Swimmers dive into the deep end of personal bests

The Carrollwood Village swim teams close out the season on a lot of high notes - more than 100 personal best times among them.

Swimmers on the Carrollwood Village swim teams established more than 100 personal best times at recent meets as both the junior and senior teams wrapped up the summer season for 2003.

Competing in a field of 52 teams, Carrollwood's junior team placed ninth in the Florida Swimming Junior Olympic Championships in late July in Orlando. Then the senior team placed third in the Florida Senior Championships at Fort Pierce.

Then, on Aug. 3, a dozen top swimmers from both teams combined to place third nationally in the Open Water Championships in Fort Lauderdale.

Emeri Lewkowicz, 13, led the younger team with a pair of gold medals in the Junior Olympics. She won the 400 meters individual medley (IM) and the 200 butterfly. She also placed fourth in the 200 IM, fifth in the 100 butterfly and sixth in the 100 breaststroke.

Gina Mayer, 13, won silver in the 1,500 freestyle, placed fifth in the 800 freestyle and sixth in the 400. Brittany Boldizsar, 14, placed sixth in the 200 butterfly.

For the 9-10 age group for girls, Katie Cook, 10, took fourth in the 50 and 400 freestyle and fifth in both the 200 freestyle and 200 IM.

In boys competition, Stephen Sheridan, 14, won silver in the 200 butterfly and bronze in the 100 butterfly. Matthew Attal, 14, won bronze in the 200 butterfly, and 9-year-old Andreas Hatoum placed fourth in the 100 breaststroke and sixth in the 200 breaststroke.

Although none of the Carrollwood relay teams won gold, Jenn-Jenn Mackey, 13, and Megan Cook, 14, joined Lewkowicz and Boldizsar to take silver in a close race for the girls 200 medley.

For 10-and-under girls, Victoria Oslund, 10; Olivia Zayas, 8; Paige Russell, 10; and Katie Cook placed fifth in the 200 freestyle relay.

The boys didn't medal in any of the relays, but they placed in the top six in four races.

Sullivan Lynch, 13; Dustin Frissell, 14; Attal and Sheridan placed fourth in the 400 freestyle, fifth in the 200 freestyle and 200 medley, and sixth in the 400 medley.

"The younger kids closed out the season on a positive note," said head Carrollwood coach Jim Kelly. "They improved on more than 40 individual events, and some of them will start high school competition in a month with positive results for the summer and excitement about their first prep season."

All-American distance swimmer Grant Nelson, 17, led the senior team with gold medals in the 800 and 400 freestyle and a silver in the 400 freestyle. He placed seventh in the 1,500 freestyle.

Jeff Mueller, 16, won the gold for the 1500 freestyle. He added silver in the 800 freestyle and bronze in the 400 freestyle, plus he finished fifth in the 400 IM and sixth in the 200 butterfly.

Cesar Crovo, 16, placed seventh in the 200 butterfly, to close out senior boys results.

For senior girls, Becky Bird won silver in the 800 freestyle, bronze in the 400 freestyle and added a fourth-place finish in the 1500 freestyle and sixth in the 200 freestyle. Carly Cavalieri, 15, placed fifth in both the 100 and 200 backstroke.

Lewkowicz and Mayer moved up from the junior team to add points for the seniors.

Lewkowicz won silver in the 200 butterfly and sixth in the 400 IM. Mayer was fifth in the 800 freestyle and sixth in the 1500 freestyle.

Boldizsar, Mayer and Foster joined Bird for a fifth-place finish in the 800 freestyle relay.

Just to get in one more race before school, 12 members of the Carrollwood team went to Fort Lauderdale on Aug. 3 to compete in a series of open water races in the Atlantic. Although the other teams were state all-stars, Carrollwood competed with only its club members and placed third nationally.

Mueller won the 5000-meter race and Sheridan won bronze in the 3000 meters for boys 13-14. Crovo was seventh in the 5000 meters race for the older boys.

Bird won silver for 18-and-under girls in the 5000 freestyle, and Cavalieri was fifth for the same age group in the 3000 meters.

For 13- to 14-year-old girls, Mayer took silver in the 3000 meters and Megan Cook won bronze in the same race. Also in that age group for the 3000 meters, Adrienne Fernandez was fourth and Boldizsar was fifth.

"All the kids who qualified for the Junior Olympics and Senior Championships finished with a great season," Kelly said. "Now we take a short break and get ready for the winter season."

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