Falcon swimmers making a splash

by Eric Keppeler
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, September 28, 2006

Niagara-Wheatfield is off to a 3-1 start in the Niagara Frontier League in girls swimming. Pictured, from left, are junior varsity coach Sean O’Brien, team captains Sarah Mess (500 free), Jennifer McIntosh (100 butterfly), Sarah Rivers (200 IM and freestyle), and Delee Croisdale (100 breaststroke), and varsity coach Michael Corsaro. The N-W swim team has a meet at North Tonawanda on Friday. (photo by Larry Austin)

Niagara-Wheatfield girls swimming coach Michael Corsaro doesn’t like to measure improvement strictly in terms of wins and losses.

But the way things have been going so far this season, it’s hard to argue with the facts.

The Falcons went 4-6 last season in the Niagara Frontier League. They’ve already won three of their first four meets this season, giving them plenty more chances to equal and exceed last year’s victory total.

“I think we’re a much better team this year,” said Corsaro, in his fifth year with the team. “We’re still young, but we’ve learned from the experience of last year. All of the younger swimmers are faster, and we have a very deep team. We don’t have one superstar, we have a lot of solid competitors. We work as a team and we’re only as strong as our weakest link. Finishing in fifth place is just as important as finishing first, because we need every point we can get.”

Corsaro credits his four captains with the team’s success this season, including Delee Croisdale, Jennifer McIntosh, Sarah Rivers and Sarah Mess.

“They’ve been great,” he said. “They encourage the younger girls to get better and they’re very supportive. They don’t yell and scream, they sit down and talk. And they lead by example.”

The Falcons posted a landmark victory in their second meet of the season, beating the Grand Island Vikings for the first time in Corsaro’s tenure. The Vikings are traditionally one of the top teams in the NFL, but the Falcons beat them in their own pool, 98-88.

It came down to the final relay, and the foursome of Jennifer Netter, Mandi Caldewell, Ali D’Orsaneo and Rivers clocked in at 4:01.39 to win the event and the meet. Also key was a 1-2 finish in diving as Sarah Colton broke a 30-year-old school record with a score of 198.40. Teammate Alexa Giglotti was right behind with 187.40 points.

The Falcons also got important points from Jennifer Mess, Sarah Mess, McIntosh, Croisdale, Marissa Oakey and Alexa Poliachik.

The Falcons did suffer their first loss of the season last week at the hands of defending league champion Lockport, 118-68.

“They’re still the team to beat,” Corsaro said of the Lions. “But we were the only other undefeated team until last week.”

Corsaro is quick to credit his assistant coaches with a measure of the team’s success. Wayne Shutt is getting good results as the diving coach, and all of the girls have gone through Sean O’Brien’s junior varsity program on their way to varsity.

The obvious team goal for the season is to exceed last year’s win total, and the Falcons are well on their way to reaching that goal. Individually, Corsaro would like to see more of his swimmers advance to the sectionals.

“In the past, we’ve had maybe four or five girls go to sectionals,” he said. “This year, I think we could send as many as 10 to 15. We’ve got five girls qualified already, and several more are very close to posting the magic times. We’re already way ahead of where we were last year.”