Sayville-Bayport-Blue Point usurps Ward Melville for girls Suffolk swimming title

When Northport swimmer Chloe Stepanek climbs atop the platform to start a race, her focus makes her completely still until a split second before the start when her right hand reaches for her face to make sure her goggles are still there.

That ritual proved to be successful for Stepanek, who qualified for states in her fourth event Saturday, swimming the 100-yard butterfly in a third-place time of 59.57 seconds in the Suffolk girls championship at the Suffolk CC pool in Brentwood. "My mind just goes blank," she said. "I just do it naturally. I don't really notice."

The eighth grader at Northport Middle School also qualified in the 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyles. She said she'll represent Suffolk individually in the 200 and 500, and compete in 200- and 400-yard relays with her teammates. But she wasn't the only big performer at Suffolk's last meet. Moments after the last race, Sayville-Bayport-Blue Point took the plunge.

The entire team and two coaches jumped into the pool in celebration. It had just pulled off what had been thought of as unimaginable in Suffolk -- it was the first time in 23 years a team other than Ward Melville had come out on top. "It's just so shocking," senior Julia Horan said. "I don't even know how to feel right now. So many things going through my mind."

One thing Horan thought about was that Sayville needed a high finish in the last race of the day -- the 400-yard freestyle relay. Connetquot and Northport-Commack finished 3:38.12 and 3:38.13 respectively, and Half Hollow Hills was third in 3:38.34.

Sayville was fourth, and that gave the team first overall at 246.5 points followed by Half Hollow Hills (239), Connetquot (236) and a tie for fourth at 194 between Ward Melville and East Hampton/Bridgehampton.

"They've really been doing well this whole season," Sayville coach Nicole Mendez/Chicas said. "We only have seven girls here. So for them to get first place in the county is amazing."

Other first-time state qualifiers included Miller Place's Angelina Harris, Sachem East's Jessica Freund and Emily Anderson (200-yard individual medley), Harborfields' Hannah Spencer (50-yard freestyle), Sayville's Megan Donnelly (100-yard butterfly), Port Jefferson's Kyra Sommerstad (500-yard freestyle), Sayville's Mackenzie Thomas and Walt Whitman's Emily Fung (100-yard backstroke), Shoreham-Wading River's Emily Anderson and Ward Melville's Brittany Coughlin (100-yard breaststroke). East Hampton qualified in the 400-yard freestyle relay.