Daniel Island Wins Third Summer CCAA Swim Meet In A Row On July 6 At The North Charleston Aquatics Center
Summer recreational league swim growth boosted when the South Carolina High School League started high school swimming program.
By Billy G. Baker
Publisher
North Charleston—The 57th annual Coastal Carolina Aquatic Association (CCAA) Swimming Championships were a highly competitive event, with 18 teams of swimmers competing at the North Charleston Aquatic Center on Saturday July, 6.
Early in the meet, the HSSR had an opportunity to talk with CCAA Co-Meet Director Erik Krentner. “This is a sport where many swimmers can swim with their friends for many years,” said Krentner. “Before the afternoon session, later today, we will recognize our senior swimmers. We have one senior who has been swimming for 15 years, and another has been swimming with their team for 14 years.
“This is a great opportunity for families to be together, and it is a great opportunity for kids to learn the positive habits of being a part of a team, and the habits of getting better at something and also setting goals, and reaching those goals,” said Krenter. “They enjoy these things in a comfortable environment for many years as they grow up.
“We have had many swimmers to go on and swim in college, and we have even had swimmers go on and swim in the Olympic Trials,” said Krenter. “One great thing that helped our growth as a summer recreational league was when the South Carolina High School League started high school swimming a few years back. Our numbers greatly increased in the summer once the state became of the last states in the nation to start high school swimming.”
Krenter said he is very appreciative of all of the volunteers that make the running of the swim meet possible. “We have 9 members of the CCAA board working the meet today, and many other volunteers here helping us out in so many ways,” said Krenter. “We appreciate all the volunteers who make this meet possible very much.”
For the third year in a row, the Daniel Island Swim team used their over-all depth, qualifying 55 swimmers for the finals, to earn the coveted CCAA championship with a record score of 3114.5 points to defeat the other 17 teams entered in the event.
The remaining teams finished in order: Northbridge Terrace (2,702.6), Snee Farm (2,645), Parkshore (2,409), Newington 2,317.5), and North Charleston 2,300.5) took sixth place. These teams will compete against each other next year in the Red League.
Teams that finished seven through 12 will compete in the White division next year. Those teams include: Summerville YMCA (2,006.5), Hobcaw (1,908), Shadowmoss (1,908), Crowfield (1,756), James Island (1,373) along with Longpoint (1,230).
The Blue division, made up of teams that placed between 13 and 18 at the CCAA meet will be: Ashborough (1,036.5), Country Club (975), Sha -Mel-Lon (800), Legend Oaks (626), West County (528) and St. Andrews (12).
Points in individual events earned a first-place finisher 31 points for their respective team. Points were then awarded from 29 down to one over the next 29 place finishes. The relay was even more important with a first-place team awarded 62 points. The next 14 finishers earned points from a second- place finish that earned 56 points, descending four points for every place finish, concluding with four points for the relay team that finished 15th.
Daniel Island swim coach Rose Van Metre, a 20-year coaching veteran, who is also the head swim coach at Bishop England, talked about the success of her team after the big win. “The first time we won this event (two years ago) it came down to the last relay, and we won by just 15 points, or so,” said Coach Van Metre. “For our team to have won by over 400 points today shows steady growth in our program. We graduate only two seniors and we expect to be even better next season.”
After the morning session with the 7-8 and 9-10 teams, Daniel Island had 1,182 points for a close lead over Northbridge Terrace (1,107) and third place Snee Farm (1,030).
At the break, Coach Van Metre told the HSSR, “We have a very strong older age group so I think we are going to hold our lead in the afternoon session,” she said. “We are very proud of Finn Gaston who swam in five events today, winning his three individual events, and he was a key leg on our two winning relay teams as well.
“I encourage all my swimmers to also play other sports, so Finn is also a baseball player,” said Coach Van Metre. “In terms of our biggest surprise in the early session it is no doubt 7-8 boy
Paul
Barber who was seeded like 16th in the 25-Back and he swam in the fourth heat and he improved over three seconds on his time to place second in that event. It was great to see that kind of improvement.”
In the afternoon session, the Daniel Island team was led by 15-18 rising senior Ellie Chalupsky who established new city meet records in the 100-fly (25.51) and the 100-back (25.83) and she also won the 100-IM (58.49) earning 93 points, with three gold medal wins in these vents. Chalupsky also swam strong legs on her team’s two winning relay teams and these two wins brought another 64 points to the victors.
Chalupsky will be taking her strong swimming talents to Arizona State University, after her senior season at Bishop England next year. She spoke to the HSSR from the pool after her record performances. “I didn’t come to the meet today focused on breaking any records,” said Chalupsky. “I came into the meet focused on helping my team have success and I focused on doing the very best I could.
“My journey as a swimmer has been both challenging and good,” said Chalupsky. “Swimming has been a huge part of my life and it helps define who I am. Working hard every day, learning discipline and staying motivated have all been helpful in my journey.”
Chalupsky has one more swim season with both Bishop England and Daniel Island before she moves on to even greater challenges at Arizona State University. “Hopefully, in the future I will have an opportunity to compete in the Olympic Trials and it would be an honor to qualify for sure. This is certainly a goal of mine.”
Wanting to be a surfer as a young child led Chalupsky to become a competitive swimmer. “When I was six my goal was to become a professional surfer so my Mom made me join the summer swim team and it was love at first sight,” said Chalupsky. “I chose Arizona State because I love the coaches there, and the program has a culture of success, and I felt like it was the place for me.”
Chalupsky was not the only swimmer to establish a new city meet record this year. In The 11-12 Boy’s group, Heyward Loichinger of Northbridge Terrace established a new record in the 50-Breast with a time of 31.53. Finn Gaston a 9-11 Boy’s swimmer for Daniel island set a new record in the 100-IM with a time of 1:17.74 and he won all three individual events he participated in.
