GPYC Swim Team

A Season To Remember!

Under the coaching staff of Head Coach Jimmy Singelyn, Assistant Head Coach Bill Thompson, and Assistant Coaches Elizabeth Bourke, Genevieve Boutrous, Brennan Rogowski, Tory Roth, Nicole Sceglio, and Hannah Wheatley, the GPYC Sailfish finished 5th out of 14 teams at the Michigan Inter-Club Swimming Association (MICSA) finals held at the Birmingham Athletic Club July 29th through July 31st. In addition, they won the Corsan Challenge by raising over $8000 for the YMCA Detroit Swims Program.

Much fun was had through the season, from poster making to pizza parties to our Corsan Challenge Swim Event, where the Sailfish had the opportunity to swim and learn from the DeLoof Sisters. All three sisters are GPYC veterans, former University of Michigan, and most recently, Team USA Swim Team Members, with Catie having just won a bronze medal at last year’s Tokyo games!

Life in the Fast Lane was the 2022 MICSA Finals Theme, and the GPYC Sailfish took this to heart, with top 12 finishes to make it back to the finals. The top 12 swimmers from the preliminary events made it to the finals and received medals. The top 6 finishes were accomplished by many of the GPYC swimmers.

The GPYC Sailfish had some strong relay finishes. The Girls 200-meter Freestyle Relay, the team of Campbell Shore, Maria Melhem, Eleanor Early and Avery Beal finished 2nd . The mixed 8 & Under 100-meter medley relay, the team of Evie Melhem, Claire O’Connor, Daniel Early and Griffin Early finished 2nd. The Girls 200-meter medley relay with the team of Gabriella Mannino, Hannah Wheatley, Betsy Ropke and Isabella Zuk finished 6th.

In the breaststroke events, Clair O’Connor finished 3rd, and her sister Colette finished 5th in the Girls 8 & Under 25-meter breaststroke. For the Girls’ 9-10 50-meter breaststroke, Isabella Zuk finished 5th. In the Boys 9-10 50-meter breaststroke, Liam Zvirbulis finished 2nd, and Charles O’Connor finished 6th. Campbell Shore finished 5th in the Girls’ 13-14 50-meter breaststroke, and Avery Beal placed 6th in the Girls’ 15-16 50-meter breaststroke.

The following events featured freestyle. Evie Melhem placed 2nd in the Girls 8 & Under 50-meter freestyle. Griffin Early placed 3rd in 8 & Under 50-meter freestyle and 2nd in the 25-meter freestyle events. In the 11–12 year-old 50-freestyle, Gabriella Mannino finished 2nd. Eleanor Early finished 1st in the 9-10-year-old 50-meter freestyle, and Maria Melhem placed 3rd in the 11-12 year-old age group. Campbell Shore placed 3rd in the 13-14 year-old age group event. Avery Beal placed 3rd and Jacob Tomlinson 6th in the 15-17 year-old age group 50-meter freestyle events.

The backstroke events showed some strong GPYC Sailfish Swimmers with a GPYC record-breaking swim and a 1st place finish by Ronan Zvirbulis in the 9–10 year-old 50-meter backstroke. For the 8&Under Girls 25-meter backstroke, Evie Melhem finished strong in 1st place, followed by Claire O’Connor in 4th. Charles O’Connor rounded out the Boys’ 9-10 year-old backstroke event with a 6th place finish. The Girls’ 11-12 50-meter backstroke had Gabriella Mannino coming in 2nd. Butterfly also had a few great swims, starting with Daniel Early placing 4th in the 8 & Under 25-meter butterfly. 1st place finishes were accomplished by Eleanor Early and Ronan Zvirbulis in the 9-10 year old age group. In the 11-12 year-old age group, Maria Melham placed 5th overall; in the 13-14 year-old age group, Betsy Ropke finished 6th.

The individual medley (IM) had a GPYC recordbreaking swim and a 1st place finish by Liam Zvirbulis in the 9-10 year-old event. In the Girls

2022 GPYC Swim Team

9-10 year-old IM, Isabella Zuk placed 3rd. The season concluded with an awards banquet on August 3rd.

High Point Trophies were handed out to the swimmers with the most points during the duel meets.

The winners were:

8 & Under

9 & 10

11 & 12

13 & 14

15 – 17 Girls: Evie Melhem Boys: Griffin Early

Girls: Eleanor Early Boys: Liam Zvirbulis

Girls: Maria Melhem Boys: Johnny Sceglio

Girls: Campbell Shore

Girls: Sophie Schuetze Boys: Vincent Maffesoli

Swim Team Buddies During the 2022 season, two GPYC records were broken. Ronan Zvirbulis broke the 10 & Under 50 Backstroke with a time of 37.78 and Liam Zvirbulis broke the 10 & Under 100 IM with a time of 1:24.46.

Perpetual Trophies included the Commodore Frank Couzens Award and the Commodore James Marks Award were given to the swimmers who scored the most points in the combined duel meets throught the season for 12 & under and 13 & Over Respectively. This year’s winners were for the 12 & Under Evie Melhem and Liam Zvirbulis. The 13 & Over winners were Campbell Shore and Vincent Maffesoli.

The Dr. Jon Paulas Memorial Trophy is awarded to the girl and boy who obtained the highest points during the MICSA Championship meet. This year’s winners were Eleanor Early and Ronan Zvirbulis.

The Rookies of the Year for 2022 were Emma Topolinski and Johnny Peabody. The Coaches’ Awards went to Gabriella Mannino and Charles O’Connor

Sun, Fun & Swim

The Donna Vollmer Memorial Award was presented to Hannah Wheatley and Genevieve Boutrous.

The Fred Michalik Award went to Jacob Tomlinson. We look forward to next year. Please check out the swim team information on GPYC.org and reach out to the swim chairs with questions.