Masters swim team takes second at NE short-course meet

Several swimmers make qualifying times for national championship.

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The Martha’s Vineyard Masters swim team, affiliated with the Martha’s Vineyard YMCA, took second place in the small-team category and 18th place of 75 teams at the New England Short Course Championships, held at Harvard University.

The Vineyard scored 777 points. This exceeded their 2016 total of 615, but was 49 points short of first-place Weymouth.

Short-course meets are held in 25-yard pools. The four-day meet spanned two weekends, and included 800 participants. A record 10 swimmers swam for the Vineyard.

The meet began on Saturday, March 11. Four Vineyard swimmers swam the 1,650-yard freestyle, the longest event competed in a pool. Liz Fox and Leslie Craven finished second. Jonathan Chatinover finished fourth, and Jen Passafiume finished eighth.

The main portion of the meet took place March 17, 18, and 19. Rainy Goodale, who also serves as coach of the YMCA Makos and Masters, led the Vineyard with 189 points. She won seven of her 12 events, including all three breaststroke events. She earned two seconds and two third-place finishes. Rainy holds nine New England records, and will be competing in the national championships, April 27-30 in Riverside, Calif.

Ms. Goodale qualified for more than six events at the national championships. There are qualifying times for each event; however, anybody can go and swim three events without meeting the qualifying times. Ms. Craven, Greg Mone, and Mr. Chatinover also qualified for events, but will not be competing at nationals.

Mr. Mone swam three events, the 50-yard breast, 100-yard individual medley, and 50-yard free, and set Vineyard Masters records in each.

Leslie Craven, the assistant high school swim coach, swam in 11 events. She scored 133 points, with two second places, three thirds, and two fourths.

Jennifer Passafiume, YMCA swim instructor, swam in nine events and set personal bests in eight of them. She scored 35 points. Sharon Pearson entered four events, won two, and finished second in the other two. She scored 64 points.

Jonathan Chatinover swam 13 events, scoring 144 points. He had one second-place and two fourth-place finishes. Jamieson DeCubellis entered two events, and contributed seven points. Elizabeth Goodell swam her best time in three events and contributed 32 points, including a second place in the 200-yard breaststroke. Elizabeth Lytle swam in two events, and added nine points.

The Vineyard entered four relays. On Friday, the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay team (Leslie Craven, Liz Lytle, Jen Passafiume, and Rainy Goodale) finished third with a time of 2:08.89. On Saturday, the 400-yard mixed medley relay team (Greg Mone, Rainy Goodale, Jonathan Chatinover, and Leslie Craven) finished second in a time of 4:40.62.

On Sunday, the Vineyard entered a women’s 400-yard freestyle relay and a mixed 200-yard medley relay. The women’s 400-yard freestyle team (Rainy Goodale, Elizabeth Goodell, Jen Passafiume, and Leslie Craven) came in fourth. In the last event of the meet, the Vineyard was victorious, scoring 34 points in the mixed 200 medley relay with Leslie Craven (backstroke), Rainy Goodale (breaststroke), Jonathan Chatinover (butterfly), and Jamieson DeCubellis (freestyle).

The Vineyard is looking for a few more participants next year to help bring home the first-place trophy. Masters swimming is open to anybody at least 18 years old. For more information, or to join the team, contact Rainy Goodale at rgoodale@ymcamv.org.