There was good news this past week insofar as East Hampton High’s girls swimming team, which in its senior meet here last Thursday defeated Harborfields 93-77, was concerned, though it was mixed when it came to junior varsity football, which sailed through Hampton Bays on Oct. 15 but floundered at Bayport-Blue Point.
Meanwhile, the girls tennis team, seeded 12th among the 23 teams vying in the county team tournament, was to have faced off against 21st-seeded Longwood here Tuesday, provided the match could be played before the arrival of predicted rain.
The swimming team, which honored its seven seniors — Reghan Anderson, Olivia Brabant, Julia Brierley, Eva Doyle, Darcy McFarland, Sophia Swanson, and Tiana Treadwell — before the meet began at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter, improved its record to 3-1 that day, retaining possession of second place, behind undefeated Sayville-Bayport, in League III. It is to finish the regular season at 2-2 Hauppauge Monday. The league meet is to be held there Tuesday.
Monday’s 35-6 loss at Bayport was the Bonac jayvee’s first loss of the season, dropping its record to 4-1. Joe McKee, the head coach, had been saying throughout the win streak that tougher tests loomed, Bayport being a case in point.
“We got beat . . . on both sides of the ball,” McKee said during a telephone conversation Tuesday morning. “Did we learn from it? I hope so. . . . The guys were disappointed, but they’re ready to bounce back at Port Jefferson on Oct. 29.”
Several crucial fourth-down plays that the home team converted, two fourth-and-3s and one fourth-and-9, resulted ultimately in first-half touchdowns, said McKee. Asked about the offense, which has been piling up points this fall, mainly through the air, the coach said, “The offense struggled too. We didn’t block well . . . we didn’t pass well. . . . Hopefully, we’ll learn from it.”
The good news football-wise, as aforesaid, was its 36-20 win over Hampton Bays here on Oct. 15.
It was 23-0 by the end of the first quarter as the result of long touchdown passes from Topher Cullen to Rene Criollo and Danny Lester, who was on the receiving end twice.
Cullen and Drew Salamy — who was to catch another touchdown pass in the third period — hooked up for a fourth TD, a 30-yarder, before the halftime break. Criollo’s point-after kick treated the Bonackers to a 29-6 lead entering the second half, at which point McKee began subbing liberally, giving his second-stringers plenty of playing time.
“The kids know now what football’s all about,” McKee said. “They’re excited about playing at Port Jeff. We’ll see if we can rebound.”
Facing a numbers problem in the past few years, McKee has been trying his best to resurrect the program, beginning with flag football for kindergartners through fifth graders, boys and girls, at East Hampton’s Herrick Park on Tuesday and Friday evenings. “This week will be our last,” he said, “and our games are going to be played on Thursday [tonight] instead of Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m.”
The jayvee — which McKee hopes will be a varsity team next year — is to end its season under the lights at Herrick Park on Nov. 4 versus Shoreham-Wading River. “I played at Herrick as a freshman, just before the games were moved from there up to the high school. We’re trying to bring back that atmosphere of fall days and football in the heart of the village. We’re trying to get as many alumni out as we can.”
Back to girls swimming, its coach, Craig Brierley, said in an email that East Hampton “had first-place finishes in eight of the 11 events.”
Swanson won the 100 and 200-yard freestyle races, Brierley won the 50 free, out-touching her chief opponent by .04, McFarland finished fourth in the 500 and 100 butterfly, Treadwell swam her best times in taking fourth in both of her races, Anderson swam a personal best in the 100 backstroke, earning 5 points for the team, and Doyle swam a personal best in her 200 medley relay leg.
Stephanie Pallchisaca, who subbed in at the last minute in the 500 free, was named swimmer of the meet by the captains.
A dozen of Brierley’s charges swam personal bests that day — Maddie Elflein, Doyle, Treadwell, Corrina Castillo, Sophie Tucci, Larissa Marin, Anderson, Alyssa Brabant, Swanson, Julia Caldwell, Catalina Badilla, and Kiara Bailey-Williams.
As for tennis, Kevin McConville, its coach, said he wasn’t displeased with the team’s seeding inasmuch as it gives it a decent chance to get to the quarterfinals, where, if all goes well, it probably can look forward to a match at fourth-seeded Half Hollow Hills East.
Westhampton Beach is the tourney’s top seed.
In the recent division and county individual tournaments, East Hampton’s number-one, Juliana Barahona, placed fifth, and Kaylee Mendelman and Chiara Bedini, Bonac’s top doubles team, placed third in the division tourney before losing first-round matches in the county tournament.
McConville said concerning Barahona that “other coaches go ‘whoa’ when they see her hit in the warm-ups, but then she tightens up in the matches. . . . What does she need to do? She needs more experience, and she’s beginning to get that in U.S.T.A. tournaments, which all the girls she’s been up against have been playing in. Her next one will be at the Ross School on Nov. 1.”