Just Swim the Meet

By Eliot Schickler

The Staples girls swimming team’s home meet against Wilton last Friday should not have been postponed.

Officially, Wilton asked to postpone the meet because its new swimsuits, which were supposed to be delivered three days before the meet, had not arrived. Some people at Staples, however, wonder whether the real reason was that Wilton was going to be missing two swimmers — including its best performer, KC Moss, who had a college interview.

Wilton coach Todd Stevens knew a month in advance that Moss wasn’t going to be available for the meet, but he said her absence had no bearing in his decision to seek the postponement — to which Staples Athletic Director Marty Lisevick agreed.

“The fact that KC Moss was out of town had nothing to do with our rescheduling the meet,” Stevens said. “We’re a swimming team and do not rely on one swimmer to lead us to victory. She’s a valuable part of our program, and we would like to have her at all of our meets. We missed a week of practice [because of Tropical Storm Irene's aftermath] and we had to reschedule our season-opener we had against Fairfield Ludlowe.”

Still, some Staples swimmers said the meet should have gone on.

“I’m disappointed it was cancelled,” Lady Wrecker captain Caroline Valerio said. “If it was because of the swimsuits, it shouldn’t make a difference because they could swim in their practice suits and it wouldn’t make a difference.”

In fairness to Wilton, the whole uniform thing wasn’t its fault. In fact, the national swimming bureaucracy and the CIAC deserve more blame and if anything, the Lady Warriors are the victims of their uniform gaffe. It all started when Wilton ordered its 2011 swimming suits in August, which contained two logos, the name of the school and its nickname. The national high school swimming federation reinterpreted the rules this summer, stating that a team is allowed to have only one logo and name in the same place on its swimming suit.

Wilton found out at the FCIAC swimming coaches meeting in August — shortly after it received its new uniforms — that two logos were unacceptable. After shelling out money for the suits, Wilton appealed the ruling to the CIAC and lost, thus it had to order new suits with one logo on it.

“They should have given us more warning on the rules change,” Staples coach Mike Laux said. “It wasn’t a good thing to reinterpret the rule at the last minute.”

After ordering new swimming suits which conformed with the new regulations and were first supposed to arrive Sept. 15 and when they didn’t arrive, Sept. 20 became the new due date. When they didn’t arrive , Wilton found out that UPS lost the package, thus it decided to postpone Friday’s meet.

“It [the swim suits] doesn’t make a difference how fast you go,” Laux said. “It’s a matter of team pride. It’s a swimming team and the [Wilton] coaches are sensitive to their needs. I understand where they are coming from, and I don’t fault them.”

The national federation definitely messed up on two fronts. If they are to reinterpret a rule and change it, they need to give much more notice before implementation. Because of time needed to implement the change, the new rule shouldn’t have taken effect until the fall of 2012. In order to have it take effect this fall, they should have changed the rule last December.

“Rules are rules but it was a sudden change because no one was clear on it,” Lady Wreckers captain Michelle Mastrianni said. “There should have been a grace period.”

Staples captain Gabby Wimer said, “I don’t understand why the rule was changed. For the past couple of years, Staples had more than one logo and it doesn’t make a difference. I feel bad for Wilton because they ordered suits before the rule change and they had to reorder the suits.”

Moreover, what difference does it make if a team wears one, two or even five logos on its swimming suits. As long as the logos are in good taste and don’t peddle a commercial product, it’s a non-issue.

However, the suits shouldn’t have made a difference.

The 2011 Lady Warriors aren’t the first team to have a mishap with the order of swim suits, and theoretically, they still could have faced Staples wearing their practice suits or personal suits. They did that Sept. 19 in a convincing victory over Fairfield Warde.

“Everyone on our team wanted to swim against Wilton,” Laux said. “Many years [earlier in the millennium], we didn’t have our suits for the first meet or first few meets. If we didn’t have our suits [ready], we’d wear our own suits. We did it in the past and we would have swam the meet if it was us.”

Stevens agreed to face Warde because it was a home meet where there was no diving and said he had no time to postpone the meet (originally, the suits were suppose to arrive right before the weekend leading up to the meet).

“When we went on the road, we wanted to look like a team,” Stevens said.

