Copyright thenassauguardian
The 2025-26 local aquatics season officially began with the Alpha Aquatics Fall Invitational at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Swim Complex on Saturday. Mako Aquatics Club, the reigning national champion, picked up right where it left off last season. The swim club finished with a total of 1,157 points to lead all teams. The Blue Waves Swim Club placed a distant second with 570 points, and the Barracuda Swim Club completed the meet in third with 396 points. Mako earned a whopping total of 114 medals — 53 gold, 39 silver, and 22 bronze. The Blue Waves totaled 56 medals — 22 gold, 16 silver, and 18 bronze. Beast Aquatics came away with 30 medals, including 15 gold, eight silver, and seven bronze. Mako Aquatics’ Isabella Munroe had a strong showing at the Alpha Aquatics meet. She earned four victories, taking the girls’ 11-12 50 meters (m) backstroke final in 35.83 seconds, the girls’ 11–12 100m backstroke with a time of 1:19, and the girls’ 11-12 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle finals, posting times of 38.06 and 29.66 seconds respectively. Munroe spoke about her performance and outlined her expectations for the rest of the season. “I felt proud of myself,” she said. “I don’t want to push myself too much because I know there are a lot of swim meets to go. I feel like I did my best, and I am ready for other swim meets. My expectation is to make CARIFTA, get at least two CARIFTA records, and I want to do good and make my family proud.” Mako Aquatics’ Gillian Albury was also in top form. She earned top-three finishes in all four of her events in the girls’ 13-14 category. Her best performance came in the 50m breaststroke final, which she won in 37.43 seconds. Albury picked up a pair of second-place finishes in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly finals, posting times of 1:03.55 and 31.79 seconds respectively. Albury also touched the wall third in the 50m freestyle final, in 29.88 seconds. She said she was happy to get the season underway. “I feel very proud of myself,” she said. “I used this as a season opener to show how hard I have been working over the summer. I am trying to make CARIFTA because the competition is very hard this year, but I have faith in myself.” Alpha Aquatics’ Siann Isaacs opened her season on a high note. She secured victories in three of her four events in the girls’ 13-14 age group. Isaacs swam a time of 2:41.12 in the 200m individual medley (IM) final for first place. She then dominated the 200m butterfly final, winning in 2:49.10. Additionally, she struck gold in the 100m butterfly final, stopping the clock at 1:10.62. In her other event, she placed second in the 200m backstroke final, posting a time of 2:43.51. Isaacs said she is ready to take this season by storm. “For the first meet, I think I did pretty well,” she said. “I think I have a lot of places to grow in, and I feel like everyone did a pretty good job at this meet. My expectations are to hopefully do well in all my other events and all the meets that are coming up.” Next up on the local aquatics calendar is the Beast Aquatics Open Water Meet on November 1.
