By Larry Moko
Call it a stroke of luck for the Cathedral High School swim team.
The 29-member squad, under the guidance of coach Lori Ann Raftis, was fortunate to receive an unexpected donation from the community this season which made more pool time available for practices and training.
"Much of our success this year is due to our partnership with the YMCA," Raftis said. "Through grants, the YMCA was able to support our team, with not only extra pool practices, but also free memberships for each of our swimmers. The memberships can be used at any Y location for the duration of our swim season (six months).
"Having this extra time in the pool has greatly impacted our swimmers growth and overall fitness."
Previously, Gael practices were held at Pinky Lewis and Central Memorial, the closest pool to Cathedral's Wentworth Street location.
But according to Raftis, funding for 25 additional pool sessions at the Downtown Y came from the Red Cross and the YMCA.
The Gaels finished third as a team during the recent Hamilton Catholic city championships at McMaster. In addition, three Cathedral swimmers qualified at the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference meet for OFSAA berths.
Those provincial high school championships in Windsor are scheduled for March 3-4.
Cathedral's qualifiers for OFSAA are Joshua Agapay (50m backstroke and 100m individual medley), Michael Kajcsaracz (50 and 100m freestyle) and Uwa Oziegbe (50m freestyle).
"All three of them worked really hard both during the practices we had scheduled as well as on their own time," the Cathedral coach said. "They went to the Y quite a bit to use the pool membership. And they did a lot of training on their own on top of everything else."
Agapay just swam the backstroke at OFSAA in 2025. But this year the Grade 10 student will be adding the IM event.
"Joshua had never done that race (IM) prior to this year's city meet," Raftis said. "But he swam it well enough to qualify for GHAC. And his time at GHAC was even faster."
Kajcsaracz, a Grade 12 student, formerly played basketball for the city-champion senior Gaels. It will also be his second appearance at OFSAA for swimming.
Said Raftis: "Michael is energetic and very talented. He has always been a natural athlete. He pushes himself and strives for greatness. He used to swim the IM (in Grade 9) but decided to go with the sprint freestyle and the longer distance freestyle."
Oziegbe, a Grade 11 student who used to be a competitive club swimmer, will be making her OFSAA debut.
"Uwa is a quiet powerhouse," Raftis said. "Watching her swim is poetry in motion. Her form and talent shines through. She makes every stroke look easy."
Other Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Athletic Association athletes who qualified for OFSAA this year included: Jerielyne Tiburcio of St. Jean de Brebeuf; Angelena Porco, Meghan Clark, Gwen Bowden, Layla Hume and Ella Avery of Bishop Ryan; Mackenzie Whitehouse, Nino Versace and Juliet Nguyen of St. Thomas More, L. Mikaela, T. Sydney, R. Adalynn and T. Sienna of St. John Henry Newman; M. Audrey, O. Vallee, S. Christopher and John Paul of Bishop Tonnos.
The Bishop Ryan Celtics were city champions for a fifth-straight time.
In regard to the YMCA agreement, the Cathedral coach said everything just fell into place: "It wasn't something I went out searching for," she said. "They got in touch with me and said, 'What can we do for you? What do you need? What are you looking for?'"
Photos by Matt Trabucco