He also said that Staples is a much better team than Warde.

Moreover, the field — eh, water — was leveled because the Lady Wreckers were missing their top swimmer, sophomore Verity Abel, who was sick. Staples also missed Abel last Wednesday in a 102-83 loss to Norwalk and might have edged the Lady Bears if its ace was in the lineup.

Despite missing Abel, the Lady Wreckers didn’t try to postpone their meet with Norwalk. The Lady Warriors should have followed their example and make due with what they had.

“Wilton already had a meet and they could have still worn their [personal or practice] suits,” Wimer said.

Reprinted from the Westport News

Norwalk Splashes Abel-less Lady Wreckers

By Eliot Schickler

Missing your top swimmer — especially someone of Verity Abel’s caliber, makes a huge difference.

The Staples girls swimming team found out the hard way Wednesday in a 102-83 home loss to the Norwalk-Brien McMahon co-op team (1-0) to drop to 1-1.

The sophomore Abel was out because she was sick. She saw the doctor and was told not to swim for two days.

“It [losing to Norwalk] was not upsetting at all,” Staples coach Mike Laux said. “We were missing our best swimmer.”

Norwalk won 10 out of 12 events. If Abel was in the lineup and based on her normal times, she would have won the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle and anchor the Lady Wreckers to victory in the 200-meter medley and 400-meter freestyle relays.

“If Verity was there, the meet would have been a lot closer,” Laux said.

Sophomore Gabby LeBlanc won the 100-meter breaststroke for Staples with a time of 1:23.76).

“It was the whole team motivating me,” LeBlanc said. “We didn’t do as well as we did in the past and we tried to get as many firsts, seconds and thirds as possible.”

Anita Vohra (1:27.76) and freshman Jessi Taets (1:28.44) placed second and fourth, respectively in 100-breaststroke.

Senior Michelle Mastrianni delivered the Lady Wreckers’ other win by 148.05 in diving. Sophomore Anna Violette (133.2) and freshman Olivia Crosby (116.4) took second and fourth in diving.

Staples started the meet by placing two-three in the 200-medley relay. Freshmen Stacy Kaneko, Taets and Jordan Santarella and senior Gabby Wimer (2:12) took second and junior Alexis Teixeira, LeBlanc, senior Caroline Valerio and junior Rebecca Raab (2:14) were third.

Abel’s absence was felt in distance freestyles. Instead of scoring high in them, the Lady Wreckers were outpointed in them with junior Sarah Cooperman being their top swimmer. Cooperman was second in the 400-free (4:57.12) and third in the 200-free (2:21.28).

Despite not grabbing first in the 200-meter individual medley, Staples won the event 9-7. LeBlanc (2:42.77) led the Lady Wreckers by taking second and Santarella (2:45.53) and junior Patricia Maragos (2:50.76) were three-four.

Wimer swam hard in sprinting events but took second in the 50-meter freestyle (29.10) and 100-meter freestyle (1:03.84) as she was topped by Lady Bears sophomore Lauren Czulewicz.

“She got off to a fast start and I wasn’t able to catch her in the end,” Wimer said.

Taets took third in the 50-free (30.21), and Kaneko was fourth in the100-free (1:07.36).

Valerio was second in the 100-meter backstroke (1:16.08) and third in the 100-meter butterfly (1:15.55). Kaneko took third in the 100-back (1:16.53), and Santarella (1:16.02) was fourth in the 100-fly. Taets, Raab, sophomore Jocelyn Krim and Cooperman led the 200-freestyle relay (2:03.58) to second place and LeBlanc, Santarella, Cooperman and Kaneko powered the 400-free relay (4:20.82) to second.

Although Norwalk won 10 event, Staples would have finished in a tie if it went one-two in the 400-relay.

“I have no complaints, the girls swam well all the way through, and it was close to the end,” Laux said.

Laux’ charges were also pleased.

“It was difficult, but considering our best swimmer wasn’t here, we did well,” LeBlanc said.

Wimer said, “It was disappointing but everyone did their best and I’m proud of the girls. It was a shock not to have her [Abel] and we weren’t prepared for it. We changed the lineup around and put up a good fight.”

Even in defeat, the Lady Wreckers showed improvement.

