Swimming: Briarcliff Manor Has Outstanding Summer

It’s always great to win, but it’s even more enjoyable when you can have fun in the process.

That was the case for Briarcliff Manor’s entry in the Northern Westchester Swim Conference this summer. Briarcliff was 4-1 in Division II competition, tying with Pleasantville for the best record in the division.

Pleasantville was awarded first place based on winning the head to head meet against Briarcliff 255-237. Diving, Briarcliff’s specialty, was not held at the meet since Pleasantville is a swim-only program.

That loss though couldn’t diminish what an outstanding summer it was for Briarcliff in and out of the pool.

“It was very exciting,” Briarcliff Coach Rhonda Jeffay said. “It was a great year. Besides the winning, we had a lot of spirit and a lot of fun.”

One big reason why the kids on Briarcliff’s squad had fun was because of the tone its coaches set.

Assisting Jeffay was her diving coach and daughter Melissa Jeffay, who will be a senior at this fall; her son Eric Jeffay, who will be a junior at the Culinary Institute of America this upcoming school year; and Ryan Wilson, Samantha Sommer and Lindsey Whalen.

“My coaches are extremely spirited,” Rhonda Jeffay said. “They were really into it and them being into it helps the kids act, the same way. We played music at practices, we had a dance party. We had a night out just for the older swimmers so we do a lot of things to build team spirit. We did a lot of work with the younger ones. The older kids really helped them out a lot. This program, it gives and it gives back.”

It was a program that particularly stood out when it came to diving. One of those moments it stood out came at the conferences’ all-star diving meet, hosted by Lewisboro.

That’s where Alec DeCaprio set the meet record in the boys 13-and-under diving competition with 126.40 points.

“He’s an excellent, well composed, fantastic diver,” Rhonda Jeffay said. “He just has tremendous concentration and determination.”

DeCaprio’s efforts were reflective of Briarcliff’s divers as a whole as they accomplished something historic at the last county championships to be held at the venerable Playland pool.

“Our divers actually took the county championships and never has a northern Westchester team taking county diving,” Rhonda Jeffay said. “So we were actually honored at Playland. We had five divers there and we got the most points for diving and DeCaprio was a part of that too.”

The Briarcliff coach said the key to its success at diving is having a lot of year-round divers.

“They work hard at practice,” Rhonda Jeffay said. “They did really well.”

Briarcliff also took first at the conference’s diving championship meet with 26 points, beating out Lakeside which had 18 points. DeCaprio placed first in the 13-and-under boys, Melissa Jeffay won the 18-and-under girls and Ryan Levy won the 18-and-under boys. Jayne Levy took second in the 13-and-under girls.