Sparked by a dozen individual gold medals from six swimmers and another four relay victories, the YWCA Greenwich Dolphins took second place in last weekend’s 2024 SunKissed Junior/Senior Invitational Championships of the USA held at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic center in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina.
The meet – formally known as the YWCA Jr/Sr Championships of the USA, featured 18 teams and 600 swimmers from the USA competing in 60 events over three and a half days in a Junior (13/under) and Senior (14/over) class.
The Dolphins tallied 2,340.50-points, behind the Empire (NY) Swim team at 3,864.50. The Zeus (Norwalk, CT) Swim Team at 2,034-points; Raritan Valley Riptides (NJ) at 1366.50-points; and, the host Team Charlotte, at 1131.50-points, rounded out the top five teams.
Kate Boutry, 13, swimming in the Junior Girls division took the divisions High Point award with gold medals in the 50-yard Backstroke (26.40); 100-Back (57.31); 200-Back (2:05.83); and added four silver medals in the 100-Butterfly (58.67); 200-Butterfly (2:15.57); 100-Individual Medley (1:01.12) and 100-Free (53.07) as well a picking up four additional gold medals on the Junior Girls Division 200 and 400-yard Medley and Freestyle Relays.
In the Senior Girls Division, Sydney Jee, 17, paced the group with golds in the 50-Breast (29.89), 100-Breast (1:04.09) and 200-Breast (2:19.80) as well as silver medals in 100 (58.89) and 200-Individual Medley (2:07.77) events. Jee also picked up a pair of silver medals in the 400-Medley and Free Relays.
In the Junior Boys Division Oliver Bjerke, 12, took the gold in the 200-Butterfly (2:12.55).
The Senior Boys Division saw Kegan Clark, 17, win both the 50-Free (20.83) and the 100-Free (45.93) as well as bronze in the 50-Butterfly (22.94) and 100-Butterfly (51.81).
Other Dolphin gold medal winners included Penny Lazar, 17, who won gold in the Senior 400-Individual Medley at 4:31.34 and Samantha Packard (13), who claimed the 500-Freestyle (5:11.47) and 200-Butterfly (2:08.52).
The Junior Girls Relay quarter of Boutry, Packard, Olivia Devries, 13, and Brighid Dowling, 11, won four golds taking the 200 and 400-yard Medley and Freestyle Relay events.
Silver medalists included Gregory Bound, 17, in the 50-Breaststroke (28.11); Devries in the 200-Breast (2:34.76); Gus Femenia, 13, with a pair in the 50-Back (27.18) and 100-Back (1:00.89); Melissa Geiger, 15, in the 1000-Free (10:31.53); Lazar in the 500-Free (5:01.69); Luke Mendelsohn, 17, 100-Individual Medley (52.27); and 200-Breast (2:06.33) and Packard in the 200-Free (1:57.59).
Also gaining bronze medals included: Kegan Clark, Olivia Devries, Gus Femenia, Penny Lazar, Luke Mendelsohn, Samantha Packard and Hadden Wood, 17.
Other Dolphins scoring in the top 16 included: Colin Bucaria, 15; Jane Cary, 17; Calvin Donat, 17; Ilse Fedoronko, 15; Garyn Finz, 17; Jacob Greenberg, 12; Isabel Guzman-Milligan, 16; Vivian Jacoby, 11; Sara Jee, 14; John Landers, 14; Audrey Li, 14; Leona Likvornik, 13; Scott Luecke, 14; Hudson Maciejewski, 13; Connor McMahon, 14; Luke Merrill, 17; Ainsley Sahrbeck, 16; Emma Stehmann, 16; Wesley Wales, 15; Jackson Waters, 12; Henry Wise, 15; Kensie Worden, 14; and Wyatt Zabel, 12;
The full results can be viewed on the Meet Mobile app under “2024 Sun Kissed Invitational Jr/Sr Champs”.
