Both the Bonackers girls swim team and the Y.M.C.A. Hurricanes made a splash in the pool last week, breaking longstanding records and swimming state-qualifying times.
On Oct. 4, at the Three Village Swim Club Ann Wycoff Memorial Swim Meet at Stony Brook University, Raegin Poitras set a new Hurricanes record of 1:02.24 in the girls 11-to-12-year-old 100-yard butterfly, breaking Carly Drew’s 2011 record of 1:02.73.
“What an awesome accomplishment and an incredible way to start the season,” said Tom Cohill, the Hurricanes head coach. “Years of Hurricanes history are represented on our record board, and adding Raegin’s name to it is something special. That record board represents goals for the current swimmers in our program. That was a longstanding record and a fast record and it says a lot for Raegin’s potential to continue to grow from here.”
“Raegin is just one of those kids who has constantly been focusing on her underwater, and at the meet, I couldn’t have been happier with how incredible her underwater dolphin kicks were. It’s changing her race altogether. She was blazing underwater,” added Sean Knight, one of the team’s assistant coaches.
The Hurricanes hosted their first dual swim meet at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter on Saturday, welcoming the Huntington Y.M.C.A. Bluefish and Patchogue Family Y.M.C.A. Piranhas to town.
“Great first meet,” said Knight. “We don’t keep score when it comes to these dual meets, but many new swimmers had their first race ever.” All of the swimmers competing in their first meet were celebrated with medals afterwards.
The meet gave East Hampton swimmers a glimpse of how they stack up against Huntington this year. In 2026, the Hurricanes won the Y.M.C.A state championship. Huntington, the defending champions, came in second.
“We look to see how we match up. We look to see where we stand strong,” said Cohill. “We were strong across the board and so was Huntington. Just by how good everybody looked, I think it’s going to be another tight state meet this year.”
It was also an opportunity to introduce the community to this year’s Hurricanes captains: Vanessa Rizzo and Olivia Robertson, both juniors, and Nicholas Chavez, Ginger Griffin, and Jasiu Gredysa, all seniors.
“This is an amazing group of captains. They’ve been on the team since they were little. For some of them, it’s their last year and they’re just great leaders for those younger ones. They’re constantly putting in the work. It’s a lot of effort on their part. They’re going year-round. They only get a couple of weeks off in August and they’re already right back into it,” Knight said.
It was also a big week for the East Hampton varsity girls swim team, which lost a highly competitive league meet to Huntington-Harborfields, 86-84, at home on Oct. 5. Many of the girls swam personal-best times, while Vanessa Rizzo qualified for the Section XI meet in the 200-yard freestyle and Avienne O’Shea qualified in the 50-yard freestyle.
On Oct. 9, the girls competed in the first Long Island Showcase, a breast cancer fund-raiser hosted by Hauppauge-Smithtown. Six teams participated — Jericho, Long Beach, and Port Washington-Roslyn from Nassau County, and Hauppauge-Smithtown, Connetquot-East Islip, and East Hampton-Bridgehampton-Pierson from Suffolk County. Bonac scored 138 points and placed fourth in the event, which raised more than $3,000.
The Bonackers raced against some of the state’s top swimmers and posted qualifying times for the Section XI and New York State meets.
Griffin qualified for the Section XI meet in the 200-yard individual medley, Robertson in the 100-yard breaststroke, and Vanessa Rizzo in the 100-yard freestyle.
Vanessa Rizzo also qualified for the state meet in the 100-yard backstroke, while Heidi Rizzo, Griffin, O’Shea, and Sydney Powers qualified in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
“The competition featured fast swimming, and our girls were very excited to race,” said Craig Brierley, the head coach, in his weekly newsletter. “The majority of our swims were best times. Our girls really laid it out there and competed with heart.”
