This season might be a tough one for the Guilderville boys’ swim team, but Coach George Marshall sees a bright future.

The team has 25 competitors from Guilderland and Voorheesville but doesn’t have a large contingent of upperclassmen.
"We’re certainly a young team," Marshall said. "We have two seniors out of 25 and eight juniors. The rest are underclassmen, including two eighth-graders. We have youth and depth, which will bode well for future squads."

The two seniors on the team are Captain Chris Gockley and James Lounello. The juniors are captains David Cerutti and Chris Schwartz, and Andrew Crowder, Chris Diakiwski, Mark Gorczyca, Josh Handen, Ryan O’Roarke, and Chris Schwartz.
"It’s tough," Marshall said. "We lost a lot from last year’s team. We lost four kids that were major contributors. We only have one kid that swims club. A lot of the time I’m teaching from scratch."

Last year, Guilderville sent eight swimmers to sectional competition and finished sixth as a team.

The Guilderville team has an 0-4 record in dual meets so far this season but has been close in a couple of those competitions.
"I thought we had a shot against Albany Academy," Marshall said. "We had some guys that were sick. We were four swimmers down. That’s played against us this season."

Marshall said that some of the younger swimmers are still maturing physically and mentally. And a lot of the new team members are still learning how to compete.

Good leadership

One of the underclassmen who has matured physically is Vadim Yafayev. Yafayev, a sophomore, has qualified for the state meet in the 200-yard individual medley.
"For the first time, swimmers can qualify for states in season," Marshall said. "He did in our first meet against Schenectady in essentially his race of the season. It’s promising to have one boy going to states. We have an outside chance to get others."

Marshall said that he is getting good leadership from his three captains — Cerutti, Gockley, and Schwartz.
"They are doing well," Marshall said. "They are representing us well in the water and on the deck."

Marshall has also been impressed with the efforts of the two eighth-graders, Matt Wheeler and Sean Molloy.

Molloy is a diver and was on the team last year. Wheeler swims in the sprint events for Guilderville.

They both have more experience than some of the swimmers on the team.

"Potential is there"
"We have six or seven guys that have no competition experience," Marshall said. "They are country-club swimmers and these are the biggest races they have swam in. But we have promise for the future."

There is promise for the younger swimmers if they want to stick with the team for a few more years, he said.
"These are nice boys," Marshall said. "The potential is there if the kids want to stick around. I try to provide a positive environment to stick around."

A format change at sectionals could also help Guilderville. Teams will be split during preliminaries and could give Guilderville more chances to place swimmers in the finals.
"Hopefully, that will help us," Marshall said. "Vadim will shine in sectionals and hopefully we have enough guys supporting him to do well."

But the Suburban Council will be tough for Guilderville.
"There are no tougher group of teams," Marshall said. "Niskayuna, Bethlehem, Shenendehowa, and Saratoga are the one, two, three, and four top teams in the section."

What makes those schools have such strong teams as the opportunities to swim in clubs outside the school season. A couple of Guilderville swimmers compete for the Albany Starfish.
"The luxury they have is they have clubs in their area," Marshall said. "We don’t have a club that supports our team. In November, they are swimming for the first time. We have two kids that swim club, and hopefully we can get some boys to join club to get some outside competition."