This past weekend was the only one the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter’s youth swim team, the Hurricanes, had off. Now begins for them an especially crucial part of the season, during which, among other meets, they’ll be represented at the state and national level.
Asked before Friday’s practice session at the Y how many of his swimmers he expected to qualify for nationals, Tom Cohill, the Hurricanes’ head coach, said, “We have two already — Daisy Pitches in a lot of events and Lizzie Daniels in the 100 breaststroke, and she’s very close in the 200 breast. We also have male and female relays shooting to make national times, and there are one or two or three gentlemen we expect to qualify in individual events. We’re looking forward to the next couple of months — we’re pushing to get ready, but we’ll get there.”
The team of 6-through-19-year-olds, which has more than 100 on its roster, split up over the Jan. 18 and 19 weekend, with the more experienced ones vying in the regional Winterfest meet at the University of Maryland and the younger ones swimming at the Mini Cities meet at the Flushing Y. Twenty-five Hurricanes went to Maryland, and about 20 of the 8-and-unders went to the meet in Flushing.
“We’ve got a lot of good kids, a good, fast team,” Cohill said. “The older ones, the 13-and-ups, practice five days a week; the 8-and-unders, the Category 1 swimmers, practice two days a week. As they move up the ladder, they’ll practice two, three, four, and finally five days a week. It’s a big commitment for the kids.”
Weekend competition is to resume this weekend, and will continue pretty much steadily thereafter through the nationals, which are to be held in early May in Orlando, Fla. The New York State Y meet will in Webster, a suburb of Rochester, over the March 21 and 23 weekend. The Hurricanes were back-to-back state champions in 2022 and ’23, and placed second last year. Cohill said the Long Island teams, those from New York City, and those from Dutchess County south are to go at it at the TYR Senior Metropolitan Winter Championships at the Nassau County Aquatics Center from Feb. 13 to 16.
“We did well at Winterfest, especially our relays,” he said. “It’s the kind of meet where you have to swim your best race because the competition is fierce. Just to make the finals is very good.”
Among the Hurricanes’ top finishers in Maryland was the fifth-place 400 open relay team of Miles Menu, Nicky Chavez, Jan Gredysa, and Liam Knight. Vanessa Rizzo was second in the 13-to-14-year-old 50 freestyle, fourth in that division’s 100 backstroke, and sixth in the 200 back. Pitches was third in the 15-and-over 100 free and sixth in the 200 back. Heidi Rizzo was second in the 12-and-under 200 free, third in the 200 individual medley, fifth in the 500 free, and sixth in the 100 back and 50 breast. Avienne O’Shea was fifth in the 11-to-12-year-old 50 free. Novella Dunham was second in the 10-and-under 100 free, third in the 50 free, and sixth in the 100 butterfly, and Ellie Powers was fourth in the 10-and-under 50 fly and fifth in the 200 individual medley.
The following relay teams were seventh-place finishers: Vanessa Rizzo, Lizzie Daniels, Ava Castillo, and Pitches in open 200 medley relay; Alani Janota, Maya Saifullah, Powers, and Heidi Rizzo in the 10-and-under 200 medley relay; O’Shea, Raegin Poitras, Evelyn Rizzo, and Heidi Rizzo in the 11-12-year-old 200 free relay, and O’Shea, Heidi Rizzo, Poitras, and Evelyn Rizzo in the 11-to-12-year-old 200 medley relay.
Top finishers at Mini Cities included: Isabel Jimenez, who won the female 8-and-under 50 free and was second in the 50 fly; Drew Lamb, who won the male 8-and-under 50 free and the 25 butterfly; Ronan Shea, who won the male 8-and-under 25 free; Frederique Medina-Lashko, who won the 8-and-under 25 breast, and Thomas Cohill, who was second in the 8-and-under 25 breaststroke.
Moreover, three relay teams were winners: Medina-Lashko, Marlowe Flaherty, Juliet Martin, and Jimenez in the female 8-and-under 100 free relay; Shea, Cohill, Lamb, and Benjamin Locascio in the male 8-and-under 100 free relay, and Cohill, Lamb, Shea, and Locascio in the 8-and-under 100 medley relay. Martin, Medina-Lashko, Jimenez, and Flaherty were second in the female 8-and-under 100 medley relay.
