Skagit Y swimmers win statewide sportsmanship award

The Skagit YMCA’s club swim team, SVY Aquatics, took home the Frank Toles Sportsmanship Award after competing at the annual Puget Sound Swim Association’s (PSSA) YMCA swim meet in Federal Way on January 29. 

The award, named after longtime PSSA volunteer and official Frank Toles, was awarded to the Skagit Y team for 2022, the first time the team has received the award. The award recognizes the team that best embodies the Y’s core values of honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility. For Skagit swimmers, this award is a wonderful recognition of their collective efforts and a testament to the strong leadership of coaches Carol Mochkatel and Jenn Radford. 

In addition to the Frank Toles award, four individual swimmers on the SVY Aquatics team were also recognized for their embodiment of the Y’s values. Jakob Newton was honored for honesty, Rian Kelsey was honored for caring, Caroline Johnston was honored for respect, and Gabriella Fernandez was honored for responsibility. 

Recognition was also given to the graduating seniors on the team, including Peter Pusateri, Shaan Kumar, Claire Eilers, Marina Fehr, and Mia Case. Peter Pusateri and Isaac Smith were recognized as YMCA National Swimmers for their excellence in the pool. 

Skagit Y swimmers competed against seven other Washington YMCAs at the meet (Bremerton, Morgan, South Sound, Tom Taylor, Whatcom, Grays Harbor, and Snohomish). 24 SVY swimmers participated, and a total of 34 personal best times were set – the majority of which came from Age Group Swimmers. Aoibhin Johnson excelled in the 200 Fly, breaking Emma Frey’s 2013 record with a new time of 2:50:22. 

The SVY Aquatics team is a year-round dual YMCA/USA competitive swim team consisting of six different age and ability groups: Senior I, Senior II, Pre-Senior, Age Group 1, Age Group 2, and Age Group 3. The team practices in the Skagit Y’s pool from 4:30 – 7:00pm during the week and 8:00 – 11:00am on Saturdays. 

To learn more about the Aquatics programs available at the Y, please visit www.skagitymca.org/aquatics.