“It was tough but it was a good meet,” Wimer said. “A lot of girls swam better times than we did at East Lyme. Looking at it from a time standpoint, we’re proud of everyone.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

Lady Wrecker Swimmers Lap East Lyme

By Eliot Schickler

The Staples girls swimming team opened the season with a 100-81 win at East Lyme Friday.

“It was a fantastic meet because East Lyme is a balanced team and we swam in an eight-lane pool where we were able to use four kids in every event,” Staples coach Mike Laux said. “We had extra heats in four events and I was able to learn more about my team. I’m happy with what I learned.”

Lady Wreckers senior Gabby Wimer said, “It was a great way to start the season and with [the pool being] eight lanes, we were able to see a lot of trends for the team.”

Staples won 11 out of 12 events and showed it is a force to be reckoned with. Wimer was the top sprinter with wins in the 50-yard freestyle (26.37) and 100-yard freestyle (58.16).

“Having all my teammates cheering for me [made a difference],” Wimer said. “We were all pumped up and it helped me swim fast.”

Freshman Jessi Taets and junior Rebecca Raab were second and third, respectively in the 50-free and freshman Stacy Kaneko was third in the 100-free.

While Wimer ruled the sprints, sophomore Verity Abel continued off of last year’s Team MVP pace and ruled distance events. Abel won the 200-yard freestyle (1:59.45) and 500-yard freestyle (5:19.89).

“I started training three weeks ago and I was in shape for it,” Abel said. “It was our first meet and I was excited, which motivated me. The new freshmen helped as well.”

On how she became savvy in long races, Abel said, “I’ve built my endurance through years of training and my stamina is very good. I rest up and stay hydrated.”

Junior Sarah Cooperman was third in the 200-free and 500-free.

Senior Caroline Valerio and sophomore Gabby LeBlanc also won two meets each for the Lady Wreckers. Valerio won the 100-yard butterfly (1:05.69) and 100-yard backstroke (1:08.30), and LeBlanc was victorious in the 200-yard individual medley (2:25.29) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:17.13).

Freshman Jordan Santarella took second in the 200-IM and 100-fly, Kaneko and junior Alexis Teixeira were two-three in the 100-back and Taets placed second in the 100-breaststroke.

Staples also dominated the relays. Valerio, LeBlanc, Abel and Raab won the 200-yard medley relay (2:00.96) and Teixeira, Taets, Santarella and Kaneko grabbed second in the 200-medley relay. Wimer, Raab, Taets and Cooperman prevailed in the 200-yard freestyle relay and junior Molly Rubidge, freshman Suzanne Hyman, sophomores Grace Meehan and Jocelyn Krim helped the B-team of the 200-free relay team take third. Wimer, Santarella, Cooperman and Abel powered the 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:56.04) to victory.

East Lyme’s only win came in diving where senior Michelle Mastrianni took third (149.85) for Staples.

“I’m proud of the girls,” Wimer said. “They did what they needed to do to swim fast.”

The Lady Wreckers will be tested when then host a vastly improved Norwalk-Brien McMahon co-op team today at 4 p.m. and defending Class M champion Wilton Friday at 4 p.m.

“I see Norwalk as having the top 16 times in USA swimming and they are loaded,” Laux said. “It will be a close meet and I hope we can come out ahead.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

Lady Wreckers Strive to Swim Best Times

By Eliot Schickler

Getting through the FCIAC schedule will be the toughest task for the Staples girls swimming team.

Four of the five best teams in the state (Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien and Wilton) are in the FCIAC (Cheshire is the only non-FCIAC team in the top five) and chances are, Staples could be the best 5-5 or 6-4 team in the state. (Trumbull was the sixth best team last year).

Last year, the Lady Wreckers were 4-5 in the regular season, placed sixth at FCIACs, third in the Class LL championships and ninth at State Open. This year, Staples hopes to finish at 5-5 because it added Fairfield Ludlowe to its docket and if it upsets Trumbull (one of the five teams that are somewhat in its range), it can finish 6-4. The aim isn’t wins and losses but to improve times as the season progresses.

