8 Photos
East Hampton's Camryn Hatch launches herself into a backstroke as she races in the first leg of the 200-yard medley relay during the League III Championships at West Islip High School on October 27.
East Hampton's Camryn Hatch competes in the first leg of the 200-yard medley relay.
As Camryn Hatch looks on, Lily Griffin dives to begin the second leg of the 200-yard medley relay.
East Hampton's Corrina Castillo dives to start the 200-yard freestyle.
East Hampton swimmers cheer on their teammates.
East Hampton swimmers cheer on their teammates.
Bonacker Camryn Hatch dives in at the start of the 200-yard individual relay.
East Hampton's Camryn Hatch swims the backstroke leg of the 200-yard individual relay.
Based off the regular season standings, in which Sayville/Bayport-Blue Point went undefeated — handing East Hampton/Pierson/Bridgehampton its only loss, it was going to be a battle between the two teams once again at the League III Girls Swimming Championships at West Islip High School on October 27.
Although the Bonackers had personal best times in every event, Sayville’s depth and the fact that it had the only divers in the league, gave it some additional points and the victory, totaling 374 points. East Hampton finished with 294.5 points, followed by Harborfields (183.4), host West Islip (147.5), Lindenhurst (120) and West Babylon (92).
“Our girls did not go down without a fight, as they never gave up and gave 100 percent in all of their races, pushing themselves and their competitors to their limits,” East Hampton head coach Craig Brierley said. “That is a skill they have been embracing all season and they have been reaping the rewards of knowing that when they give their best they can be satisfied with the outcome. This meet was a complete team effort. For those competing, every race mattered, and for the remainder of the team that was not competing, they were cheering for their teammates, showing good character, selflessness, and support.”
East Hampton junior Camryn Hatch was league champion in the 100-yard backstroke, where she out-touched Sayville sophomore Emma Haas by a tenth of a second. According to Brierley, Hatch just missed qualifying for the New York State Championships in the event by 0.80 of a second.
Hatch was also one of many Bonackers who had a number of personal bests that included some significant improvements. Hatch placed second in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:21.87, improving by 4.1 seconds. Eighth-grader Lizzie Daniels dropped her time in the 500-yard freestyle by 7.1 seconds (6:18.45), as did freshman Ashley Leon in the same event, shaving 6.7 seconds off her time (6:21.65). Lily Caplin dropped 3.6 seconds off her 100-yard breaststroke time (1:18.39) and all three Bonac relay teams improved their times as well.
The league championships also serves as the final meet for swimmers to qualify for the county meet and East Hampton senior Emily Dyner was determined to take advantage of that in the 100-yard butterfly. After narrowly missing qualifying by 0.01 of a second in the final dual meet of the season, Dyner swam to a personal best in 1:05.71, improving on her time by 2.65 seconds and beating the sectional qualifying time by more than enough at the league championships.
Dyner will be joined at the Section XI Championships, which are this Saturday and Sunday at Stony Brook University, by both Hatch and Ava Castillo, who also qualified in the 100 fly. Hatch and Castillo also qualified in the 200 IM and Hatch also qualified in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 back and 100 breast. Lily Griffin qualified in the 100 free and 100 breast and all three relay teams also qualified.
Team captains selected East Hampton sophomore Ruby Tyrrell as Swimmer of the Meet for the league championships. After being disqualified in the 100 back in a meet earlier this season, Tyrrell was determined to improve and worked hard throughout the season so she could help the team. In last week’s meet, Tyrrell finished sixth in the 100 back, scored 13 points for the team and dropped 1.6 seconds from her previous best and over 3 seconds from her first attempt.
