Montclair Dolphins’ senior swimmers Nead Kojic and Leo Powers took first and second place in the 100-yard breaststroke at the Winter Classic swim meet in Ocean County, and Powers also took top spot in the 200-yard fly as the Dolphins excelled in all age groups, led by new coach Alex Boutov.

Powers finished on the podium in six events at the meet contested by eight New Jersey YMCA teams and hosted at the Ocean County YMCA in Tom’s River on December 17-19.

Dolphin Vicky Sluk had top three finishes in the 100 fly and 100 and 200 backstroke events for the 11-12 years olds.

Sam Holbech came in third in the 50 backstroke for 11-12 year-old boys.

The Dolphins sent a team of 49 swimmers to the event. They came away with a haul of 22 qualifying times for the Sunkissed Invitational Event, which takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the climax of the short-course season in March.

In addition to the top-three finishers, other swimmers that qualified for Charlotte were seniors Emily Cadogan, Ellen Last, Ryan McMahon and Katie Song. Of the 13-14 year olds, Sefina Morrison, Stella Bourne and Laruen Espiritu notched up Sunkissed times, while 11-12 year olds Charlotte Roeland and Jonas Foung also qualified.

Boutov was appointed the Dolphin’s head coach in September and has already guided the team to strong results in several meets.

The YMCA of Montclair Dolphins swim team offers a year-round opportunity for competitive swimming in both YMCA and USA Swimming competitions as well as seasonal instructional clinics for aspiring competitive athletes. The team is comprised of girls and boys from age 6 through high school.  Up to 200 athletes train with the team each year. They compete at all levels, based on their skill set.

Submitted by Simon Webb