Bellmore-Merrick confident against Garden City

In a battle of undefeated teams, Bellmore-Merrick (3-0) will take on Garden City (3-0) with hopes of dethroning the Trojan dynasty that has reigned over Nassau County for the past 12 years.

Garden City has won 12-straight division titles and hasn’t lost a meet in that span. Head coach Anne Sullivan has acknowledged that Bellmore-Merrick is the Trojans’ biggest competition this season.

Bellmore-Merrick is coming off its second-straight division title and a third-place finish in last year’s county championships. While head coach Rob Kaefer didn’t want to go too far and guarantee a win, he did say he is very confident in his team.

“We are definitely the strongest team in the county other than Garden City,” Kaefer said. “I’m not saying we will win tomorrow, but we definitely have the potential to beat them.”

Bellmore-Merrick is led by freshman Kerry Giovannello, who already broke two school records with her times in the 200 and 500 freestyles. She has also qualified for the state championships with a time of 1:57.14 in the 200 freestyle.

Garden City is led by junior Lindsay Schlichte, who qualified for the state championships with a time of 5:07.82 in the 500 freestyle.