A Second Straight Sweep for Swimmers
The East Hampton High School girls swimming team bid farewell to its home pool at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter last Thursday by swamping Harborfields, usually a formidable foe, 104-66, though the reported score, because of customary largess, was somewhat closer.
The young Bonackers — and they are young, with only two seniors, Oona Foulser and Emma Wiltshire, on the team — got it going with a solid win in the 200-yard medley relay.
After Julia Brierley, a junior, had been out-touched by the visitors’ Julienne Saliou in the backstroke leg, Jane Brierley, who’s only an eighth grader, grabbed the lead in the breaststroke, after which Sophia Swanson, a junior, extended the margin to two lengths in the butterfly, and Foulser, the team’s anchor, churned the water in her two freestyle laps.
East Hampton almost finished one-three, but Bonac’s B team of Darcy McFarland (a junior), Tiana Treadwell (a junior), Nicole Guitierrez (a sophomore), and Margaret Breen (an eighth grader) was out-touched by the Harborfields A team by .40, according to the coach Craig Brierley’s emailed account.
Harborfields took first and third in the 200 freestyle, but the Bonackers, with Jane Brierley and Kiara Bailey-Williams, a Pierson sophomore, copped the top two places in the 200 individual medley, after which Foulser, in 26.09, and Julia Brierley, in 27.49, did the same in the 50 free as Breen (28.08) came within .06 of taking third.
Saliou and her Harborfields teammate Amanda Service placed one-two in the 100 butterfly, with McFarland taking third, Emily Dyner, a ninth grader, and Guitierrez, all East Hamptoners, rounding out the scoring.
At that point, the home team led 45-33, and soon it was to be 57-37 owing to Swanson’s win and a runner-up finish by Camryn Hatch, an eighth grader, in the 100 free.
While the visitors, with Katie Poschmann, were to win the 500 freestyle, a 20-lap event, East Hampton, with Olivia Brabant, a junior, and Breen, an eighth grader, as aforesaid, took second and third.
And so it went. East Hampton, with Jane Brierley, Julia Brierley, Foulser, and Swanson, and with Wiltshire, Alyssa Brabant, who’s an eighth grader, McFarland, and Caroline Brown, a sophomore, placed one-two in the 200 free relay, extending the team’s margin to 28 points with three events remaining, the 100 back, the 100 breast, and the 400 free relay.
Harborfields took the top two places in the 100 back, with Hatch third, Bailey-Williams fourth, and Dyner fifth. But Jane Brierley, who’s of a seemingly slight build, powered her way to a win in the 100 breast, followed by Julia Brierley.
And East Hampton likewise placed first and second in the 400 free relay, with Olivia Brabant, Hatch, Swanson, and Foulser, and with Brown, Guitierrez, Bailey-Williams, and Wiltshire, though those teams were “exhibitioned,” i.e., East Hampton forwent the 12 points — eight for winning and four for finishing second.
Thus East Hampton capped its second undefeated league championship season in a row, at 5-0.
“It was a wonderful accomplishment,” said Brierley. “A testament to the hard work the athletes put in all season.”
Before the meet began, Foulser, who’s to attend Northeastern next fall, and Wiltshire, who’s to go to Trinity College in Dublin, were cited “in our traditional ‘senior swim’ ceremony. It was a bittersweet moment,” the coach said. “We wish them the best of luck in the next chapter of their lives and appreciate all they’ve given to our program.”
The team, he continued, “will begin now to focus on the end-of-season championship meets. . . . The goal is to peak for the season’s most important competitions, both mentally and physically.”
The League III championship meet was to have been held at Hauppauge High School yesterday. The county meet is to be on Saturday, Nov. 3, at Suffolk Community College-Brentwood.
Bailey-Williams was named by the captains, Foulser and Wiltshire, as the swimmer of the meet for having qualified for the county meet in the 200 individual medley.
East Hampton’s county meet qualifiers as of Monday included Bailey-Williams, Jane Brierley, and Swanson in the 200 IM; Swanson in the 200 free; Breen, Jane Brierley, Julia Brierley, Foulser, and Swanson in the 50 free; Swanson in the 100 fly; Jane Brierley, Foulser, Hatch, and Swanson in the 500 free; Julia Brierley, Brown, Hatch, and McFarland in the 100 back, and Jane Brierley and Julia Brierley in the 100 breast.