A Stellar Season for the Raiders Boys Swim Team

The fact that Scarsdale High School has no pool has not hampered the success of the school's stellar boys swimming team. This year they won the conference, the section and placed second at the state meet in Ithaca on February 28-29.

It doesn't get much better than this. Coach Tim Callahan, who has been coaching the team for more than 20 years explained that it "all has to do with the kids." Callahan said that 15 of the swimmers and divers on the team train year-round and said, "the kids are getting faster."

The team trains at the pool at Westchester Community College five days per week during the season and they got off to a winning start at the annual Relay Carnival which was held at White Plains in December. Ten teams participated and Scarsdale broke some records and excelled.

For their dual meets, the team's record was an impressive 8-0 and they have been undefeated in dual meets for five years in a row.

At the Conference meet in December, Scarsdale won for the fifth year in a row.
The medley relay team of Ryan Lee, Charlie McFarland, his brother Tanner Mcfarland, and Thomas Cook took first place. Senior Josh Hendell came in second in the 200 freestyle, and David Bravo won the individual medley where one swimmer swims all four strokes. Evan Moretti won the conference diving championship for the second year in a row.

Until this year, Scarsdale has never won the Section 1 swimming and diving tournament, placing third last year and second two years ago. So Callahan was especially proud to share the results from this year's tournament where Scarsdale placed first for the first time. The meet was exciting as Scarsdale and rival Horace Greeley were vying for the top spot, and the pendulum swung with each race. Graham Novich helped clinch the title when he competed in the consolation finals in the 100 yard butterfly against three Horace Greely students who were all seeded ahead of him. He won the race bringing six points to Scarsdale.

Also at the sections, the 400 yard freestyle relay team of Josh Hendell, David Bravo, Haofeng Liu and Charlie McFarland broke a school record, placed third and helped to win the title.

Diver Evan Moretti took home first place in the diving championship for the second year in a row.

The team was then onto the states at Ithaca College on February 28 and 29, where they brought nine teammates, the most that Scarsdale has ever sent to the state championship.

The boys excelled:

• Diver Evan Moretti took the silver medal in the NYS diving championship
• Josh Hendell came in fourth in the 500 yard freestyle,
• Charle McFarland broke a school record in the 50 yard freestyle and placed 7th overall in the state and also came in 3rd in the 100 yard breast stroke, breaking his own school record.

Commenting on the season, brothers Charlie and Tanner McFarland said, "The season could not have been any better. The team accomplished all the goals we set at the beginning of the season. We were undefeated for the 5th year in a row, won our 5th consecutive divisional title, and capped off the season with Scarsdale's first Section 1 Swimming title. Evan Moretti set a new Section 1 record with his victory in diving and Charlie set a new Section 1 record when he won the 100 breast. Everyone contributed and swam personal bests. We sent a record number of swimmers to the state championships in Ithaca (9). It was an exciting and fast meet, and we were very competitive. We finished 6th overall. Some team highlights - Evan Moretti took 2nd in the diving, Charlie was 3rd in the 100 breast, setting a new school record. His time puts him up for All American consideration. He was 7th in the 50 freestyle, Josh Hendell was 4th in 500 free and 13th in the 200 free and the medley relay team of Ryan Lee, Charlie and Tanner McFarland and Tom Cooke placed 13th, setting a new school record and the 400 free relay team of Josh Hendell, David Bravo, Haofeng Liu and Charlie McFarland placed 12th.