Bernal's Gator Swim Club

A Tradition of Excellence

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BERNAL’S GATOR SWIM CLUB CAPTURES NEW ENGLAND SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Gator team climbed to the heights of New England swimming July 16-19th, by winning the 2015 Senior championships held at Brown University.  Gator swimmers establish a solid lead on the opening day of competition and never looked back, putting together a steady stream of individual and relay top finishes.  At the end of the competition, Bernal’s Gator secured first place in the overall standings with 795 points, with the Harvard University Swim team capturing second place with 583 points. Strong showings by Crimson Aquatics (580 points), Phoenix Swimming (559 points), Bluefish Swim Club (516 points) and Shawmut Aquatic Club (512 points) rounded out the top 5 scoring New England teams.

The New England Senior championships are the culmination of the Long Course Meters (LCM) season.  Swimmers must achieve qualification time standards for each event in which they are entered, so participation in the Senior championships is an achievement to be proud of. The Gator team was able to win this championship through excellent representation and stellar performances from both open division and age group Gators.  Many of our three dozen participating swimmers were able to achieve personal record times in one or more of their events. 

We are also extremely proud that two Bernal’s Gator swimmers established qualification times for the 2016 U.S. Olympic team trials at the Senior Championships.  Jack Blyzinskyj’s winning time of 55.30 in the 100 Back is nearly two seconds faster than the trials cut time of 57.19. Wyatt Ubellacker won the 50 Free with a time of 22.79 secs vs. the Olympic trials cut time of 23.29.

Coach Bernal commented, “Our performance at the Senior Championships is a testament to the system we have evolved over decades of successful competition.  In our younger age group programs, New England championship standings are less important than the emphasis we place on stroke technique while we nurture a love for swimming. Developing an appreciation of technique and enjoyment of the sport prepares our swimmers for the hard work and dedication that is required for results at the elite level.  We prioritize training this way to avoid injuries and burn out in our younger swimmers, and as they grow they are both mentally and physically prepared to excel in competition. I can’t be more proud of how our swimmers have performed at this meet.”  

Congratulations Gator swimmers!  See below for an event-by-event tally of individual and relay scoring. How We Won the Senior Championships, Day by Day: Thursday, July 16th:

Elizabeth Shashkova, 8th place, 1500M Free.  Matt Hrabchak, 1st place, 800M Free.  Maddie Wallis, Julimar Avila, Astrid Swensen, Elizabeth Shashkova, 2nd place, 800 Free Relay.Aviva Munoz, Emilie Despres, Jess Gearan, Cathy Li, 14th place, 800 Free Relay.  Matt Hrabchak, Julian Asuaje Solon, Harrison Haines, Jack Blyzinskyj, 2nd place, 800 Free Relay.  Nikolai Syssoev, Greg Dematteo, Henry Gaissert, Daniel Alber, 4th place 800 Free Relay

Friday, July 17th:

Julimar Avila: 15th place, 200 Free.  Matt Hrabchak, 7th place, 200 Free.  Harrison Haines, 8th place, 200 Free.  John Prindle, 13th place, 100 Breast.  Daniel Alber, 15th place, 100 Breast.  Anna Schegoleva, 6th place, 100 Back.  Astrid Swensen, 7th place, 100 Back.  Maddie Wallis, 9th place, 100 Back.  Jack Blyzinskyj, 1st place, 100 Back (Olympic trials qualifier!).  Greg Dematteo, 15th place, 100 Back.  Julimar Avila, 15th place, 400 IM.  Anna Schegoleva, Julimar Avila, Christine Rogers, Maddie Wallis, 1st place, 400 Free Relay.  Jess Gearan, Astrid Swensen, Elizabeth Shashkova, Kylie Cronin, 12th place, 400 Free Relay.  Wyatt Ubellacker, Matt Hrabchak, Harrison Haines, Jack Blyzinskyj, 1st place, 400 Free Relay.  Jeremy Bogle, Nikolai Syssoev, Julian Asuaje Solon, Henry Gaissert, 2nd place, 400 Free Relay

Saturday, July 18th:

Astrid Swensen, 10th place, 200 Fly.  Matt Shriner, 12th place, 200 Fly.  Julimar Avila, 5th place, 100 Free.  Maddie Wallis, 16th place, 100 Free.  Wyatt Ubellacker, 1st place, 100 Free.  Forest Crigler, 3rd place, 100 Free.  Jack Blyzinskyj, 8th place, 100 Free.  Nikolai Syssoev, 10th place, 100 Free.  Elizabeth Shashkova, 16th place, 400 Free.  Matt Hrabchak, 4th place, 400 Free.  Harrison Haines, 9th place, 400 Free.  Christine Rogers, Julimar Avila, Astrid Swensen, Maddie Wallis, 1st place, 400 Medley Relay.  Jess Gearan, Cathy Li, Kylie Cronin, Emilie Despres, 12th place, 400 Medley Relay.  Jack Blyzinskyj, Forest Crigler, Wyatt Ubellacker, Matt Hrabchak, 1st place, 400 Medley Relay.  Harrison Haines, John Prindle, Henry Gaissert, Nikolai Syssoev, 4th place, 400 Medley Relay

