The Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter Hurricanes’ 200-meter medley relay team of Cami Hatch, Summer Jones, Jane Brierley, and Daisy Pitches broke two team records this past week in qualifying for the national final in that event in Greensboro, N.C., where the Y national meet was held.
Angelika Cruz, one of the head coach Tom Cohill’s assistants, reported that “unfortunately, one of our team members came down with the norovirus an hour before the finals’ warmup. She was in no condition to swim. Many tears were shed, but we reminded them that they’d earned their way to the finals with a fantastic record-breaking swim — it’s the first relay team we’ve had qualify for a national final — and said nothing could take that away from them.”
The 2023 relay team’s time of 1 minute and 46.53 seconds, good for 16th place in the prelims, broke the 15-to-18-year-old mark (1:49.58) that Julia Brierley, Maggie Purcell, Sophia Swanson, and Caroline Oakland set in 2018, and also bested the 1:48.99 that Purcell, Swanson, Oakland, and Jane Brierley swam in open competition that year.
Hatch, moreover, set another Hurricanes record with her lead-off backstroke time of 57.90 in the 400-meter medley relay, bettering the 58.63 she swam in last year’s state meet. “A great finish to a great career, Cami,” Cruz said in an emailed report, adding that Hatch (University of Tennessee), Jones (Davidson) and Brierley (U.N.C.-Asheville) will be missed next season.
In other sports this past week, East Hampton High’s girls track team was defeated 92-42 here on April 5 by Westhampton Beach, a perennial power. Leslie Samuel, who has been a quadruple-winner for East Hampton in dual meets — in the long jump, the 100, the 200, and as a member of either the 4-by-100 or 4-by-400 relay team — was sidelined with a sprained ankle. But even with Samuel in the lineup, the Bonackers would have trailed John Broich’s team by a large margin.
The teams contested the meet in foul weather — cold with wind and drizzling rain. That and encroaching darkness persuaded Yani Cuesta, East Hampton’s coach, and Broich to forgo the three relays.
East Hampton’s winners were Kaili Moore, in the shot-put, with a heave of 28 feet 7 inches; Meredith Spolarich, in the high jump, at 4-10, and Dylan Cashin, in the 3,000. Cashin was the 1,500’s runner-up, as was Ryleigh O’Donnell, in the 400, 800, and 400 intermediate hurdles. Spolarich was second in the long jump, at 14 feet 7 1/2 inches, a season-best for her. Leah McCarron also was a runner-up, in the discus, with a throw of 71-8, a personal record.
Cashin, by the way, now holds the school’s indoor mile record, having run a 5:31.47 in that distance at New York City’s 168th Street Armory in mid-February. Her time eclipsed the 5:40.19 that Penelope Greene, now a long-distance runner at SUNY Geneseo, ran in 2019.
Third-place finishers in the East Hampton-Westhampton meet were Rebecca Trowbridge in the discus; Lucie Bifulk in the 100 high hurdles; Kayla Kenlock in the long jump; Cashin in the 800, and Sam Ruano in the 100.
Kenlock, a junior with a gymnastics background who is new to the team this season, and Isabel Doyle, a Pierson senior who has missed some practice time, tried pole-vaulting, but neither cleared the 7-0 opening height, Cuesta said. She has hope for them, though.
The team, whose record was 1-1-1 as of Monday, was to have competed in the Port Jefferson Steeplefest-Plus invitational meet yesterday. Cashin, Sara O’Brien, and Bennett Greene were to have competed in the 2,000-meter steeplechase. Brayan Rivera and Benson Edman were slated to represent East Hampton’s boys team in that event.
Jack Graves Photo
Spolarich, a Pierson senior who is pointing toward pentathlon (100 high hurdles, long jump, shot-put, high jump, and 800) competition in the postseason, will concentrate on several of those events at Port Jeff.
Turning to lacrosse, the South Fork Islanders, the Southampton team on which a number of East Hamptoners play, defeated Riverhead 17-12 on April 4, improving its overall record to 3-2, while East Hampton’s girls team, playing here that day, lost 16-5 to Mattituck-Southold-Greenport. Charlie Corwin, a midfielder, had four goals, J.P. Amaden three, and Joe Scully two in the boys game. In addition, Amaden had three assists, Jack Cooper two, and Corwin one.
Joe DiGirolomo’s girls team’s loss to Mattituck-Southold-Greenport that day dropped its record to 0-5, while the North Forkers improved to 3-2. Melina Sarlo, Ava Tintle, Emma McGrory, Lily Perello, and Maddie Elflein scored East Hampton’s goals, which was good news, though the visitors’ attackers didn’t have much trouble solving East Hampton’s man-for-man defense. Sadie Campsey, a sophomore who was brought up from the junior varsity after the two varsity goalies left the team, deserved better. “If she can make the commitment, she’ll be good,” the coach said, adding that Mattituck won the vast majority of the draws and scooped up numerous ground balls dropped by East Hampton players.
DiGirolomo said that the team ought to be competitive in games later this season with North Babylon, Deer Park, Southampton, Hampton Bays, and Port Jefferson.