“We have a really good group of girls,” Lady Wreckers senior tri-captain Gabby Wimer said. “We’re excited and hope to swim best times and work hard. We’re looking forward to our first meet against Ludlowe [Friday Sept. 16]. We hope to have about the same record as last year with one more win because we swim against the best teams in the FCIAC. We have to take it one meet at a time, stay motivated and spirited and work together as a team.”

Staples will miss five mainstays from last year’s team — all who are swimming in college. Molly Loftus (distance freestyle) is the biggest loss for the Lady Wreckers and is swimming for the University of Tennessee. They will also miss diver Schaefer Andrews, Stephanie Nussbaum, Margot Bruce and Caitlin Wiederecht.

“We lose some key swimmers, Molly, Stephanie, Schaefer, Margot and Caitlin, all who scored in the state meet,” Staples Coach Mike Laux said.

Despite losing five stalwarts, the Lady Wreckers feel good because they return many solid swimmers who scored last year, including sophomore Verity Abel their Team MVP. Abel was dominant in freestyle events and the backstroke, setting the Class LL record in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 57.61 seconds. Abel continues to improve and when she graduates in 2014, she could leave Staples as its best swimmer ever.

“I think we have a good nucleus coming back and the team has a lot of potential,” Laux said. “We have some good kids coming back, plus some talented newcomers.”

Wimer is one of the top returnees and is expected to score in sprint freestyle events while guiding the team in the right direction. Senior tri-captains Caroline Valerio and Michelle Mastrianni also expect to provide strong leadership. Valerio swims the butterfly and backstroke while Mastrianni is a diver. Emily Greene is a senior who is expected to score in distance freestyle events.

“Our team has a lot of potential and we can end up with a pretty good record this year,” Valerio said. “We look decent coming into the season.”

Junior Sarah Cooperman is a strong distance freestyle performer and she’s been the top swimmer in her class since freshman year. Other juniors expected to score points are Anita Vohra (breaststroke and individual medley), Alexis Teixiera (backstroke and IM), Phoebe Corde (butterfly), Patricia Maragos (breaststroke and IM) and Becca Raab (sprint freestyle and backstroke).

Sophomore Gabby LeBlanc (IM and breaststroke) was a state finalist last year and expects to be formidable. Jocelyn Krim (butterfly and sprint freestyle) is an improved sophomore and is expected to contribute.

Freshman Jessi Taets (breaststroke and IM) is expected to make a big splash this year.

The Lady Wreckers hope to be solid in diving. Complementing Mastrianni are sophomore Anna Violette, the gymnastics team’s Block S MVP and newcomer to diving, and freshman Olivia Crosby.

“The other divers are relatively new,” Mastrianni said. “Anna is an amazing gymnast and is learning how to dive. Olivia is also a gymnast and is learning. If they get all their dives, they will do very well. I’m glad we have three girls competing.”

If Staples was in a different conference, it could go 9-1 or even better. But it’s a different story in the FCIAC.

“I’d like to finish 5-5, 6-4 would be great and even better but we’d have to beat a team we’re an underdog to,” Laux said. “I’d like to finish in the top half of FCIAC, top five in Class LL and top 10 in State Open.”

Reprinted from the Westport News

MSG Varsity Covers Swim Across the Sound

MSG Varsity (channel 14 on Optimum Cable) did a story on the the Staples High School Swim Across the Sound team.

Staples Finished Fifth in Swim Across the Sound

The Staples High School Swim Across the Sound team finished fifth among relay teams and fifth overall in the 24^th annual Swim Across the Sound Marathon, which took place on Saturday, August 6. The team, which was captained by Joss Abel, crossed the Sound in just over six hours (6:05:02) and was one of 35 relay teams that made the 15.5 mile journey from Port Jefferson, N.Y. to Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport.

The team included Joss’s sister Verity, his brother Larry, Gabrielle Wimer and Kyle Bacon. Gabrielle, Joss and Kyle will be seniors at Staples and co-captains of their respective SHS swim teams this year. Verity will be a sophomore and Larry, who graduated from Staples in 2010, is entering his sophomore year at Susquehanna University, where he swims for the Crusaders.

