History

To view a newspaper clipping taken from the original TWST team -------> Click here

(Photo courtesy of Grant Brekke. Thank you Grant for sharing your memories with us!)

TWST has been around for a long time. Jeanne Biggane founded the club in 1969. At that time, the team was known as the Orchard Park Town Wreckers (OPTW), a play on words based on the fact that OPTW was run as a part of the Orchard Park Recreation Department. In 1983, OPTW merged with the Cheektowaga Stingrays to form the Stingray Wrecker Swim Club (SWSC). For the first time, members of the 'Wreckers' were able to compete at a Junior National level, although only in relays. In 1987 SWSC disbanded and the Orchard Park Town Wrecker Swim Team, or TWST, was formed.

Since then, TWST has grown from a small club of nearly 60 athletes to a fairly large team of nearly 130 swimmers. The size of the team changes from year to year. TWST has become more successful competitively than either the old OPTW or SWSC teams ever were.

TWST has had swimmers ranked nationally (Michael Jimenez, Martha Whistler, Lisa Hanitz and Matt Stone), compete at Junior Nationals (Greg Stone, Martha Whistler, Matt Stone, Mike Jimenez, Ryan Mayerat, Lisa Hanitz, Kristi Stone, Kelly Pangburn, Martha Whistler, Stacey Lee Kalota, Ryan Orser and Todd Heinaman), participate on Empire State Games Teams (Tony Haake, Ryan Mayerat, Mark Kauffman, Tom Dorss, Lisa Hanitz, Matt Stone, Kelly Pangburn, Mike Jimenez, Kristi Stone, Martha Whistler, Greg Stone, Jeff Organisciak, Mark Tedeschi and Josh Quinn), break district records (Lisa Hanitz, Matt Stone, Mike Jimenez and Meaghan Shannon), and swim on the Niagara District Eastern Zone Team (Mike Jimenez, Tom Dorss, Matt Stone, Kristi Stone, Kelly Pangburn, Greg Stone, Mark Kauffman, Jen Twarozek, Todd Hienaman, Leah Burn, Martha Whistler, Kelly Stoklosa and Meaghan Shannon).

TWST has had other successes of which we are equally proud. We have developed into a close, cohesive unit. We think of ourselves as a family. Obviously our top athletes are doing well, but so are our other swimmers. The team has grown in large part because of our younger, less competitive members. Those athletes who are not ever going to go to the Junior Olympics or Nationals make up a large part of TWST. At TWST, we attempt to provide a place for athletes of all abilities and competitive levels. We want swimming to be fun. In addition, we want our athletes to develop time management skills. Those skills which are so important later in life. We are especially interested in our swimmers maintaining their school work.

For us, it is important that swimmers are swimming when they are 8 through 18.