Dunkirk, Fredonia to Merge Girls Swim Teams

The girls swim teams from the Dunkirk and Fredonia school districts will formally combine.

The past couple of years have seen a lack of a girls swim team in Dunkirk. Female swimmers participated in boys’ swimming competitions on an individual basis, but they weren’t a part of the Marauders’ boys’ team. Currently, the boys’ swim teams from Fredonia and Dunkirk have been combined.

At the most recent district Board of Education meeting, Dunkirk’s Andrew Burnside presented the plan.

“By combining with Fredonia for the upcoming season, it will give us the opportunity to not only have our females in the pool, but also compete against other females in Section 6, to allow them to compete at sectional meets, class meets,” he said.

Burnside said Allie Saye, Dunkirk High’s swim coach, “approached me a few weeks ago… and said, have we possibly had any conversation about merging swim teams.”

Burnside called Greg Lauer, the Fredonia school district’s athletic director, “and he agrees, maybe the time is right to look at combining programs, the girls’ swimming program at Fredonia and Dunkirk.”

Burnside claimed that in addition to the swim teams, Forestville and Silver Creek have merged their indoor track programs with Dunkirk.

For her coaching responsibilities with the girls team in the fall, Saye, who is also a teacher in the Dunkirk school district, will work for the Fredonia school district. The team will be hosted by Fredonia.

The combined boys team will play in Dunkirk during the winter. As an employee of Dunkirk, Saye will train that.

Reference: www.observertoday.com