The Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter youth swim team, the Hurricanes, placed second to Huntington, whose numbers are far greater, in the three-day Y state meet in Rochester last weekend.
It was the second year in a row that the Hurricanes finished just behind Huntington, "though this year," Tom Cohill, the Hurricanes' head coach said following Sunday night's finals, "we were leading Huntington by 27 points going into the final event, the 100-yard breaststroke." Huntington finished with 2,441 points to East Hampton's 2,423.
Cohill added that he and his fellow coaches, Angelika Cruz and Sean Knight, who went to Rochester with 65 competitors ranging in age from 7 to 19, were "extremely proud of our kids' performances, across the board."
Cohill, Cruz, and Knight will take a number of Hurricanes, namely Daisy Pitches, Lizzie Daniels, Vanessa Rizzo, Ava Castillo, Nick Chavez, Miles Menu, Jasiu Gredysa, and Liam Knight, to the Y national meet that is to be held in Greensboro, N.C., from Monday through April 4.
East Hampton's girls, as they did last year, topped the some 30 teams they vied against, and the boys, also as they did last year, finished third, Cohill said.
In Sunday's finals, the Hurricane winners were Pitches in the 15-to-19-year-old 100-yard freestyle; Daniels in the 15-19 100 breaststroke; Vanessa Rizzo in the 13-14 100 free; Heidi Rizzo in the 11-12 50 breaststroke and in the 50 butterfly, and Avienne O'Shea in the 11-12 100 free. Additionally, Castillo was second in the 15-19 100 fly; Liam Knight placed third in the 15-19 boys 100 free and in the 100 fly; Aidan Menu was fourth in the 13-14 100 free and in the 100 fly, and O'Shea was fourth in the 11-12 50 breaststroke.
In Sunday's 10-and-under session: Novella Dunham won the 9-10 girls 50 free and that division's 200 free; Henry Sullivan won the boys 9-10 50 breaststroke; the 8-and-under girls 100 free relay team of Frederique Medina-Lashko, Zoe Powers, Violet Pitches, and Isabel Jiminez won, as did the boys 100 free relay team of Benjamin Locascio, Dallas Stuart Smith, Ronan Shea, and Henry Popadick. The 9-10 girls 200 free relay team of Ellie Powers, Reagan Taylor, Maya Saifullah, and Dunham also was a winner.
In Saturday's 10-and-under session: Medina-Lashko won the 8-and-under 100 individual medley and the 50 free; Sullivan won the 9-10 100 individual medley and the 50 backstroke; Popadick won the boys 8-and-under 50 free; Dunham won the girls 9-10 100 free, and Jiminez won the 8-and-under 25 backstroke. The 9-10 girls 200 medley relay team of Taylor, Saifullah, Ellie Powers, and Dunham was a winner, as was the 9-10 boys 200 medley relay team of Ryder Abran, Sullivan, Paul Crills, and Christian Von Hagen. The girls 8-and-under 100 medley relay team of Jiminez, Medina-Lashko, Zoe Powers, and Violet Pitches won too.
East Hampton winners in Saturday's finals included Heidi Rizzo (three events), Pitches (three events), Daniels, O'Shea, Vanessa Rizzo, Knight, the 11-12 girls 200 medley relay team of Heidi Rizzo, Evelyn Rizzo, Raegin Poitras, and O'Shea, and the girls 15-19 200 medley relay team of Daisy Pitches, Daniels, Castillo, and Ginger Griffin.
