6 Photos
East Hampton/Pierson swimmers cheer on their teammates during an intersquad match on Friday. MARIANNE BARNETT
Ashley Leon doing the backstroke during Friday's inter-squad meet. MARIANNE BARNETT
Dakota Quackenbush is one of the captains of the Bonac swim team this season. MARIANNE BARNETT
Ava Castillo MARIANNE BARNETT
Seniors Sidney Rawson, left, Dakota Quackenbush, Izzy Caplin and Ruby Tyrrell MARIANNE BARNETT
Izzy Caplin of Pierson is one of the captions of the Bonac swim team this season. MARIANNE BARNETT
It was an exciting season a year ago for the East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton girls swim team, as it had success as a team, as did its individual members.
Jane Brierley was one of five swimmers who qualified for the state meet, and wound up taking home what is still thought to be the program’s first-ever individual state title by winning the 100-yard breaststroke.
While Brierley, along with other talented swimmers in Camryn Hatch, Alyssa Brabant, Carolina Condon, Maddie Elflein and Sophie Tucci all graduated, Bonac head coach Craig Brierley says this season looks to be exciting as well, with the addition of multiple underclassmen who have proven to be strong swimmers already.
The new additions include East Hampton freshmen Cybelle Curry, Maya Dias, Lily Early, Ginger Griffin, Springs eighth-grader Lucy Knight, and Pierson eighth-graders Mia Luna and Vanessa Rizzo. All new additions swam for Coach Brierley on the National Competition team as well as the East Hampton YMCA Hurricanes, and all are or were junior lifeguards locally. Each girl, as Brierley noted, will have plenty of opportunity to show their skills as the season progresses, but they will be led by a strong returning group of swimmers.
Leading that group will be Pierson senior Isabelle Caplin, East Hampton juniors Ava Castillo, Lily Griffin and Ashley Leon and East Hampton sophomore Elizabeth Daniels. Castillo and Griffin created one half of last year’s 200-yard medley relay, along with Hatch and Jane Brierley, and Daniels as an alternate.
“We are fortunate to have many on the younger side to keep the team balanced for the future as seniors graduate,” Coach Brierley said. “Behind the scenes, we have a special group of senior leaders that are going to be a large part of whatever success the team has this season.”
East Hampton will continue to compete in League III along with Lindenhurst, Sayville/Bayport-Blue Point, West Babylon and West Islip. Coach Brierley, who will continue to coach the team alongside his son Thomas, isn’t changing goals and expectations from previous years.
“To encourage and inspire the student-athletes to be their best and let the results take care of themselves,” he said is his mantra.
The Bonackers hosted Sachem North in a nonleague meet on Tuesday and will be at Sachem East in another nonleague match this Thursday, September 14, at 5 p.m., before hosting West Babylon in their first league meet of the season on September 27 at 5:30 p.m.
