Swimmers Cap a Great Week

The East Hampton High School boys swimming team capped a great week and a great season at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter Monday, easily defeating North Babylon to finish at 6-1, the Bonackers’ sole loss, by 9 points, coming at the hands of Hauppauge, the undefeated League II champion.

Those teams will have another go at each other in the league meet at Hauppauge next Thursday.

In Monday’s meet, East Hampton swept the 100 freestyle, with Jack Duryea, Max Bahi, and Thomas Treadwell; went one-two in the 100 breaststroke, with Ethan McCormac and Joey Badilla; went one-two in the 400 free relay; went one-two in the 500, with Conor Flanagan and Will Midson; went one-two in the 200 medley relay, and went one-three in the 200 free (Noah Gualtieri and R.J. Jones), in the 200 individual medley (Ryan Duryea and Owen McCormac), in the 50 free (Thor Botero and Badilla), in the 100 butterfly (Fernando Menjura and Kevin Pineda), in the 100 backstroke (Pineda and Ryan Bahel), and in the 200 free relay.

Earlier in the week, the team, which is coached by Craig Brierley and Brian Cunningham, easily defeated West Islip, winning nine of the 11 contested events, and out-touched Sayville-Bayport 92-88 in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, by finishing one-two.

In an emailed report of that meet, Brierley said, “Prior to the diving,” which resulted in 10 uncontested points for the home team, East Hampton having no divers, “the score was tied at 31-31. . . . After the 11th event [the 100 breaststroke], it was 86-80 in Sayville’s favor. We would have to go one-two in the finale, the 400 relay, or one-three to finish in a tie.”

“Our A relay team [Menjura, Owen McCormac, Badilla, and Ethan McCormac] had no problem taking first, so it was up to our B team [Bahel, Midson, Pineda, and Aidan Forst] to secure at least a third-place finish to tie. The excitement was up. Our B really was actually holding its position with Sayville’s A relay. We could tell the finish would be really close. . . . Aidan, who has had some shoulder issues recently, had just enough left to catch Sayville’s anchor, out-touching him by .47 of a second for the win.”

For his efforts, not only in the 400 relay, but also in the backstroke leg of the 200 medley relay, and in the 500, Forst was named the swimmer of the meet by the captains, Noah Gualtieri, John Pinos, and Nick Sigua. They and fellow seniors Thomas Treadwell and Kevin Weiss were honored by the coaches before Monday’s meet here before swimming  victory laps.

In related news, the Y.M.C.A.’s youth swim team, the Hurricanes, did well at a recent regional Y meet at the University of Maryland.

Tom Cohill, the team’s coach, said, “Our relay teams were especially impressive, starting off with the 13-14 boys [Menjura, Badilla, Colin Harrison, and Owen McCormac] in the 200 freestyle relay, which they won.”

Menjura, Badilla, Edward Hoff III, and Owen McCormac took fifth in the 13-14 boys 400 freestyle relay. Badilla, Jack Duryea, Menjura, and Owen McCormac were third in the 13-14 200 medley relay and were fourth in the 13-14 400 medley relay.

Summer Jones, Cami Hatch, Margaret Breen, and Jane Brierley placed third in the 11-12 girls 200 free relay; Daisy Pitches, Lily Griffin, Valeria Gutierrez, and Ashley Leon placed fifth in the 9-10 200 medley relay, and the same team placed fourth in the 9-10 200 free relay. 

In open girls competition, Julia Brierley, Sophia Swanson, Caroline Oakland, and Maggie Purcell finished sixth in the 200 free relay, ninth in the 400 medley relay, and 11th in the 200 medley relay.

There were 25 personal bests recorded during the course of the meet, Cohill reported. Eleven of his charges made the finals in individual events.