The Girls Varsity Swim Team set a new St. Anthony’s 400 Free Relay record at the NYSPHSAA Federation Championships on Nov. 23rd. They placed 6th in the State overall.

Congratulations to Arabella Pompay, Briana Gellineau, Michaela Rutigliano, Mary McKenna

Freshman McKenna earned All American in the 500 Freestyle with a time of 4:51.33 at  Federations.

By Peter Kersich Newsday  September 11, 2019

Briana Gellineau, St. Anthony’s, Sr. 

She was named the St. Anthony's MVP for the past two years and will serve as team captain with Lily Lancellotti and Gracie Edmonds in her final season. She is a three-year state finalist and placed fourth in the 200-yard free last year. Gellineau holds the St. Anthony's 200 (1:49.46) and 500 freestyle (4:56.98) records and is the anchor of the 200-medley relay, 200-free relay and 500-free relay.

2019 Season

Team MVP: Briana Gellineau
Team Academic Scholar: Kathleen Scanlon 

After a catholic high school record of 9 consecutive Championships, the Lady Friars swim team finished in 3rd place to outstanding Sacred Heart and Mary Louis teams. Coaches Dan McBride, Liz Welling, and Kylie Danin couldn’t be more proud of the effort put in by this team. Many swimmers had to step up into big pressure spots they haven’t had to do before as well as swimmers moving to events they aren’t used to swimming. As a result, this all-out team effort yielded one of the most improved years we’ve ever had. At championships, all 4 of our entries in each event all qualified in the top two heats in finals. Those Friars made up a 34 point deficit only to fall 5 points short. The Friars were fighting hard as we always do. The leadership of his captains, Briana Gellineau, Lily Lancellotti,

and Gracie Edmonds, as well as his other 8 seniors, did an outstanding job of getting this team to work hard and swim way beyond all their personal goals.  The Lady Friars went on to finish 8th overall in the NYS Federation meet. They accomplished this with just 5 girls.

This team may have not held a plaque over their heads this year… but they sure swam like champions.

Head Coach Dan McBride

Dan McBride has been the Head Coach of St. Anthony’s Girls Swim Team for the past 31 years.  Dan’s Dual Meet record is 256 and 13. He has won 19 League Championships
7 Catholic HS State Championships
17 time league coach of the year and 3 time Long Island Coach of the Year
Dan is also a member of the St. Anthony’s High School Hall of Fame.

The girls swimming team has just come off of a pretty great 2018 season in which they won the state championships. The team was made up of a collection of many skilled swimmers that helped them in winning states. The girls can not take this year’s schedule lightly if they want to repeat as state champs. 

The team won the state championship in 2004, and 2011-2016 and are now on the hunt for their 10th title. That is impressive! The team is made up of 42 hardworking and talented girls with Dan McBride as their head coach who is in his 31st season. They start chasing that 10th championship at 6 am with practice and then go to school. They are up early enough to watch the sunrise, and I commend them for that, I would not have the will to do that. 

These girls have a balance between school and athletics, which can be hard for some students. As an athlete I can understand if these swimmers are stressed with the amount of homework and studying they have to do. When asked about balancing all the work, freshman Mary McKenna said, “Keeping up with my school work and sleep has been very important. Making sure I keep my grades up and getting to practice is hard but it’s what I like and we have a good team.” Mary is qualified in the 500 freestyle for this years New York State Championships. Mary is also qualified for the 800 and 1500 freestyle at the U.S Open at Georgia Tech in December. 

We also asked senior captions Briana Gellineau, Lilly Lancellotti, and Gracie Edmonds about balancing school work and athletics. Briana told us, “setting apart time for studying is a real thing. Freshman year I felt like, I will get to my studies later, but you can’t forget about your school work and do it later. There’s no later you have to be able to figure out a schedule.” Lilly agreed with Briana saying, “I totally agree, swimming and school require a lot of time. You have to manage your skills. It’s hard sometimes but it teaches you how to be good with your time.” Briana qualified for states in the 100 and 200 freestyle. Lilly’s main event is the 100 backstroke, and occasionally the 400 freestyle relay and the 100 butterfly.  

Gracie also talked about time management saying, “Yes, you have to know how to handle your time and even now I still have to remind myself to make sure I pay attention to my time, but we have a great team and everyone gets everything done.” The most important thing when balancing school and athletics, is time management. 

