Sports

A Home Away From Home

Schreiber boys swim team is forced to treat Great Neck North Middle School as its home since no Port Washington schools have a pool.

Like Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home." Yet the Schreiber boys swim team doesn't have one to speak of.

The 17-man team, which entered its fourth season ranked fourteenth in Nassau County, uses the Great Neck North Middle School pool as its home away from home.

"With no pool in Port Washington, Great Neck North is the closest we have," coach Joe Lennon said. "Pools are very hard to come by on the North Shore and not having a pool makes it difficult in recruiting athletes to swim."

Instead of practicing after school, like most other teams they compete against, members of the Schreiber swim team wake up before the sun comes up, head to Schreiber High School, only to go on a 20-minute bus ride to Great Neck North Middle School.

"We have to practice before school just to get pool time," Lennon explained. "We get a bus at 5:15 a.m. and swim from 5:45 to 7 a.m. and then return in time for school. ... We needed to take any pool hours available to us and with our home meets in Great Neck, we do not get many spectators. I know there are athletes in the district who may join our program if we had after-school practice."

Not having a true home, and thus not having any home-field advantage, doesn't seem to affect the members of the swim team. In the team's second to last "home" match against Garden City, four school records were broken. Seniors Matthew Epstein, Steven Smith, Ivan Bandovic and Tommy Jester broke the school record of 1:55.84 in the 200 Medley Relay by posting over a two-second drop to 1:53.83. Jason Moss along with Jester, Smith and Bandovic broke a school record of 1:40.98 in the 200 Freestyle Relay, posting a 1:39.36. Smith broke his existing school record in the 100 Breaststroke (1:13.80) with a time of 1:13.64 and also tied the school record in the 50 Freestyle, which he now shares with Bandovic, swimming a 24.20. Three of the records were first-place finishes, while Smith's record-breaking Breaststroke was a second-place finish.

"Seeing the team records being broken is a testament to the hard work the boys are putting in each day at practice," Lennon said. "It makes getting up at 4:15 each morning worth it because the results are positive."  

He added, "In the past three years, I have seen each team record broken at least once. These records give the team something to strive for and gives direction to the work done at practice."

Not to be outdone in the team's final "home" meet on Tuesday, Port Washington defeated Herricks High School by a score of 74-65. Port Washington took first place in nine of 11 contests, and Bandovic broke his own school record of 53.98 in the 100 Freestyle with a time of 53.20. Other first-place finishes came in the 500 Freestyle, 400 Freestyle Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 200 Individual Medley, 200 Freestyle Relay, 100 Butterfly, 100 Backstroke and 50 Freestyle.

"This was an important victory heading into the final weeks of the season," Lennon said. "The leadership of the team was clear and the was a definite energy on the deck. Each member of the team plays a critical role in our success."

The team has qualified for 22 individual swims and three relays at the Section 8 Nassau County Championship, taking place at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in Eisenhower Park on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 5 and 6. With the divisional and county championships a few weeks away, Lennon said he is excited about his team's chances to have in impact at the meet.

"We are a small program but we are finding success with limited resources and we look to continue this growth into the future," Lennon said. "All of our early mornings and hard work are proving worth the effort. Athletes are posting season best times and look to continue the trend moving forward."


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