SEALS CLAIM VICTORY IN FIRST MEET OF 2019 SEASON
By Contributor Jim Riley
The Southbridge Seals started off the 2019 Prince William Swim League summer season with a win at Veterans Park June 15, downing the Marlins by a score of 2,677.5 to 1,951.5.
The Seals took first place in 14 of the 19 relay events and in 35 of the 48 individual events. Twenty-two team members recorded 52 “Top 25 Times” in the league for the week including Sebastian Villanueva who recorded the fastest time in the county for the Boys 9-10 50 Meter Free. Nine Seals relay teams placed among the league’s “Top 15 Times” for the week in their events.
Seals swimmers who made the Top 25 are: Sebastian Villanueva (Free, IM, Breast); Emily Le (Free); Isabelle Norman (Free, Back); Justin Shahateet (Free. IM, Fly); Zach Alachnowicz (Free, Fly); William Murphy (Free); Caila Sullivan (Free, Back); Alyssa Giovinazzo (Free, Back, Fly); Ainsley Juhlin (Free, IM, Breast); Bryce Haslem (IM, Breast, Fly); Catherine King (IM, Back); Jacob Lattanzi (IM, Back, Breast); Mason Parkzes (IM BK, Breast); Arielle Grabowski (IM Breast, Fly); Owen Howery (IM, Breast, Fly); Lindsay Juhlin (M, BR, Fly); Eric Le (Back, Breast, Fly); Colin Murphy (Back, Breast); Mylin Windley (Back); Jordan Mumford (Back, Fly); Ryan Parkzes (Breast, Fly); and Stella Nolan (Breast, Fly).
The top five swimmers for the Seals with the most cumulative time improvements were: Alex Gualavisi – 23 seconds; Carson Hamblin -14 seconds; Bryce Haslem – 17 seconds; Christina Johnson – 37 seconds; and Mason Parkzes – 29 seconds.
Two team relay records were broken in the Boys 11-12 Medley Relay (Justin Shahateet, Jacob Lattanzi, Ben Villaneuva and Zach Alachnowicz) and the Girls 13-14 Free Relay (Caila Sullivan, Alyssa Giovinazzo, Stella Nolan and Lindsay Juhlin.)
“The kids did amazing job competing and I saw a lot of swimmers overcome some nerves and successfully complete new events,“ stated Greg Giovinazzo who is in his sixth year as head coach. “The first meet of the season really serves as a baseline to measure our progress as the season goes on. We had several swimmers that had huge time improvements from the previous season.”
The Seals are the official swim team of Southbridge on the Potomac located in Southbridge, Va., and includes swimmers from the Southbridge, Potomac Shores, and other surrounding communities in southeastern Prince William County. This year, the Seals have moved up into the PWSL’s Green Division after winning the Black Division championship in 2018. They will face off against Brookside and Westridge for the division championship July 27 at Westridge. Founded in 2009, they have won division championships in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018.