimmers within the top five spots in an impressive 41 of 49 events for the second session of the meet. Samuel Velez broke the meet record by 3 seconds for 12 Year Old Boys 100 IM with a time of 1:07.75, while Zack Wolbert took two meet records for himself in the 10 Year Old Boys events for the 50 Free and 50 Fly. Wolbert edged out the existing 50 Free record of 28.27 with a time of 28.15 and made
everyone take notice when his 50 Fly time of 30.50 shattered the existing record for 10 Year Old Boys which had stood strong for 27 years. Alex Burns locked up the High Point award for 13-19 Year Old Girls matching Velez’s High Point win for 12 Year Old Boys, each with a total of 33 points consisting
of four first place finishes and one second place a piece. Zack Wolbert dominated the 10 year old boy division with five solid first place wins for a total score of 35 points, thus securing the High Point award for his age group in addition to an outstanding 27 second lead-off split in the Mixed Gender 8-19
Year Old 200 Freestyle Relay. When all was said and done, the Piranhas swam away from Wilkes-Barre with a team total of 408 points and the overall first place team win; 191 points and a second place standing for the boys’ team, 217 points and first place standing for the girls; 39 District qualifying swims, 5 meet records, 5 High Point winners and 60 Personal Best Times, with each PFY swimmer achieving a minimum of one PBT.

Over 150 swimmers ages 5-38 years old, representing nine teams throughout two LSCs, converged at the Lehman Pool on Saturday, February 20 for the 2010 Pocono Family YMCA Snow Plow Invitational.

Swimmers from Aqua Gems-MR, Bethlehem YMCA Stars, Family YMCA of Easton, HAZY Masters Team, Hazleton YMCA & YWCA, Nazareth YMCA, Northampton KIDS-MA, Pocono Piranhas-MA and Wilkes-Barre YMCA braved the cold to heat up the pool and compete in 80 events over the course
of 4 ½ hours. As the temperature fell so did 39 meet records with 24 of those records being snatched up by PFY swimmers. There were a total of 142 YMCA District swims achieved, 60 of those District cuts belonging to members of the Piranhas swim team, 326 Charlie Hartley Silver Memorial Championship
Meet cuts made, 123 of those swims by PFY swimmers, and 12 High Point awards given out with seven of those awards going home with PFY swimmers

Carlos Rodriguez Jr. (15, Open Boys),
Alex Burns (13, Open Girls),
Baileigh Vanderhoof (14, 13-14 Girls),
Samuel Velez (12, 11-12 Boys),
Emily Wolbert (12, 11-12 Girls),
Zack Wolbert (10, 9-10 Boys) and
Ivan Puskovitch (8, 7-8 Boys).

The Pocono Piranhas Girls’ Team scored 531 points and first place amongst all competing girls teams, the PFY Boys’ Team scored 694 points to grab their first place finish, with the combined efforts of both teams giving Pocono a total of 1,225 points and the overall first place standing.