Lady Sharks Devour Garden City

     On Saturday October 13th, the Bellmore-Merrick Girls Varsity Swim Team beat perennial Powerhouse Garden City by a score of 101-82.  The win ended Garden City’s winning streak at 103 and gave the Lady Sharks their first Conference One title with a record of 8-0.   The Sharks attacked from the first gun winning the Medley Relay with a time of 1:50.96, thus qualifying for the State Championships to be held in Ithaca on November  16-17, and setting a new school record.  The relay consisted of Gabbie Toback, Paige Kaplan, Jessica Arana, and Jaimie Kaefer.   The previous record (1:52.44) was set by Toback, Dina Sutherland, Genna Kranis, and Jessica Kaefer in 2009.       The Lady Sharks went on to take first place in all but one event.  Kerry Giovanniello won the 200 yard freestyle in a school-record time of 154.52, eclipsing her old record (155.26), and the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 54.21.  Kaplan and  Arana went 1-2 in the 200 individual medley with times of 210.81 and 211.18, respectively.   Toback won the 50 yard freestyle (24.72) and the 100 yard Backstroke (1:00.08,).   Kaplan also won the 100 butterfly in 58.83, breaking her previous record of 59.14.  Arana then won the 500 freestyle in 5:06.78.  Laura Vanella won the 100 breaststroke in 1:12.16 and newcomer Liz Walsh placed second in the 100 freestyle (55.56) and 100 backstroke (1:04.08).  Each of the times Toback, Giovanniello, Kaplan, and Arana swam qualify them for the State Championships in their individual events.      The Lady Sharks will vie for the County Championship at Eisenhower Park on November 2-3 where they will once again have to match up against Garden City and the rest of the teams in the county.  If they can pull it off again, it will be their first ever County Title.