Young West Milford Devil Rays come up short against Lake Mohawk Hawks

BY ROSE SGARLATO
WEST MILFORD — The West Milford Devil Rays lost to the Lake Mohawk Hawks on Aug. 10 in their final meet of the season. Outnumbered by the opposition at Lake Mohawk Pool in Sparta, West Milford lost with a final tally of 336-212.
There are a total of five summer swim teams in the West Milford area. The Devil Rays are considered the community team, part of the Lakeland Swim Conference, and they swim at Bubbling Springs.
This year’s season was a transition for many reasons, said West Milford’s new head coach Rachel Bohmann. The sheer number of other swim clubs in West Milford plus the coaching staff change causes challenges for the team.
“We are a young team with 50 of our 66 kids being under the age of 12,” said Bohmann. "Our kids are improving times every meet and are swimming the maximum number of events each week.”
Bohmann is proud of her team’s accomplishments thus far, specifically noting the Devil Rays' recent participation in the Ramapo championship.
“Overall the team has done well. We took 47 awards at the Ramapo championship,” said Bohmann. “And about a third of the team is going to ‘A' champs.”
The ‘A’ Champs is the culmination of the Lakeland Swim Conference where swimmers are invited to participate based on ‘A’ times held on Aug. 13 at Smoke Rise in Kinnelon.
Bohmann added that she was very optimistic about the future of the young team and that even five-year-olds were swimming 50 meters.