By: Ray Fisher Sunday, April 6, 2025 | 11:01 AM Submitted | Monyok family The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team’s relay teammates, from left, Luna Kocic, Lydia Monyok, Alina Groom and Elle Yesenosky behind the block prior to their 200 freestyle relay race. Submitted | Monyok family Sewickley Valley YMCA swimmers (from left) Lydia […]
By:
Sunday, April 6, 2025 | 11:01 AM
Submitted | Monyok family
The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team’s relay teammates, from left, Luna Kocic, Lydia Monyok, Alina Groom and Elle Yesenosky behind the block prior to their 200 freestyle relay race.
Submitted | Monyok family
Sewickley Valley YMCA swimmers (from left) Lydia Monyok and Elle Yesenosky, prior to competing in the girls 9-10 age division 200 freestyle relay event.
Submitted | Monyok family
The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team’s district qualifiers from the 11-12 and 13-14 age groups, along with coach Michael Monyok.
Submitted | Monyok family
The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team’s Luna Kocic, Alina Groom, Elle Yesenosky and Lydia Monyok pose with coach Michael Monyok on deck at the district championships.
Submitted | Monyok family
The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team’s Alina Groom and Luna Kocic (top, left to right) with Lydia Monyok and Elle Yesenosky (bottom, left to right) on the podium following a fifth-place finish in the district 9-10 girls 200 freestyle relay.
Submitted | Monyok family
The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team on the deck at Spire Aquatics Center.
Submitted | Monyok family
Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team boys ages 13-14 200 medley relayers on the podium at the district champs, includie Michael Fuener and Ian Benson (top, left to right) and Luke Monyok and Jack Hank (bottom, left to right).
Submitted | Monyok family
From left, Alex Moyer, Luka Kocic, Chase Yesenosky and Logan Monyok compete on a relay team for the 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team.
Submitted | Monyok family
The 2025 Sewickley Valley YMCA swim team’s Luka Kocic, Logan Monyok, Alex Moyer and Chase Yesenosky on deck at the state championship meet prior to their 400 freestyle relay swim.
Previous
Next
The Sewickley Valley YMCA Sea Dragons recently completed the 2024-25 youth swim season with terrific results.
“We had a fantastic season,” said Paula Kwalick, aquatic coordinator and head swim coach. “We were the overall winners of the Division III Champs, taking first place in seven age/gender groups and second in one. Twenty-three of our youngest swimmers competed at Novice Champs; we had 67 swimmers qualify for Silvers Champs.”
The district championships were held March 7-9 at Spire Aquatics Center in Geneva, Ohio.
The meet included YMCA teams from the western third of Pennsylvania and swimmers who have qualified based on time standards.
“Districts was a fast meet,” Kwalick said. “There were many hard-fought swims and insane time drops. We had a lot of kids make the podium, but only the top six individuals and top four relays move on to states.”
Sewickley Valley YMCA was represented at the district championships by a program record 32 swimmers in a mix of 82 individual events and 14 relays.
“Our swimmers performed great at the meet and we had many personal bests, including a few swims that left the swimmers shocked they swam so fast,” said Michael Monyok, who volunteers as a YMCA coach. “It was fantastic to see many swimmers get rewarded for all of the hard work they put in throughout the season.
“Our season runs from October through mid-March without a break, and our swimmers are in the pool four or five times per week, swimming over two miles in a practice at times.”
Nine of Sewickley’s district competitors qualified for the state championship meet March 21-23 at the Peak Health Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown, W.Va.
“It may seem odd to have a Pennsylvania state meet in West Virginia,” Monyok said, “but this is one of only a few venues large enough to host teams from the entire state.
“Our state qualifiers all competed well and gained some valuable experience against the best in the state.”
Nine boys swimming four individual and four relay events made up this year’s Sewickley YMCA state team.
Individually, Logan Monyok competed in the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly, cutting more than a second in each event. Luke Monyok swam the 200 breaststroke and Luka Kocic in the 50 butterfly.
Luka Kocic, Logan Monyok, Alex Moyer and Chase Yesenosky competed in all three relays — 200 free, 200 medley and 400 free — in the boys 11-12 age division.
Also, Calvin Baird, Lucas Steffy, Gavin Vachon and Chase Yocum made up the 10-and-under boys medley relay team.
Other Sea Dragons that qualified for the district finals included Ian Benson, Lily Carlson, Greta Faulkner, Abby Fischer, Michael Fuener, Alina Groom, Jack Hank, Elam Hifri, Tharli Karto, Luna Kocic, Celia Meunier, Grace Molina, Matias Molina, Lydia Monyok, Devyn Mouas, Halle Myers, Emily Ponzo, James Rabe, Sienna Shields, Abigail Sinclair, Claire Weinberg, Elle Yesenosky and Shirly Zhuang.
The Sewickley Valley YMCA competitive swim program is for youngsters age 6 to 18 and emphasizes stroke development, teamwork, endurance, fun, character development and good sportsmanship.
The program serves as a feeder system for the Quaker Valley High School swim team.
“Many of the current members of the Quaker Valley team started their swimming career with the Sewickley YMCA,” Mr. Monyok said, “and several have transitioned from the Sewickley YMCA to Quaker Valley without having swam for any other team.
“There will be a handful of incoming freshmen on next year’s Quaker Valley team that are current Sewickley YMCA swimmers.”
Fuener, Weinberg, Luke Monyok, Sinclair, Myers, Faulkner and Benson are among the athletes expected to join the QV swim program as freshmen next season.
“We have seven or eight diverse, talented, hard-working swimmers joining the QV high school swim team next season,” Kwalick said. “Every one of them is a district and/or state swimmer. That will be a boost for both the boys and girls teams.”
Sewickley YMCA’s assistant coaches are Bill White, Jeremy Cornman, Lexi Kwalick plus volunteers Michelle Baird and Monyok.
A few swimmers and students helped out at practices for the younger swimmers, including Felicity Portoulas, Sofia Castagnaro and Nora Hammond. Also, Tara Viti volunteered to run dryland practices once a week.
“We value all of our swimmers and our goal, as coaches, is to help them reach theirs,” Kwalick said. “I am so proud of their work ethic and team spirit.
“And our team is growing. We had 128 swimmers this season, including 15 high school swimmers who swam preseason to get ready for high school swimming.”
The Sea Dragons had more than a dozen swimmers who started the 2024-25 season at the age of 6; numerous others were 15 or older.
Several will swim with the Y in the fall until the high school season starts then swim exclusively with the high school team. A few swimmers in that older age group swim only on the YMCA team.
“It is a mix,” said Mr. Monyok.
