Sampson YMCA swimmers heading to elite showcase meet

By: Triblive
Sunday, July 14, 2024 | 5:07 PM

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Plum’s Sampson YMCA swim team is set to send its largest contingent of competitors to the International Swim Coaches Association Summer Senior Blast and Elite Showcase at the North Shore Aquatic Complex from July 23 to Aug. 3 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The group of qualifiers continues a trend of recent swimming accomplishments for Sampson swimmers that includes a pair of qualifiers — Giuliana Ricciuti (200-meter backstroke) and Luciana Mazurek (50 freestyle) — to the YMCA National Short Course Championships in April at the Greensburg (N.C.) Aquatic Center.

This was the second trip to the national meet for Ricciuti, a rising senior at Plum, a Sampson YMCA member for 12 years and a veteran of high school championship meets at the WPIAL and PIAA levels.

It was the first trip to nationals for Mazurek, a Plum resident entering her sophomore year at Oakland Catholic, as she continued to build on her yearlong training that included success at the WPIAL and state swimming championships in March.

It is the third year Sampson YMCA has sent qualifiers to the Summer Senior Blast and Elite Showcase series. More than 40 from Sampson qualified for the meet. Of those 40, 15 plan on attending and competing.

Sampson YMCA head swim coach Shawn Haupt, who also coaches the Plum varsity team, said he’s grateful to have the support of the YMCA so the swimmers can experience quality competition on a national level.

“I’m incredibly proud of this team and our coaches who invest countless hours and energy developing and teaching our youth,” he said. “The ISCA meet is a great opportunity for the kids to qualify and compete against similar ages and exhibit the values of the YMCA mission to a broader audience by using strengths in goal setting, skill development and personal determination to reach their full potential.”

Pennsylvania YMCA swimmers also competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials last month in Indianapolis.

“They provide tremendous role models for our community youth,” Haupt said. “And, as the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris draw near, interested swim fans will not only be watching our USA Olympians compete at the highest levels, (but) those on the Sampson YMCA swim team will be watching intensely and dreaming if someday they, too, could be an Olympian.”

Tags: Plum