It’s fun to stay at the YMCA for the Patriots swimming team! The famous Village People lyric will serve its purpose once again this winter, as coach Sean Leahy’s team looks to improve upon the 3-8 boys and 5-6 girls seasons last year.

The boy’s squad will swim on the road five times while hosting two teams. Home meets are scheduled for January 7 vs. Wall and January 21 vs. Howell. They will begin their season with road meets on December 10 and 12 vs. Shore and Ranney, respectively. Between January 23-27, they will visit Midd South, Manalapan, and Ocean Township to close out the season.

The girls only have four meets scheduled, with three on the road and one at home. They will attend supporting meets on December 10 at Shore, December 12 at Ranney, January 7 vs. Wall, and January 27 at Ocean Township.

Seniors on the swimming team are Kevin Carr, Carmine Esposito, and Shireef Moharm of the boys team. The girls feature Jamila Abreu, Hailey Bagley, Lauren Dong, Jamie Francese, Emily Janczewski, Victoria Jones, and Madeline Mintzer.

Joseph Musto is the sole representative of the Patriots junior class for the boys. Melinda Gorton, Amy Habib Jessica Aronson, Atreyi Menon, Aubrey Trentacoste, and Jianna Widi are members of the girl’s junior class.

The sophomore class includes Ricky Lim, Zachary Nelson, Bryan Stein, Steven Trudell, and Justin Vaage on the boys’ side, while the girls contain Julianna Hermann, Samantha Holland, Alianna Joannou, Grace Lehman, and Unha Suerro Torres.

Patriot Nation would also like to give a warm welcome to six new freshmen on the swim team. Nate Olsen, Colin Whitlock, and Brayden Widi look to make names for themselves on the boys’ side, while Grace Meehan, Madison Posniak, and Milana Sirna will dive in as Patriots for the first time for the girls.

Both teams were eliminated in the first round of the NJSIAA Tournament the previous season. Will the swimmers reach an all-time high in 2024-25? What will be their next accomplishments? Stay classy in order to find out. Go Patriots!