The East Hampton High School boys swimming team is to vie with Sayville-Bayport at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter today for the League II championship.
Before it begins, the team’s seniors — Aidan Forst, Will Midson, Conor Flanagan, Callum Menelaws, Gabe Ramundo, and Miles Coppola — are to be thanked “for their years of commitment and dedication.”
The visitors have one league loss, so the worst the 6-0 Bonackers can do is finish in a tie for the title.
In any event, it will be the second year in a row that the Bonac boys swimming team, which is coached by Craig Brierley and Bryan Cunningham, has finished at the top of the heap. Last year’s team went 7-0 in league competition, marking the first time since the program began here under Jeff Thompson in 2010 that East Hampton had won a championship in boys swimming.
The team won twice, and with relative ease, this past week, defeating Hauppauge here 97-73 and besting West Islip 55-46 in an away meet.
That wasn’t all the swimming news, though: The Y’s youth (9 through 17-year-old) swim team, the Hurricanes, for which a number of varsity swimmers compete, did itself proud in a “very fast” meet at the University of Maryland over the weekend, a meet that drew swimmers from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Angelika Cruz, one of the team’s coaches, said Tuesday that “we had several best times, and two team records were set, by Jasiu Gredysa in the boys 9-10 individual medley, which he swam in 1 minute and 14.72 seconds, and by Summer Jones, who swam 2:17.68 in the 13-14 female 200-yard butterfly, bettering the 2:18.63 she did in that event at the Holiday Invitational a month ago.”
Joey Badilla, who is now one of the varsity’s top competitors, had held the record Gredysa broke, having swum a 1:14.80 in 2014.
The Hurricane finalists, Cruz said, included Gredysa, who was second in his age group’s 50 fly, fourth in the 100 fly, fifth in the 100 I.M., and seventh in the 50 free; Jane Brierley, who was eighth in the 13-14 female 200 breaststroke and ninth in the 100 breast; Jones, who won the 13-14 500 in 5:10.97, was ninth in the 100 fly, and finished 10th in the 200 fly, and Sophia Swanson, who was 11th in the 15-and-over 100 fly.
“We also had several swimmers accomplish personal bests in some events,” Cruz continued. “Special mention should go to Liam Knight, who swam personal bests in all five of the events he was in.”
Among the 9 and 10-year-olds, personal bests were turned in by Wes Bull in the 50 back; Nick Chavez in the 100 breast, the 100 free, and the 200 individual medley; Gredysa in the 100 back, the 100 I.M., the 50 fly, and the 50 free; Ginger Griffin in the 100 fly and 50 free; Lucy Knight in the 50 back; Ben Kriegsman in the 100 back, the 100 free, the 200 I.M., and 50 free; Mia Luna in the 100 breast, and Ben O’Sullivan in the 100 back and 200 I.M.
The personal-best 11-12 list comprised: Ava Castillo in the 100 fly; Lily Griffin in the 100 beast, the 50 free, and 200 free; Valeria Gutierrez in the 100 back; Liam Knight in the 200 individual medley, 50 back, 50 fly, 50 free, and 200 free; Ashley Leon in the 100 free; Daisy Pitches in the 200 individual medley, the 50 breast, and the 50 free, and Sam Piver in the 50 fly.
Cami Hatch (50 free), Jones (100 fly, 200 fly, and 500 free), Margot McAuliffe (200 free and 50 free), Curran O’Donnell (200 breast), and Tenzin Tamang (100 back and 50 free) swam personal bests in the 13-14 age division.
And, in the 15-and-over group, Joey Badilla (100 fly, 100 free, 50 free, and 50 back), Nicky Badilla (50 back), Jack Duryea (100 breast, 200 breast, and 50 free), Emily Dyner (100 back), Aidan Forst (100 fly and 200 free), Colin Harrison (100 fly), Owen McCormac (100 free), Fernando Menjura (100 fly), Swanson (100 back), and Bella Tarbet (100 fly, 100 free, 200 fly, and 50 free) all bettered their previous bests.
The Hurricanes, whose younger swimmers train three to four days a week and the older ones five to six — sometimes twice a day if they are high school varsity swimmers — are aiming for the state Y meet in Buffalo at the end of March and for the Y nationals, which are to be held in Greensboro, N.C., in April.
“Our 200 medley relay team of Julia [Brierley], Jane [Brierley], Sophia [Swanson], and Summer [Jones] has already qualified for the nationals,” Tom Cohill, the youth team’s head coach, said during a conversation at the Y’s aquatics center Tuesday morning.
Following last year’s state meet, Cohill had said the Hurricanes were the best in the state “pound for pound,” and, on Tuesday, he said he expected that would continue to be the case.
Back to the boys varsity, Brierley said in an email report Tuesday that Nicky Badilla, who had some shoulder soreness but swam nevertheless, was named swimmer of the Hauppauge meet. “Nicky swam a personal best in taking second in the 100 butterfly, and led off the B 200 free relay team that took second place, again in a personal-best time. His willingness to step
up for his team was what the captains were thankful for and wanted to recognize.”
The margin of victory at West Islip was smaller owing to the fact that that school has a four-lane pool, “taking away some of our depth.” West Islip’s divers — East Hampton has none — tallied 7 of their 46 points, “but it was not enough to help them.”
That meet’s swimmer of the meet designee was Daniel Piver, who came back from an illness to swim the 50 fly in the medley relay team that took third, and scored in the 500 free as well.