A fourth swimmer tied a record when 11-12 boy’s swimmer Easton Drost of the Summerville YMCA swam a 27.78 in the 50—Fly to tie the record established by Kyle Hertwig of Snee Farm in 2017.
The HSSR Salutes The 2025 CCAA First Place Winners
7-8 Girls: Olivia Keating (Daniel Island) freestyle, Peggy Lata (Northbridge Terrace) butterfly and backstroke, McKay Osborne (Snee Farm) breaststroke, Daniel Island (Olivia Keating, Carolina Beaty, Nina Altum, Riley Gaston) free relay. Overall age group champions: Daniel Island
7-8 Boys: Eian Boscana (Summerville YMCA) freestyle and breaststroke, Garvey Kangas (James Island) butterfly, Sam Doughty (North Charleston) backstroke, Newington (Sammy Merritt, Liam Case, Ellison Matthews, Jackson Passarello) free relay. Overall age group champions: Shadowmoss
9-10 Girls: Tessa Ray (Northbridge Terrace) freestyle and butterfly, Georgia Doughty (North Charleston) backstroke, Harbor Hood (Northbridge Terrace) breaststroke and individual medley. Northbridge Terrace (Amara Swain, Harper Seago, Harbor Hood, Tessa Ray) free relay. Overall age group champions: Northbridge Terrace
9-10 Boys: CJ Fredrick (Summerville Y) freestyle; Finn Gaston (Daniel Island) butterfly, backstroke, and individual medley; Peter McCormick (Daniel Island) breaststroke; Daniel Island (Peter McCormick, Kellen Kane, Tavin Schmidt, Finn Gaston) free relay. Overall age group champions: Daniel Island
11-12 Girls: Kara Pomerantz (Parkshore) freestyle, Ronel St. Germain (Daniel Island) butterfly and individual medley, Clara Lichty (Snee Farm) backstroke, Eva DeGeorge (Crowfield) breaststroke, Daniel Island (Sophia Davis, Amelia DeWolf, Delaney Kane, Ronel St. Germain). free relay. Overall age group champions: Daniel Island
11-12 Boys: John Hurlbert (Summerville YMCA) freestyle, Easton Drost (Summerville YMCA) butterfly (meet record), Crew Breland (Snee Farm) backstroke, Heyward Loichinger (Northbridge Terrace) breaststroke, Keith Aikman (Shadowmoss) individual medley, Newington (Wade Collier, Bray Wood, Derek Marsaa, Koa Pohl) free relay. Overall age group champions: Newington
13-14 Girls: Zuri Swain (Northbridge Terrace) freestyle; Charlotte Good (Daniel Island) butterfly, backstroke, and individual medley; Lila Mahoney (Daniel Island) breaststroke; Daniel Island (Lila Mahoney, Anna Dyson, Kara Kitlowski, Charlotte Good) free relay. Overall age group champions: Daniel Island
13-14 Boys: Ricardo De Castro (Summerville YMCA) freestyle and butterfly, Logan Patterson (Northbridge Terrace) backstroke and individual medley, Christian Thibault (North Charleston) breaststroke, Daniel Island (Jason Chalupsky, Colton Salta, Cyprian Griffin, Nolan Mahoney) free relay. Overall age group champions: Daniel Island
15-18 Girls: Adair Shaw (Hobcaw) freestyle; Ellie Chalupsky (Daniel Island) butterfly (meet record), backstroke, and individual medley; Grace Marsaa (Newington) breaststroke; Daniel Island (Mia Devito, Katie Kitlowski, Grace Litzinger, Ellie Chalupsky) free relay (meet record). Overall age group champions: Daniel Island
15-18 Boys: Parker Hamilton (James Island) freestyle, Gabriel Smith (Parkshore) butterfly, Colby Schleier (Hobcaw) backstroke, Sean Groeber (Northbridge Terrace) breaststroke and individual medley, Hobcaw (Lucas de Arellano, Jackson Naylor, Jameson Golden, Colby Schleier) free relay. Overall age group champions: Hobcaw
Mixed Medley Relays Winners
7-8: Daniel Island (Nina Altum, Hayes Kane, Riley Gaston, Kellen Marek)
9-10: Daniel Island (Ruby Muller, Peter McCormick, Finn Gaston, Noella Smith)
11-12: Daniel Island (Sophia Davis, Ronel St. Germain, Marko Franic, Benji Cumpelik)
13-14: Daniel Island (Charlotte Good, Jason Chalupsky, Lila Mahoney, Nolan Mahoney)
15-18: Daniel Island (Ellie Chalupsky — meet record backstroke split — Mackenzie LeVeen, Connor Good, and Jude Nicsic)
On a personal note, this writer raised three children (Ashton, Allyson, & Allen Baker) who were devoted swimmers on the Crowfield summer team for a span between 1990 and 2009, so it was a joy to come and report on this outstanding event for The High School Sports Report, and our companion web site at hssr.com.
Back in those days, Snee Farm was our feared rival and they were very dominant for many years. Now this writer has two grand children swimming on the Snee Farm swim team! They are 9-10 boy Connor Houghton and 7-8 girl Caroline Houghton. Super proud of both of them for sure.
Connor narrowly lost to Peter McCormick in the 50-Breast event (41.26 to 41.60 in a one-two finish). He was also 5th in the 100-IM and 6th in the 50-Fly providing 80 individual points to the Snee Farm team total.
Caroline swam a personal best in the 25-back event, and she produced six points for her team and there was talk at the event that she was hoping to become a year- round swimmer. Two of my children went year-round and those early morning car pools brought back memories too!
Over 900 swimmers, from all age groups, participated in the annual CCAA event, and it was a day of excitement, achievement, and improvement for all involved.
