St. Anthony's girls swim team is as close as family
St. Anthony's Kylie Danin wins the girls 200 intermediate medley during the CHSAA girls swimming championships/state qualifiers on Sunday Nov. 9, 2014. Credit: Richard T. Slattery
Kylie Danin knew as a freshman that she wanted to be like her big sister. She wanted to compete in a state tournament, she wanted to be a captain on the St. Anthony's swim team, and she wanted to go to a Division I college.
Now a senior, Danin's little sister looks up to her, too.
Never mind that none of these girls are related.
"The seniors help the freshmen and the juniors help the sophomores," she said about a week removed from her two state qualifying times and the Friars' fifth straight Catholic league championship, as well as their fifth straight undefeated season. "We all have a big sister or a little sister that we get at the beginning of the season . . . It's been great."
And, she added, it's one of the many qualities of St. Anthony's longevity. Danin, who qualified in the 100-yard backstroke in 57.95 seconds and the 200 individual medley in 2:10.35 and will be swimming for Division I Maryland-Baltimore County next season, is one of a slew of Friars who will make the trip to Ithaca next week. She'll be joined by Meghan Slattery, who set a Catholic league record time of 24.22 in the 50 freestyle at the championship meet. Slattery, who earned MVP honors, also won the 100 freestyle in 51.75.
All three of St. Anthony's relay teams -- the 200 medley, the 200 free and the 400 free -- qualified for the state tournament, as did Jillian Smerechniak, who qualified in the 500 freestyle in 5:13.82, Lee Ann Santore (100 butterfly, 59.27), Emily Bardak (100 butterfly, 59.37), and Beth Carauna, who qualified in the 200 IM (2:12.36) and the 100 backstroke (57.41).
Danin said the key was maintaining a sense of team unity. Since the girls attend private school, "we're from all over Long Island. We only practice together as a varsity team two times a week, which is limited," she said. "But it gets us excited to practice together." Danin also swims for Islanders Acquatics nearly every day, and the rest of the girls follow suit with their club teams.
"We're led by an amazing coach," in Dan McBride, said Lauren Kryger, a sophomore who swims in the butterfly and the 50 freestyle. "And it helps a lot to have the older girls. They help us get around and they help us understand how the practices work."
For how little they practice together, the tradition, "gives us such drive to win in a team," Danin said. "We're such a family."
It also imbues them with a sense of legacy. Danin is intent on placing in the top three in one of her two events -- the closest she's come is seventh in an individual state swim -- and thinks her 200 medley relay is good enough for first. She also looks further than that, to the next two years, when she'll be long gone.
"We have good, fast people coming up," she said. "I want them to win seven [championships] in a row. No one has ever done that."
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
