The East Hampton High School boys swimming team, a small but athletic crew, began its season last week with losses to Half Hollow Hills-Kings Park and to Ward Melville, but in an emailed report, Craig Brierley, Bonac’s coach, pointed out that in those losses “we had some best times and some county-qualifying times. . . . The boys have written down their goals and intend to improve each week.”
Ward Melville, “a small team like us, but one with some fast swimmers,” defeated East Hampton 94-72 in the home opener at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter on Friday, “though we had some highlight swims of our own,” said Brierley. He mentioned in that regard Liam Knight’s wins in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle races and Nicky Chavez’s win in the 100 backstroke and his narrow runner-up finish in the 100 butterfly.
“It was a great effort by all,” Brierley said. “Our boys showed a lot of grit — they competed well in every race.” Knight and Chavez swam county meet-qualifying times in the season opener versus Half Hollow Hills-Kings Park, Knight in the 100 butterfly, the 100 free, and the 100 backstroke, and Chavez in the 200 individual medley, the 50 free, and 100 breaststroke.
Watts Comly-Bolick, a newcomer to the varsity team, was that meet’s swimmer of the meet, so designated by the team’s captains for his contributions in the 200 free, the 100 back, and as a member of the 400 free relay team. Moreover, personal record times were swum by Knight in the 200 medley relay and in the 100 backstroke and by Cristian Sigua in the 50 breaststroke, and Chavez in the 200 individual medley and in his 50-yard butterfly leg in the 200 medley relay. Also recording personal bests were Zeb Ryan in the 50 and 100 freestyle races and in his medley and 200 freestyle relay legs; Jasper Samuelson in his 50 butterfly leg in the medley relay; Tony Pillajo in his 50 free medley relay leg; Ariel Ruggiero in the 100 fly; Ise Haney in his 50 and 100 free relay legs, and Vlad Korchynskyi in his 50 and 400 free relay legs. Comly-Bolick had a personal best in the 100 backstroke.
The runner-up 400 freestyle relay team of Knight, Comly-Bolick, Ruggiero, and Sigua swam a county-qualifying time of 3 minutes and 39.16 seconds in the meet with Ward Melville.
Likewise, Knight swam county-qualifying times in 50 and 200 free, and Chavez did the same in the 100 backstroke. East Hampton’s swimmer of the Ward Melville meet was Dylan Knapik, a Pierson (Sag Harbor) High School junior. “Even though it’s his first year on the varsity, he is contributing in a big way very quickly,” Brierley said. “The captains have cited his monster efforts in all of his swims. You can see he does not intend to lose. Way to go Dylan!”
The team was to have had a League II meet at Deer Park Tuesday.
