The Hurricanes migrated south this month to compete in Winterfest, a three-day invitational meet hosted by the Severna Park Y.M.C.A. swim team at the University of Maryland, College Park. All age groups from East Hampton had strong performances, including some national qualifiers.
“All of the coaches are proud of how well all of our swimmers performed,” Coach Angelika Cruz said. “There were a lot of fantastic swims and personal bests. It is very gratifying to see the hard work the swimmers put in every day pay off.”
The girls open free relay team — Vanessa Rizzo, Heidi Rizzo, Lizzie Daniels, and Daisy Pitches — started off the meet with a Y national cut, good for a fourth-place finish. The girls open medley relay team of Vanessa Rizzo, Daniels, Ginger Griffin, and Pitches also swam a Y national cut and finished fourth. The boys open 200-yard freestyle relay team — Aidan Menu, Nick Chavez, Jasiu Gredysa, and Liam Knight — also swam a Y national cut.
Vanessa Rizzo, a sophomore, and Knight, a senior, made their first individual Y national cuts, both in the 50-yard freestyle. Rizzo swam a 24.76, Knight a 21.98.
The age-group relays were equally impressive. Both of the girls’ 9-10 relays took first place: the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Alani Janota, Georgie Guittard, Allie Guittard, and Maya Saifullah and the 200-yard medley relay team — Sadie Weil, Janota, Georgie Guittard, and Saifullah.
The girls 13-14 freestyle relay team — Sydney Powers, Mia Milazzo, Molly Grande, and Avienne O’Shea — finished eighth. The 11-12 girls medley relay team — Reagan Taylor, Evelyn Rizzo, Raegin Poitras, and Novella Dunham — finished third. The 9-10 boys freestyle relay of A.J. Struble, Felix Doerfler, Ryder Abran, and Paul Crills finished seventh, as did Evan Sullivan, Doerfler, Crills, and Struble on the medley relay team.
Other top individual scorers included Saifullah, who finished second in 50-yard backstroke, 50-yard breaststroke, 50-yard freestyle, and 100-yard breaststroke and took third in the 100-yard freestyle, and Poitras, who finished first in the 50-yard butterfly and 100-yard butterfly, and third in the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard individual medley.
