WILTON – It was cold outside, but warm in the pool for the ‘AA’ Invitational, hosted by the Wilton YMCA Wahoos at Melissa Nichols Pool.

To qualify for the three-day meet, swimmers (and there were hundreds representing four different states) must have achieved a National ‘AA’ time standard for their events. The top 12 qualifiers for each event in the short course preliminaries returned to the pool in the evenings to swim the long-course finals in the 50-meter pool.

A dozen Newtown residents representing various USS teams performed well, with six advanced to finals in multiple events.

Maricate Conlon, Matt Iassogna and Stefan Toi put in strong performances for the Brookfield Makos. Andrew Golankiewicz swam well for the Ridgefield Aquatic Club (RAC) and Dana Gnerre, Jimmy Gaston, Carol Ann Smith, Sally Tabler, Ryan Cahalane, Conor Deveney and Brendan Deveney swam well for Wilton.

The results –

 

Dana Gnerre (13/14) – Finished first in 50 free at 29.06, fourth in 100 free, eighth in 100 breast, 12th in 100 butterfly (Gnerre is ranked first in the state in the 11/12 age group in the 50 free). Maricate Conlon (15/16) – Finished seventh in the 100 back with a career-best 1:14.93 and 10th in the 200 back (she has qualified for Connecticut Seniors and State Age Group in that event). Brendan Deveney (11/12) – Finished first in both the 50 and 100 back, fourth in the 50 free, second in the 200 freeand 200 IM, seventh in the 100 breast and third in both the 50 fly and 100 IM and anchored the ‘A’ relay in a first-place finish. Conor Deveney (10) – Finished second in both the 100 back and 50 fly and top six in the 50 back, 100 IM, 200 IM, 50 free, 100 free and 200 free. Andrew Golankiewicz (11/12) – Finished seventh in 50 and 100 backstroke. Matt Iassogna (11/12) – Reached 50 fly final as first alternate. Stefan Toi (13/14) – Finished 11th in 400 IM. He has already qualified for Connecticut State Age Groups and Connecticut Seniors in multiple events. Jimmy Gaston (13/14) – Finished seventh in the 100 back and 200 fly, eighth in the 200 back, and went on to help the Wilton ‘A’ relays finish first. Ryan Cahalane (11/12) – Swam eight events and finished 11th in the 200 free.

In other Wilton news –

The Wahoos recently hosted their annual Distance Mania meet, with nearly 300 swimmers from around Connecticut (representing eight teams) participating.

The focus of the annual meet is to offer the longer distance events for the swimmer. The younger swimmers swam 200 yards in the butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke events as well as 500 yards in the freestyle and 400 yards in the individual medley.

Many of the Wahoos swam away with 1st place honors in the meet.

Local results –

 

Cahalane – 200 breaststroke (4th, 3:10.19); B. Deveney – 400 individual medley (1st, 5:06.04), 200 butterfly (2nd, 2:33.52), 200 backstroke (2nd, 2:21.66); C. Deveney – 500 freestyle (4th place, 6:59.69); Gaston – 200 backstroke (4th, 2:14.25), 1650 freestyle (3rd, 18:47.18); Gnerre – 400 individual medley (2nd, 5:18.88), 200 butterfly (2nd, 2:36.04), 200 breaststroke (1st, 2:43.71); Andrew Heller – 200 butterfly (3rd, 2:19.38).