On Saturday, July 23, the Syosset Woodbury Aquatic Team (S.W.A.T) continued its season with a home meet against Parkwood of Great Neck. S.W.A.T., which is a swim team composed of kids ages 6-16 from the Syosset area, competes mainly for fun, in Division IV of the Nassau Municipal Swim Conference (NMSC). For more than 30 years the teams of the NMSC have served as fun, competition and a great way to cool off for kids ages 6-16 throughout Nassau County. In the first week of the season back on July 9, Syosset edged out a home win against rival Wantagh by a score of 160-150. In the weekend that followed came another home meet for the kids, this one against Hempstead, which the S.W.A.T. also won to extend the team's record to 2-0 and continue a three-meet winning streak that dates back to last season.

The third weekend of the season brought another tough opponent in Parkwood, that had moved down from Division III at the start of this season. Coming into the meet Parkwood was 1-1, with a win over Christopher Morley and a loss to the division leader, Bethpage. As 8 AM neared, the coaches scrambled to make last minute lineup changes and to get their kids ready for the meet. The entire meet was close as one team would jump ahead by winning a race, and the other team would answer right back in the next race. The start of the meet brought four medley relays, where a team of four swimmers must each complete 50 yards, one swimmer doing backstroke, another breaststroke and the final two performing butterfly and freestyle. The teams split the relays even, as Syosset took the junior boys and senior boys medley relays, while Parkwood took both girls events to tie the score at 10 a piece. Next up were the freestyle events, in which the teams continued to swim evenly. Syosset got first place efforts from Nick Woska, Matty Kimura, Nina Sabitini and Mike Maglione. Parkwood took first place in five events, but Syosset was able to garner enough second place finishes with the help of Mike Roemer and Belle Peng to keep the score close. After 12 events, Parkwood was ahead by 2, 48-46.

In the 8 backstroke events, Parkwood took charge. The team outscored Syosset 16-1 in the 8 and under section, pushing the lead to 64-47. Syosset would later add five first place finishes from Roemer, Olivia Garcia, Victoria Ruvolo, Scott Holtzman, Tom Hardy and Emily Forthofer, but it wouldn't be enough as the S.W.A.T. was still down 89-75 after the backstroke events. Despite this, the S.W.A.T. stayed with their game plan and mounted a huge comeback during the breaststroke events by taking a 114-110 lead after 28 events. First place finishes from Woska, Holtzman, Didi and Belle Peng, which were aided by strong swims from Sabitini, Ellyn Eivers and Scott Dunn helped the S.W.A.T. to outscore Parkwood by 18 points and reclaim the lead. The team from Great Neck would not be out-done though, as they tied up the meet during the butterfly events by taking first in four of the six events competed. Kimura and Hardy had first place swims for the S.W.A.T., but Parkwood would tie the score at 134. With only three events left to go, it was only fitting that a meet so competitive would come down to the final relays. Whichever team could win two of the three races would win the meet; it was as simple as that. The junior girls free relay was first. The relays were again composed of four swimmers, except this time each athlete would swim 50 yards of freestyle. Syosset's relay of Jill Murray, Amanda Garcia, Cynthia Racz and Emily Dunn won the junior girls race with a time of 3:05.52, giving the S.W.A.T. a strong advantage. Parkwood answered again though, by winning the junior boys race. Finally, the meet would come down to the final event, the senior girls free relay, and it was Syosset who pulled it out. The team of Marissa and Sara Kenn, Kiana Sarabia and Whitney Hoyas took first place, giving Syosset the win, 144-139. With the win Syosset continues their win streak and is now 3-0 on the season and Parkwood falls to 1-2 with the loss.

The S.W.A.T. continue their season this Saturday, July 30, with an away meet against Bethpage at 8 AM. The final meet of the season for the S.W.A.T. will be on August 6 against Christopher Morley. The team is open to all Town of Oyster Bay children ages 6-16 (as of June 1), as long as they are able to swim 50 yards freestyle without stopping and are members of the Syosset-Woodbury Pool. For more information you may contact the coaches by stopping by the pool's lifeguard office or meet them at practice, which is held Monday through Friday from 9 - 10:30 am at the pool. Please remember this is a swim team, not swimming lessons.