The Staples High School team raised over $11,000 for the St. Vincent’s Swim Across the Sound Foundation. (Last year the Staples team placed 14th, and raised over $10,000.) The St. Vincent’s Foundation provides cancer education, screening and prevention programs for the greater Bridgeport community regardless of whether people have health insurance or not. “We are fortunate to live in Westport, with all its facilities,” said Joss. “But right next door is Bridgeport, where 21 percent of residents live below the poverty line.”

The Staples team swam in honor of Masato Sakaguchi, the four-year-old brother of Fairfield swimmers Miki, Tomoya, Toshi and Yumi. Masato passed away last July after a two-year battle with brain cancer. Verity described him as a “ray of sunshine.” Gabrielle said that they lost a member of their “swim family” when Masato passed away. The Staples swimmers and the Sakaguchi siblings have swum together for years on the Westport Weston Family Y’s Water Rat Swim Team.

The swim also was a celebration of Paul Abel’s good health. The father of the Abel siblings recently passed his five-year cancer-free milestone after a bout with colon cancer.

Click to view photos of the Swim Across the Sound.

Photo above shows, left to right: Kyle, Verity, Gabrielle, Joss and Larry.

Staples Swimmers to Cross Long Island Sound

BRIDGEPORT – Representing the Staples High School Swimming and Diving Team are five young people, impressive not only as athletes, but as individuals. The Staples High School team will participate Saturday, Aug. 6 in the 24th Annual Swim Across the Sound Marathon. St. Vincent’s Swim Across the Sound provides cancer education, screening, and prevention programs for the community. These athletes join a field of over 250 swimmers for a 15.5 mile journey across the Long Island Sound from Port Jefferson, N.Y. to Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport.

Raising over $10,000 last year, and finishing in the top third, the Staples High School team will compete again with returning swimmer Kyle Bacon, 16. Kyle is joined this year by Jocelyn (“Joss”) Abel, 17, his brother, Laurence (“Larry”), 19, their sister, Verity, 15, and their friend, Gabrielle (“Gabby”) Wimer, 16. This year they are swimming in honor of Masato Sakaguchi, the 4-year-old brother of Fairfield swimmers Miki, Tomoya, Toshi and Yumi. Masato passed away last July after a two-year battle with brain cancer and Verity describes him as a “ray of sunshine”. Gabrielle says that they lost a member of their “swim family” when Masato passed away. The Sakaguchi children have swum with the Staples swimmers for years on the Westport Weston Family Y’s Water Rat Swim Team.

“We hope to bring the same tenacity, determination, and optimism to the swim as Masato brought to his battle with cancer. His spirit will be with us during the swim, and his smile will be in our thoughts, Joss said.”

Each relay team must raise $7,500, averaging about $1,500 a swimmer. At this year’s event, which is open to the public, the fastest swimmers are expected to cross the finish line at approximately 2:30 p.m., depending on the weather. The majority of the field will jockey for the finish line at about 4:30 p.m. with an awards ceremony to follow at 7 p.m. at Captain’s Cove Seaport.

Reprinted from The Minuteman

Editor’s Note: Click if you wish to support the Staples team by donating to Swim Across the Sound.

Abel Siblings Swim to Help Cancer Victims

By Eliot Schickler

Swimming and altruism intersect when countless people participate in Swim Across the Sound Aug. 6.

Larry, Joss and Verity Abel along with Gabby Wimer and Kyle Bacon will do their part as members of the Staples High School Swim Across the Sound relay team by raising funds for St. Vincent’s Medical Center Foundation, which provides cancer support for under-insured and uninsured people.

The Abels, Wimer and Bacon are also swimming in honor of Masato Sakaguchi, the 4-year-old brother of Fairfield swimmers Miki, Tomoya, Toshi and Yumi, who passed away last July after a two-year battle with brain cancer.

“We’re a swimming family and we want to swim for a very good cause,” Verity said. “We wanted to swim in honor of Masato Sakaguchi.”

Last year, the Staples team raised more than $10,000 and placed 14th. The team would like to raise $20,000 this year. Joss, Wimer and Bacon will be senior captains next year for their respective teams. Verity will be a sophomore and Larry, who graduated in 2010, is entering his sophomore year for Susquehanna University and swims for the Crusaders.

“I think it will be great being on a team with my siblings, Kyle and Gabby but especially my siblings because we’re a family team and it will be a great experience,” Larry said.

