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The East Hampton YMCA Hurricanes boys 200-meter relay team of, from left, Liam Knight, Miles Menu, Jasiu Gredysa and Nick Chavez qualified for Nationals earlier this month. COURTESY TOM COHILL
Elizabeth Daniels, left, and Daisy Pitches have each qualified for Y Nationals as well. COURTESY TOM COHILL
Members of the East Hampton YMCA Hurricane swim team, specifically its boys 200-yard freestyle relay squad, had set a goal of qualifying for Nationals, but there’s talking about it and then actually doing it.
Well, the team of Nick Chavez of Sag Harbor, Jasiu Gredysa of Southampton and Liam Knight and Miles Menu, both of East Hampton, actually did it. The quartet finished the 200 free relay at the Senior Metropolitan Winter Championships at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow that ran from February 13-16 in 1:29.02, well under the cut of 1:29.49.
Hurricanes head coach Tom Cohill said it was the first time in quite awhile that the team had anyone qualify for nationals, and that it was all the more impressive being that many of the boys have had a number of other commitments this season. Chavez, Menu and Knight are all part of the East Hampton/Pierson varsity boys swim team that recently wrapped up its winter season. Knight qualified for the New York State Swimming and Diving Championships that are March 7-8 at Ithaca College, and Menu pulled double duty this winter. When he wasn’t swimming with the Hurricanes, he played on the boys varsity basketball team at East Hampton.
The YMCA National Short Course Swimming Championship is March 31 through April 4 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“They all have a lot of commitments, but their hard work and teamwork has paid off,” Cohill said. “With the young men making that Nationals cut, it was something we’ve talked about since last year. We’d been planting that seed early on, motivating them early, and they were focused on it this year as we’ve gone through this season.”
East Hampton has also had a pair of girls in Elizabeth Daniels and Daisy Pitches qualify for Nationals, not at the same Senior Met meet as the boys, but at meets earlier this season, though both Daniels and Pitches did compete at the Senior Met. Daniels qualified for Nationals in the 100-yard breaststroke, where her fastest time this season is 1:07.77. Cohill said she’s on her way to qualifying in the 200-yard breaststroke, but not quite there just yet.
Pitches, meanwhile, has impressively qualified for Nationals in nearly a half-dozen events, which include the 100-yard backstroke, and the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyles. Pitches improved upon her program record in the 200 free at the Senior Met. She went from 1:55.48 to 1:54.23.
In their final tune-up before the YMCA New York State Championships, which are at the Webster Aquatic Center March 21-23, the Hurricanes competed in the Silver Championship South at Hauppauge High School this weekend. Cohill said many of the team’s younger swimmers competed and, again, it was a good test run for them.
“We’ve been working on entries for states and we’ll be finalizing entries for athletes over the next week in their final push so they’ll all be performing for those events leading up to this,” Cohill said. “I’ve been very happy with how the team has performed. They’ve all been working really hard. We had a great holiday invitational in December and there’s been some long months and a lot of meets over the last month. But the team has continued to push it at competitions and in practices.”
