The Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter Hurricanes drew raves from their coaches, Tom Cohill, Angelika Cruz, and Sean Knight, following swim meets at the University of Maryland and Stony Brook University last weekend. Twenty-three Hurricanes made the trip to Maryland, and 34, with Knight as their coach, competed at Stony Brook.
It was the first time, said Cohill, the Hurricanes’ head coach, that the team had sent contingents to two meets.
Daisy Pitches, Ginger Griffin, Aidan Menu, and Jasiu Gredysa turned in personal-best times in age-group finals contested at Maryland’s Winterfest meet on Sunday, Pitches finishing second in the 15-to-18 girls 100 freestyle, in a team-record-breaking time of 52.02 seconds, and 13th, in a personal-best time of 2:11.06, in the 200 backstroke. Her 52.02 in the 100 free bested the 52.05 that Maggie Purcell swam at the Y national championships in April of 2017.
Moreover, the 1:55.48 Pitches swam in a Saturday preliminary 200 freestyle heat also broke a team record -- the 1:55.76 that Summer Jones recorded at the state Y championships last March.
Ginger Griffin earned Cruz’s “true grit award” for having finished eighth in the 13-14 girls 200 butterfly despite the fact that she was not feeling well. Her 2:32.99 was “just slightly off the personal best she swam in a preliminary heat Sunday morning.”
In addition, Gredysa swam a personal-best 2:17.93 to finish 14th in the boys 13-14 butterfly, and Menu’s 58.93 in the 11-12 boys 100 free final was a best time for him.
Pitches and Nicky Chavez represented East Hampton’s team in Winterfest’s finals on Saturday. “Daisy started the night off with a Y national qualifying 50 free time of 24.45 to win the B final,” Cruz wrote in an emailed report, adding that “she was back in the pool for the next event, finishing seventh in the A final of the 200 free. . . . She finished with a personal-best 2:13.75 in the 200 individual medley, good for 14th place.”
“Nicky Chavez swam a blistering 2:06.65 to win the 200 I.M.’s B final.
His time was nearly five seconds faster than his prelim swim, which had been his best by over a second.”
Earlier on Saturday, in 11-12-year-old events, the Hurricanes’ Raegin Poitras placed second in the 100 individual medley and ninth in the 50 free, and Evelyn Rizzo placed seventh in the 100 I.M. Molly Grande in the 200 free, the 100 fly, and 50 free, Menu in the 100 fly, Avienne O’Shea in the 50 back and 50 free, and Heidi Rizzo in the 100 fly, the 50 breaststroke, and 50 free turned in best times in 11-12-year-old races.
Poitras in the 100 I.M. and 50 free, Rex Doerfler in the 100 I.M., Novella Dunham in the 50 free, Evelyn Rizzo in the 100 I.M., and Henry Sullivan in the 100 I.M. and 50 free P.R.’d in 9-10-year-old competitions.
In Sunday’s 12-and-under races, the Hurricanes had several top-16 finishers, among them Menu, who broke a minute in the 100 free for the first time in qualifying for the final, and Poitras, who won the 9-10’s 50-yard butterfly, finished second in the 200 I.M., and eighth in the 100 free. Other top-16 finishers were Doerfler, Heidi Rizzo, and Evelyn Rizzo.
Best times were turned in by Novella Dunham, Poitras, Evelyn Rizzo, Sullivan, Grande, Menu, Mia Milazzo, O’Shea, and Heidi Rizzo.
Cohill was especially pleased to report Monday morning that nine state-qualifying times had been swum by Hurricanes whom Knight had taken to the Three Village Swim Club Memorial Joust meet at Stony Brook: Brielle Ball, Blakely Ball, Oliver Jack, Isabel Jimenez, Roger Kriegsman, Sebastian Le Chartier, Sierra Metz, Violet Pitches, and Ariel Ruggiero. A number of those in Knight’s crew had not swum in 100, 200, or in 500-yard races before.
The Hurricanes hope to three-peat at the Y state meet at the Nassau County Aquatics Center in East Meadow over the March 15-17 weekend. The Y nationals are to be held in Greensboro, N.C., from April 1 through 5.