Surging Titans top East Providence

By ALEX SPONSELLER
Posted 1/24/19

After falling to Mt. Hope at its season opener, the Toll Gate girls swimming team has rebounded nicely, stringing together five straight wins including a 56-36 win over visiting East Providence last week at the McDermott Pool. There were a lot of

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Surging Titans top East Providence

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After falling to Mt. Hope at its season opener, the Toll Gate girls swimming team has rebounded nicely, stringing together five straight wins including a 56-36 win over visiting East Providence last week at the McDermott Pool.

There were a lot of questions surrounding the Lady Titans heading into the winter season. Toll Gate graduated two of its leaders in Wenona Alexander and Athena Sampalis, who each went on to swim for Rhode Island College. However, coach Michael Seidenberg has been pleased with the performance of his returners as well as his rising athletes.

“The young kids have stepped up, they have been coming to practice, working hard, I’ve even stepped up their practices and have made them harder than past years. A lot of girls are stepping up to the challenge which I think is important … them reaching the bar instead of having to bring it down to them,” said Seidenberg after last week’s win. “It’s showing in the pool and how they’re swimming, all of their times are dropping. The winter can be tough with the holidays, with illnesses, but the girls have been working very hard and I’m pleased with how they’ve been doing. I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, but I’m happy with how well things have gone so far. It makes a big difference for me being able to count on people to work hard and show up. It makes it easy on me.”

Even during the club’s opening-day loss, the Titans have shown the ability to swim with anyone, and Seidenberg feels that the team’s confidence has been slowly increasing each race.

“We ran into a few teams that were a little bit smaller which helped their confidence, showing them that they could do this. That first meet was a close meet, it was 48-46 and we were winning all the way to the very end and it came down to the last relay and we didn’t have enough left,” said Seidenberg. “(Mt. Hope) was a bigger team and they did have enough left. We’ve been competitive this whole year and we just want to keep it rolling into the second half of the season.”

The Titans will now face the meat of their schedule in the upcoming weeks, and will take on Tolman this Thursday. Seidenberg hopes to see his club continue to work hard and put its best foot forward down the stretch.

“We need to continue to work hard and show up at practice,” said Seidenberg. “Practice is what makes the meets, a lot of these girls aren’t year-round swimmers so they’re still learning as they go too. They listen well and you can show them things (during meets) that you weren’t able to get to at practice.”

Here are some of the results from the win against East Providence:

Brooke Menard took first for Toll Gate in the 100 breaststroke, while teammate Abby Ignagni won the 100 butterfly. Menard later won the 200 IM, while Ignagni placed first in the 500 free.

Toll Gate’s relay team of Ignagni, Zoe Whitman, Elizabeth Byrnes and Sophia Amore won the 200 free relay, while Whitman, Byrnes, Abby Wildgoose and Grace Hamilton won the 400 free. 

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