Coach Menges emphasizes hard work and sportsmanship as the Stingrays gear up for their meet. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS)

ENP STAFF REPORTS
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Assistant Coach Stephanie Moran watches her 6 -year- old son Aiden's form as he readies on the block.  Teammate Jack Strong looks on.

In what looks to be a preview of the upcoming State Championships, the Lockport YMCA Stingrays traveled to Rochester last Saturday for the Winter Whiteout Invitational to compete against 23 other Y swim programs from across New York. Coach Tim Menges had his swimmers in top form, notching numerous personal best times and qualifying many more swimmers for States.

Leading the way was Lockport's Mark Crocker who demonstrated his dominance in all strokes, taking home an impressive silver medal in the grueling Pentathalon Competition. Highlighting his achievement were second place finishes in the 100 IM, 100 Fly, and 200 Free; while also placing third in the 50 Fly and 50 Free. Sam Murphy rocketed to first place finishes in both the 50 and 100 Breast. Other top Lockport finishers who punched their ticket to States are Madison Fragale (50 Free, 100 IM, and 50 Breast) and Zack Santarsiero (25 Fly). Even more impressive than qualifying for States in the 25 Breast and 25 Fly, eight year old Ava Thompson stole first place honors in the 200 Individual Medely.

Coach Menges was impressed with the versatility displayed by his swimmers. "It is so wonderful to see these young swimmers excelling in many different strokes. It truly is a testament to their hard work and focus in practice". In addition to adding more names to the Stingrays long list of State qualifiers, Coach Menges was quick to emphasis the number of personal best times that were also achieved. "Swimming is all about pushing yourself to be better every time you get in the pool. At this point in the season it is amazing to see the number of swimmers that are in top form for themselves".

The swimmers who posted personal best times were: Jack Strong (100 Free, 100 IM, 50 Breast, 50 Back, 50 Free, and 50 Fly), Henry Genewick (50 Free, 25 Back, and 50 Back), Savanah Pencille (100 IM, 50 Fly, and 100 Free), Meghan Mietlicki (50 Breast), and William Swartz (25 Free).

The Stingrays host their last home meet of the season this Saturday, January 10th at 1 pm at the Lockport High School pool.

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