During the 2012 Special Olympics Summer Games, held June 8-10 at The College of New Jersey, more than 2,300 Special Olympics athletes from across New Jersey competed.

Among the athletes were 16 members of the Somerset Hills YMCAs Sea Wasps swim team. This year was especially rewarding as they exceeded their prior best in 24 of 40 events, including eight team records and 10 personal bests.

We are proud of our team, said Suzi Pellegrino, Somerset Hills YMCA senior director of Aquatics. Their achievements are only matched by the strength of their friendship, their determination and their dedication to training, which fully embraces the mission of the Special Olympics.

In the 200-yard Free Relay and the 200-yard Medley Relay, team records were set by Melissa Bosch of Warren, Daisy DeSimone of Bernardsville, Samantha LaMonte of Basking Ridge and Susan Huck of Somerville. Teammates William Saillot of Berkley Heights, Robbie Finer of Warren, Matt Iannaconne of Morristown and David Yu of Basking Ridge set team records in both the 200-yard Free Relay and the 200-yard Medley Relay. Additionally, team records were set in individual events by Melissa Bosch (50-yard Breast and 100-yard IM), Daisy DeSimone (100-yard Breast) and William Saillot (100-yard Breast).

Personal bests were set by Susan Huck (100-yard Free), Samantha LaMonte (100-yard Free), William Saillot (100-yard Breast), David Yu (50-yard Back), as well as Dan Homan (100-yard back) of Basking Ridge, Vincent Xie (25-yard Back) of Basking Ridge, Stephanie Ridilla (100-yard Back) of Berkley Heights, Dan Israel (25-yard Breast) of Basking Ridge, Kristen Clark (50-yard Free) of Basking Ridge and Alicia Plucinski (200-yard Free) of Basking Ridge.

The Ys Special Olympics program is available to anyone in the community and brings to life the Ys mission to encourage healthy living for all. The Y meets its mission through low and no cost programs made possible by funds raised through the Strong Kids campaign.

The teams medal count was quite high, said Coach David DeSimone, but I dont pay much attention to the medals. Rather, I focus on the effort and the outcome. The ultimate winners are those who can always improve performance, and every athlete on our team earned at least one personal record. In my nine years coaching, this is the best Summer Games team weve had.

For more information, visit somersethillsymca.org or call 908-766-7898.

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Somerset Hills YMCA swim team has success at 2012 Special Olympics Summer Games