Sunday, July 19th

Julimar Avila, 8th place, 100 Fly.  Astrid Swensen, 10th place, 100 Fly.  Cathy Li, 14th place, 100 Fly.  Jack Blyzinskyj, 1st place, 100 Fly.  Wyatt Ubellacker, 3rd place, 100 Fly.  Astrid Swensen, 12th place, 200 Back.  Harrison Haines, 8th place, 200 Back.  Christine Rogers, 6th place, 50 Free.  Julimar Avila, 9th place, 50 Free.  Wyatt Ubellacker, 1st place, 50 Free (Olympic trials qualifier!).  Forest Crigler, 2nd place, 50 Free.  Jack Blyzinskyj, 3rd place, 50 Free.  Jeremy Bogle, 6th place, 50 Free.  Nikolai Syssoev, 8th place, 50 Free.  Henry Gaissert, 12th place, 50 Free.  Alexander McCurdy, 11th place, 200 Breast

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DAVID BERKOFF

One of the more iconic Gators in the team’s history, David Berkoff was born in Philadelphia, and started swimming because he was overweight. At one year old, he weighed 30 pounds. At 17 months old, he could speak in complete sentences yet was unable to walk. As he progressed through age group swimming he shed weight as he swam for ten different clubs in the mid-Atlantic region. In high school he swam for Dick Schoulberg at Germantown, and was accepted to Harvard University and began being coached by Joe Bernal.

In his college years he and coach played around with underwater kicks. He would stay under for 35 to 40 meters before coming up. After placing third in the 100 yard backstroke at the 1986 NCAA National championships, he decided that this trick worked well and began working full time on developing it. The next year he won the 100 back at NCAA in a time of 48.20, breaking the NCAA record. He was Harvard’s first NCAA champion in over 25 years.

At the 1988 Olympic Trials David broke Poliansky’s 100 meter backstroke world record with a time of 54.95 in prelims, and then again with a 54.91 in finals. He was the first swimmer to ever go under 55 seconds in the 100 backstroke. At the Seoul Olympics he broke the record once more in prelims with a 54.51, but after overcompensating for a poor start added time and won a Silver medal. In the final event of the Seoul games, the 4x100 medley relay, David led off swimming backstroke, and with his teammates broke the world record in a time of 3:36.93.  

Because the kick created such a stir at the games, FINA officials voted immediately after to limit the underwater portion of the race to ten meters. It was later increased to fifteen.

After returning home to Harvard, David won another NCAA title, again in record time, and after graduation went into semi-retirement but in 1991 returned to competition. He placed in the consolation finals of the 100m backstroke and 200m I.M. at the Pan Pacific Championships. He won the 100m backstroke at the U.S.S. National Championship, qualified for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Team and came home from Spain with a 100m medley relay gold medal for swimming in the preliminary heat, and a bronze in the 100 meter backstroke.

All totaled in Olympic competition, Berkoff had won two gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal. He set three backstroke world records, was on a world-record setting medley relay team and is best known today as the man who revolutionized the stroke. Today he is a lawyer living, working and coaching in Missoula, Montana, and coaches the Mizzoula aquatic club.  

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PAM KUONG

 Pamela Kuong is a Boston native, and the city has served her well. While attending Wellesley High School she swam under Coach Bernal, and after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University she returned to Boston and became a coach at Bernal’s Gator Swim Club, Wellesley High School Girls Swim Team, and the Wellesley Swimming Association.

As an aspiring banker, Kuong was directed to golf as a good way to help level the playing field in a male dominated profession. The mix of discipline and mental training skills she had learned at Gator along with weekends and vacations spent golfing helped her become one of the greatest golfers in New England. As she started to compete in charity business tournaments, she would have to diplomatically select the team she would play for while a plethora of successful businessmen made a push to get Kuong on their team.

In 2008 and 2010 she won the Massachusetts Women’s Amateur and in 2011 she won the New England Women’s amateur. She has previously plated in five US Senior Mid-Ams and Two US Senior Ams. In 2012 she was the Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts Player of the Year. She is currently a Senior Vice President and Senior Client Manager of Commercial Banking at Bank of America, and another incredibly successful alumni of Bernal’s Gator Swim Club.

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SUNITA WILLIAMS

In the last century, traveling the globe has become easier and easier. Technological improvements are reducing costs, and as we globalize communications, Europe and Asia and South America and Africa seem to be closer and closer and closer.

Yet, for all those technological advancements, it still takes a really special person to be able to break the stratosphere and travel into the dark abyss of space. Sunita “Suni” Williams then, is an incredibly special person.

Suni Williams Is an American astronaut, a United Sates naval officer, and a Bernal’s Gator Swim Club Alumni. She holds the records for the longest single space flight by a woman (195 days), Total Spacewalks by a woman (seven), and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes).

She was born in Euclid, Ohio as the youngest of three children, but moved to Needham, Massachusetts we she was young. This is when she swam under Coach Bernal. One year after the season ended, and they had two weeks off she decided to run the Boston Marathon in a brand new pair of shoes she had bought. Half way through the race, her feet had been bloody and covered in blisters so she finished the race barefoot. After high school she went to the United States Naval academy in 1987.

She joined NASA in 1998, and become the first person to run the Boston Marathon from space in 2007, running it again on land in 2008. She remains an Avid Red Sox fan to this day.