Jan. 3, 2008

Gio Urquilla highlighted a day of personal bests for the St. Benedict’s swimming team at the Essex County Championships.

  Urquilla, a freshman with unlimited potential, swam two personal bests – in the 200-yard IM and the 100-yard freestyle – to lead a Gray Bees team that continues to improve each time out for coach Glenn Cassidy.

  St. Benedict’s, which placed ninth in the meet on Thursday, combined for 37 swims at Seton Hall University. Of those, 25 were recorded as personal bests for St. Benedict’s swimmers.

“We may not be good enough to win, but we’re showing improvement and that’s all you can ask for,” said Cassidy.

Urquilla may have to re-think his outlook as a part-time swimmer. He was the lone swimmer to medal in the meet for the Gray Bees, placing fifth in the 200-yard IM in his fastest competitive time yet, touching the wall at 2:16.10.

The fabulous freshman, who could be the next Brandon Jarrett in the making – coming to St. Benedicts’s to play soccer and excelling at another sport – also swam a 54.04 in the 100-yard freestyle, besting his previous fastest by more than a second.

“I think this is a kid (Urquilla) who has a tremendous amount of talent and is just starting to realize it,” said Cassidy, who would like to see his star pupil take the next step and get some full-time tutelage. “With year-round training, he can be something special.”

  St. Benedict’s also had a few other notable accomplishments in the pool at Arthur Imperatore Natatorium in South Orange. Angel Maldonado scored points for the Gray Bees in the 50-yard freestyle, while Tom Conte just missed medaling in the 500 freestyle by placing eighth.

Two swimmers who couldn’t even swim when they came to St. Benedict’s – Harquan Rasberry and Achille Dossekou – also continued in their surprising accomplishments. Rasberry shaved 11 seconds off his previous best in the breast stroke, the same event Dossekou scored points in by placing in the top 12.