The journey to states is not an easy one. This year the team can win their 10th championship, which is very exciting. McKenna was asked, What’s been the most exciting part about being a friar and swimmer and anticipation of the team getting its 10th championship? She answered, “It’s a good feeling but I do get nervous at the meets and making sure I do well is important. I’m excited to swim for SA and look forward to champs.” This year’s state championship is at Ithaca College from November 21 through 23, where we hope they do very well! The girls must be very excited to go upstate. It can be very hard to sit in a car for up to 5 hours, but they have each other to pass the time. 

We asked the seniors on the team, what’s the most exciting part of being on the swim team? Briana said, “We definitely have some really good swimmers and freshman swimmers.” Lilly went more in depth saying, “It’s great having them here; they are the most friendly and really exciting to see all of them swim. They have so much energy. The atmosphere is great with this whole team. Watching the freshmen grow from the beginning of the season is exciting. Everyone is kind of nervous at the beginning but we get along so well and have so much fun.” Lastly, Gracie answered the question saying, “They are really free and superfast and super great we have so much fun. We all get along! It will be so exciting at champs we can’t wait.” The team has a great energy surrounding them.

The next meet is on October 29 at 6 pm at Chaminade against Sacred Heart. The athletes are ready to test the waters that lie ahead. Go Friars!

Araceli Ponce is a freshman at Saint Anthony’s High School, writing for her first year at Friar Scoreboard. She is also a member of Saint Anthony’s track team. In the future she plans to have a career in the field of sports or architecture.

At Chaminade  228-240 Emory Rd, Mineola, NY 11501

Head Coach Dan McBride

Hello Friars,

Due to a threat of lightning in the morning... I'm going to change practice to Friday morning.

**  My first concern was sunlight.  With a 6:27 sunrise, we've been fine with the amount of light at 6 am.  In fact, its been beautiful!

But, with a cloud cover, I was concerned.  

So I was contacting HPP about moving practice to Friday which is to be cooler... but clear.  Why not take the option if it's available to me, right?

In doing so, they have also agreed to turn lights on for us in the morning.  So we will have a clear sky, and lights at 6am on Friday!  Everything continues to fall in place for the Lady Friars!

Thank you all for understanding,

We are a go for Friday morning, 6-7am practice and a bus to school.  (less traffic on Fridays!)

GO FRIARS!!!

2019 GIRLS SWIM TEAM INFORMATION 
NEW SWIMMERS
APPRYSE

It is required that you register with Appryse at https://www.stanthonyshsh.rog/appryse/ (after July 22nd)
*** Please make sure your doctor physical is only ONE page.
You MUST be "Cleared" to swim... NO Exceptions

St. Anthony's Nurse Summer Clearance Hours
8am - 11am August 13th, 15th, 20th & 21st
8am- 1pm August 14th & 19th

GIRLS 2019 FALL TRYOUTS
LOCATION CHANGE AS OF 8/5/19
Tryouts this year for all NEW SWIMMERS will be held on
Tuesday September 3rd at 6am @ at Hidden Pond Park (the Rinx) 
**660 Terry Road, Hauppauge 

Tryouts for all CURRENT Girls Varsity Swimmers

LOCATION CHANGE 
**Hidden Pond Park (the Rinx) on 660 Terry Road, Hauppauge 
Tuesday August 27th at 6:00am (regular time)
You MUST be cleared to Swim! NO Exceptions

 Practice

**Hidden Pond Park, 660 Terry Road, Hauppauge

This is an outdoor pool and it's beautiful.  The water is also heated!
Practices are held every Tues. and Thurs. mornings from 6-7 am
The swimmers are then bused to St. Anthony’s for school.

 Meets
Our season consists of approx. 7-8 dual meets vs. other Catholic Schools in the NSCHSGAA League.  Our “home” meets are held on Sat. evenings.  We also have one non-league meet in Jan. (boys and girls teams) vs. Paul VI which is a travel meet every other year. ** This year will be a Travel meet

Champs
“Champs” is a two day Trial/Final pre-seeded meet.  It is mandatory to attend this meet whether you are swimming in the meet or not.  For more info on Champs:  please see the article in the “Coaches Corner” of our website.  www.FriarSwimming.com

States
Qualifying times are posted on our web site.  Please click on the “cut times” button.  States this year will be held at Ithaca College.

Web Site
Our team web site is:   www.FriarSwimming.com

General Info
We are one Varsity team consisting of all grades 9-12.
Head Coach Dan McBride - friarswimcoach@gmail.com

Twitter @friarswimming