Joss said, “I’m excited to swim with my family because it’s a family-oriented event and I haven’t swum with them in awhile. It will be cool.”

Verity said, “I think it’s going to be very fun and I like to do things with my family.”

Swim Across the Sound is also personal for the Abel siblings because their mother, Linda, worked at St. Vincent’s for many years and their father, Paul, is a cancer survivor. Paul was afflicted with colon cancer, which has been in remission for five years.

“It brings it closer to home because without the research at Sloan-Kettering, he would not be with us today,” Joss said. “I’m looking forward to the swim because it’s for a good cause and it’s relevant to the swimming community. We lost a few members of the swimming community and it’s a good way to raise funds towards cancer research.”

In addition to Sakaguchi, YMCA Water Rats mom Maura Marden died last September and Staples boys swimming coach Jeff Schare’s mom, Eve, passed away in 2002 from cancer.

“We were thrilled when we found out he’s [their father] OK, but we have to remember it doesn’t always work out for others,” Larry said. “It gives us a true feel for it and luckily for us, it wasn’t as tragic as it was for many others.”

Photo above: The Abel siblings, Larry (left), Joss and Verity (far right) will swim for the Staples High School Swim Across The Sound team Aug. 6 to raise funds for St. Vincent’s Medical Center Foundation, which provides cancer support for under-insured and uninsured people. Their mother Linda (second from right), worked as an occupational therapist at St. Vincent’s.

Reprinted from The Westport News

Wreckers Swim Across the Sound

For the second year in a row, Staples Swimming has created a relay team that will Swim Across the Sound.

On August 6, 2011, five current and past Staples swimmers will participate in St. Vincent’s Hospital’s Swim Across the Sound, swimming 15.5 miles to raise money to support cancer patients.

Last year, the Staples team placed 14th with a four-person team and raised over $10,000. This year, the team has expanded to five swimmers who hope to beat both those achievements.

The Staples Swim Across the Sound team includes:

• Verity Abel
• Gabrielle Wimer
• Joss Abel
• Laurence Abel
• Kyle Bacon

The Staples team will swim in honor of Masato Sakaguchi – the four-year-old brother of Fairfield swimmers Miki, Tomoya, Toshi, and Miku — who passed away last July after a two-year battle with brain cancer. The Staples swimmers hope that one day children like Masato will be able to beat their cancer. That is why they ask you to support them. They would greatly appreciate any donation that you can make (no amount is too small).

Please click to contribute to their effort by credit card.

Thank you for your support.

Loftus’s Success Leads to Swimming for D1 School

By Eliot Schickler

Molly Loftus epitomized dependability and success in the pool.

Whether she swims for the Staples girls swimming team, for whom she was a captain for this fall, the Westport YMCA Water Rats or next year in college, Loftus has always been consistent and has come through in big races. The Rats are especially confident she’ll deliver for them at the YMCA National championships next month.

“Being with a great group of teammates, family and friends made me strive to improve and my coaches helped me out a lot,” Loftus says.

Staples Coach Mike Laux appreciates what Loftus has meant to the program and bestowed upon her the Rich Rollins award. Rollins is Laux’ predecessor and the award is given to the senior swimmer who has given her most to the team for the past four years.

“I felt very accomplished after my four years at Staples and I couldn’t figure out a better way to end my career at Staples,” Loftus says. “I was grateful to receive the Rollins award,”

Sophomore year, Loftus was the Block S team MVP.

“I always looked up to the older girls on the team and I never thought I’d get the award,” Loftus recalls.

All four years, she earned All-FCIAC and All-State honors. Senior year, Loftus won the 500-yard freestyle at the FCIAC championships with a time 5:10.51 and at the Class LL championships (5:03.44).

“I was lucky to have a group of upperclassmen to set the tone early on and good underclassmen the last two years,” Loftus says. “I looked up to the upperclassmen when I was younger and as an upperclassmen, I try to set the tone for the underclassmen.”

Laux was impressed with her success from the moment Loftus began swimming for him.

“Dedication and hard work,” Laux says on the key to Loftus’ success. “She’s an excellent, versatile and able swimmer with a good work ethic and a wonderful personality. “She swam four events for us all four years and we’ll miss her a lot.”

