East Lyme wins its 16th straight ECC swimming title
Swimmer of the Meet Magna leads Vikes to 16th straight title
— The annual story belongs in the
Groton old department of redundancy department:
Depth leads East Lyme High School to the Eastern Connecticut Conference swim championship.
And that could have been the primary storyline Saturday at UConn Avery Point, when the Vikings won the conference title for the 16th straight time. Except that this time, they got to celebrate an individual accomplishment
“A captain, a great leader. She deserved everything she got today.”
EAST LYME COACH JACK STABACH, ON SENIOR EMMA MAGNA
as well.
Senior Emma Magna was named the meet’s Outstanding Swimmer, touching off an emotional moment for Magna and her teammates moments after the meet’s conclusion.
“My friend Meika (Gathy of Waterford) is a really, really good swimmer, too,” said Magna, headed for Assumption College next year. “She deserved it just as much as I did.”
Magna won the 100 and 200 freestyles for the Vikings and was part of the victorious 200 and 400 relays.
East Lyme amassed 594 points, besting Fitch (398), Waterford (301), Ledyard (273), Norwich Free Academy (236), Windham/Lyman (114), Montville (23) and Wheeler (5).
“We knew it would be close between Meika and Emma. Meika is a very, very good
swimmer,” East Lyme coach Jack Stabach said of the computer-generated award, based on a formula. “But you never know until you catch the ball and spike it in the end zone, so to speak.
“Emma swims year round and takes it very seriously. A captain, a great leader. She deserved everything she got today.”
Taylor Gray (200 IM), Gretchen Stelter (50 freestyle), Jazzy Bazinet (diving) and Anneliese Lapides (100 breaststroke) won individual events for the Vikings, while Alexis Dumais, Mary Kathryn Taylor, Stetler, Kate Orefice, Victoria Chen and Maeve Counter all swam part of three first-place relays.
“What’s really helped our depth is having our own pool,” Stabach said. “We started the Nutmeg Swim Club in 1993 and that’s kind of been a feeder program for us as well as starting a middle school program. Swimming in middle school gets them used to a competitive meet.”
Gathy, who was among the first to congratulate Magna after the awards ceremony, won the 500 freestyle and 100 backstroke.
Olivia Strelevitz, a freshman, won the 100 butterfly for Ledyard.
Fitch, meanwhile, finished second in large part to placing four swimmers behind Magna in the 100 freestyle: Lauren Roper (second), Cassandra Cini (fourth), Maggy Walrath (fifth) and Paulomi Sardar (sixth).
“All of us swam so well today,” Magna said of her teammates. “Most of us swam our best times of the season today. That’s a great thing to happen.” m.dimauro@theday.com Twitter: @BCgenius