At the Friday night swim meet at the AYF Olympics, Detroit won the first relay and the next two events, and Team K-T kept going from there. After sweeping the final four relays, the host chapter accumulated a total of 79 points, 48 more than Providence. New Jersey ended up third scoring 18 points, while Philadelphia and North Andover were close behind with 13 points each. Racine scored eight points, and Chicago was in seventh place with five points. Greater Boston came last with three points.
Women’s swimming
Natalia Oganesian from Providence won three events, just as she did last year and in 2021. Oganesian started off by winning the 50 yard breaststroke with a time of 34.65 seconds, breaking the 2009 record of 34.80 set by Providence’s Lynne Tutunjian. Detroit won silver and bronze, as Aren Saroukhanian edged Hailey Gillett. Oganesian then eased to victory in the 100 yard freestyle in 59.75, while Gillett won silver and New Jersey’s Lina Ariyan placed third. Oganesian finished her evening by winning the 50 yard butterfly in 28.85, close to her 28.69 record time set last year. Natalya Katcherian from Detroit took second, while Saroukhanian settled for third.
Katcherian started the individual events by winning the 25 yard freestyle with a time of 13.21, only 0.23 of a second better than Allison Devedjian of Chicago. Saroukhanian was close behind in third. Katcherian also won the 50 yard backstroke in 35.24, scoring a total of 13 points for Detroit. Lenna Karapetian from Racine and Isabel Vartanian from New Jersey took second and third.
In the 50 yard freestyle, Gillett added a gold to her silver and bronze medals. She finished in 28.75, while veteran Azniv Khaligian from Racine and Devedjian were close behind. Finally, the girls’ 4 x 25 freestyle relay saw Detroit win with a time of 1:00.84, over six seconds faster than Greater Boston and New Jersey.
Men’s and co-ed swimming
The men’s events were all won by two swimmers. Veteran Armen Vartanian from Detroit and 16-year-old Matt Janian from North Andover alternated wins throughout the evening. Vartanian first won the 50 yard breaststroke in 34.95 ahead of his brother Berj and Garo Amerkanian from New Jersey. Then Janian took the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 24.94. David Ayrassian from Providence beat Berj Vartanian for second. Vartanian then swam the 50 yard backstroke in 35.89, well ahead of Ayrassian and Mourad Tossounian from Detroit. Janian came back for the 100 yard freestyle, where his time of 54.78 easily beat the only other swimmer, Zander Semerjian of Providence. With two golds each, Vartanian and Janian faced off in the final men’s individual event, the 50 yard butterfly, to see who would win high scoring honors. It proved to be the evening’s most exciting race, as Vartanian took a slight lead at the start and hung on to win in 27.31, only 0.04 of a second ahead of Janian. Berj Vartanian won his third medal in the event.
The first men’s swimming relay was the 200 yard medley, where Detroit won in 2:11.19, over 30 seconds ahead of Philadelphia and New Jersey. Team K-T repeated its victory, taking the 200 yard freestyle relay in 1:58.40. New Jersey and Philadelphia finished well behind once again.
The co-ed relays were the final two events of the competition. The Detroit 4 x 50 yard freestyle team cruised to victory with 1:53.67. Philly and Providence took second and third. The same three teams battled in the 4 x 50 yard medley relay. Detroit recorded a time of 2:20.26, while Providence edged the Sebouhs for second.
Bob Tutunjian
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