Distance events have been her forte since all four years for the Lady Wreckers. The longer the distance, the more comfortable and confident Loftus feels in the pool.

“It’s mostly about having a different mindset and I have fun with it,” Loftus says on how she became a distance swimmer instead of a sprinter. “I guess from an early age, I was more of a distance swimmer. Distance swimmers are aggressive and thrive on pounding ourselves with longer sets. We like to challenge ourselves.”

For Staples, she swam the 200-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle (at home meets, the 200-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle) and two relays. Although most people see the 200-free as a distance event, for Loftus, it’s more like a sprint because she swims the 1,000-meters and the mile for the Rats.

“There’s definitely a strategy in the 200,” Loftus says. “It’s definitely a challenge and I have to change my mindset. I have to think faster and quicker and focus on the finer aspects of my race.”

Loftus feels like she’s in her element when swimming the 500-free.

“Even though it’s not as long as the 1,000, I still see it as a distance event,” Loftus says. “It’s middle distance for me. I try to break it up into 100s [five intervals of 100 yards each] so I don’t get overwhelmed by it.”

The 1,000-free requires more endurance and Loftus adjusts her strategy for it.

“I break it up in half, the first 500 and the second 500,” she says. “In the first 500, I try to stay relaxed and aggressive and maintain my speed for the next 500 so I can break through a wall and the race becomes easier.”

Swimming the mile is the toughest, even for a distance-oriented swimmer like Loftus because it drains its participants. Nevertheless, she figures out a way to roll with it.

“I always have a plan for that one, I have to stay relaxed but make sure my muscles warm up,” Loftus says. “It’s hard if you try and it’s hard if you don’t try, so you might as well try.”

Last year at YMCA Nationals, Loftus medaled in the mile by taking 16th place with a time of 17:18.

“It felt great and I hope to do better this year,” Loftus says. “I was excited after my race but whenever I come out of the water [after swimming the mile], I’m very tired.”

Water Rats Senior Coach Ellen Johnston said, “Molly has the ability to get into a rhythm and gets stronger as the training sets get longer. This transfers quite well to swimming the longer races. ”

Swimming relays is another strength of hers. Loftus helped the Lady Wreckers out by swimming relays. She contributed to the team’s success usually as the leadoff or anchor leg for the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle relay teams.

“Definitely, practicing safe starts is important,” Loftus says. “Maintaining a good position so your teammates can hold the lead or catch up is also important. If you’re in a position where you have to catch up, you give it all you have.”

One challenging aspect of relays for Loftus is that the events are like a sprint for her because she swims either 50 or 100 yards. Adjusting her mindset to handle the shorter distance isn’t a problem because of her ability to see the big picture.

“Relays are definitely more exciting, which fuels you,” Loftus says. “It’s a matter of being in the moment, swimming with your teammates and your obligation to them. This often helps me get through sprinting events.”

Life in the pool began for her at age 6. Loftus chose swimming because her older sisters Kellen and Emma swam. Kellen swam for Staples before graduating in 2006.

“I looked up to them when I was younger,” Loftus says. “I tried other sports but swimming was what I was interested in. I like being free in the water and it feels natural to me. It draws a great group of people.”

Leadership is a strength of hers as well as Loftus served as captain. She mostly led by example but also guided the team verbally when she needed to.

“It was an unreal experience and I never thought I’d get this close in my high school career,” Loftus says. “I never thought I’d be with this [great] group of girls and finish my four years like this. From time to time, it helps to lead verbally as well but for the most part, I lead by example.”

Academically, she excels in the classroom. Anatomy of physiology is her favorite subject.

“Swimming helps me manage my time better,” Loftus says. “It creates more structure. I don’t have too much free time and I always do something constructive. The biggest challenge is morning practice and I have to go to bed early the night before.”

Next year, Loftus will be swimming at the Division I level. She’s undecided about her major but would like to be a veterinarian.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge but I’ll try to stay positive and have great influences on the team,” Loftus says. “I’ll try to stay on top of it with college life and swimming and hope to be successful there.”

[Editor's Note: After this article was published in the Westport News, Loftus announced that she had agreed to swim for the University of Tennessee.]

Reprinted from the Westport News

« Previous Page — Next Page »