Middle and Upper School Swimmers Make a Splash

By Sports Boosters

The swim program at AIS continues to gain enthusiasm and skill. This year, both Middle and Upper Schools are making a splash in inter-school competition.

The Upper School swim team competed against St. Francis before the holidays with the girls’ team winning handily and the boys losing by a razor-thin margin. The team really showed its talent in the relay events, with Eve Laurent, Alison Lenz, Amy O’Halloran, and Ciara O’Halloran winning the 200m medley relay, Charles Laurent, Christian Mustroph, Floris ten Lohuis, and Martijn ten Lohuis winning the 200m freestyle relay, and Merlin Fabian, Elliot Forman, Bradley Leatherwood, and Brandon Lenz winning the 400m freestyle relay.

Coach Samy Naquib noted, “This team is doing very well and is having a wonderful learning experience, especially in light of the limited time and facilities for practice. Discipline like this will carry over into many other endeavors.” Other team members representing AIS in the water are Rana El-Nahas, Caroline Geiger, Samantha Grayman, Trisha James, Guillaume Le Balle, Ari Levinson, Annika McNally and Alex Taylor.

The Middle School swim team is a dedicated group of students who are working hard to improve their techniques and times at each practice. This effort is paying off with improved stroke techniques and continuously improving times. After only two weeks of practice, the team was able to show great results at the Pace Academy meet. Emily Cohen, Caroline Gould, Lara Khoury, and Naomi O’Halloran won the 200m girls’ medley relay. Nadine Marfurt won both the 50m freestyle and the 200m freestyle, and Yu Chi Chang won thirf place in the 100m backstroke. Other swimmers who are contributing to the team’s success are Sophie Archer, Matei Dan, Anais dePotesta, Giles Geddes, Annaliese Hermann, Keto Kacharava, Christina Lanier, Salome Lezhava, Tegan Madden, Ivana Martinez-Gonzalez, and Tabatha Yelos. Coach Aurelian Noyelle urges everyone, “Come out to see our next swim meet on the 19th of January at Westminster. Records could be broken!”