Levittown High School Swim Team Named Conference Co-Champions

LEVITTOWN, NY — For the second straight year, the Levittown girls high school swim team has been crowned conference champions.

The team, consisting of 30 girls from Division Avenue and General Douglas MacArthur high schools, defeated Oceanside 138-0 on Tuesday to earn a sparkling 6-0-1 record in conference two meets. Their only tie: a draw against Farmingdale, which earned the other co-champion title.

Last year, the team went unbeaten in conference three and was rewarded by being moved up to conference two.

Peter Groner, head coach for the team who has overseen back-to-back conference championships for the team, told Patch on Wednesday he was "extremely excited" after the meet.

"This is our second consecutive championship," he said. "We moved up to conference two, a much more competitive conference, and we were pleasantly surprised. The girls did fantastic."

The team has specialists for the four strokes: Freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke, as well as short and long distance.

The secret to the team's success is its depth.

"We're able to put good swimmers in each event," Groner said. "Whereas competitors are able to put one star in an event, we’re successful because we score a lot of 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths in the top five."

He added: "We have 30 girls and all 30 contribute."

Two swimmers set team records this year: Angelina Fazzino set a new mark in the 500 yard freestyle and Nadia Ayari set a team record in the 1 meter dive.

Groner commended the five team captains for their "tremendous" leadership this season: Grace Connors, Alyssa Bourquin, Christina Galiatsatos, Kimberly Ng and Sabina Sobhy.

He also highlighted five top swimmers who qualified for the county championships, to be held in two weeks: Isabella Bonagura, Greta Stroka, Mia Bacani, Cassidy Steiner and Evelyn Sun.

The girls work extremely hard to compete, Groner said. On top of school, they practice for 1 1/2 hours a day five days a week starting in late August. The team swims roughly 3,000 yards each workout.

"Our workouts are intense," he said.

The team will compete in the division championships next week.