Connetquot captures three crowns in championships

BUFFALO - The digital camera Connetquot coach Alex Scichilone brought to take photos of his swimmers on the awards podium yesterday got a real workout.

It captured images of the three first place winners receiving their medals at the New York State Swimming and Diving Championships. The 35th annual event was held at the Burt Flickinger Aquatic Center on the campus of Erie Community College in downtown Buffalo.

Connetquot won the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay and the 50 freestyle, all breaking county records and all posting automatic All-America times. In the meet's team scoring, Connetquot was second with 130 points trailing only hometown Clarence with 136.5.

"They exceeded expectations. They were so pumped up, ready to go that they went above and beyond what they had to do," Scichilone said. "These girls have been swimming together since they were about six years old. They know how to work together as a team, how to motivate each other, how to work as a team."

Senior Mikaila Gaffey experienced a day most swimmers dream of. She was on both championship relays and won the 50 freestyle, as well as being third in the breaststroke. Her time of 23.48 in the 50 broke her own Section XI record of 23.71 from Friday's prelims.

"I've never been a state champ in any of my individual events, so I really wanted to do that," she said. "I didn't even think during that race. I tried to go as fast as I could and made sure I didn't take any extra strokes."

Gaffey teamed with Sara Dieterich, Nicole Hetzer and Claudia Reyes to win the 200 medley relay in a Section XI record 1:46.43. The same foursome won the 200 free relay in 1:36.57, a Section XI record.

Sacred Heart of the CHSAA didn't go home empty-handed. Its 400 freestyle relay was on the deck moments before its swim when assistant coach Mary White said: "OK girls, you're here. Do you want it?" The answer came roughly 3 minutes and 32 seconds later when they won the state title.

The team of Casey Francis, Megan Brady, Frances Warren and Emily Tan combined to break their own CHSAA record in 3:32.69. "The key in this race was my second swimmer, who broke 53 seconds , and then my third swimmer kept it up and gave the fourth swimmer a chance to bring it home," White said.

Olivia Chan of Sewanhaka won the public school title in the 100 breaststroke in an All-America time of 1:03.21. Chan was also third in the 200 individual medley in an All-American 2:03.95 besting her prelim time of 2:05.03.

Three swimmers were state runners-up: Alissa Leung of Sewanhaka (100 backstroke), Nicole Honey of Herricks (diving) and Megan Zarriello of Garden City (500 freestyle).

Honey settled for second place by that narrowest of margins as her 501.10 points trailed only Ashley Broderick of Section V Victor, who scored 503.80.

"The difference is about as simple as one drop of water coming out of the water," said Honey, who will continue her diving career at Rutgers. Honey was especially pleased with her inward, the last of her 11 dives.

"There's always a lot of pressure for your last dive, you know you have to do it good, you know where you stand," she said. "My previous meets, divisions and counties, I didn't do that dive so well because I felt so pressured. This time I did it amazing and I'm so proud."

Earlier this season Honey broke the Section VIII diving record that had stood for 20 years.

Leung was third in the back at last year's state meet. She'll swim for Lehigh next fall. "At the beginning of the race I was thinking I know what I have to do to win," said Leung, who finished in 56.44. "Coming in second is so great and swimming my best time . . . I'm so happy."

Zarriello also medaled in the 200 freestyle taking third in a personal-best 1:52.46. She's going to Maryland next fall.

Freshman Molly Treble of Massapequa looks to carry the torch for Garden City and Section VIII in the 500 after Zarriello graduates. She was third in a personal record 4:57.42.

"I went out in a 1:57 for my 200 which is really good, and I went in there with a strong mind to do well and place," she said. "I try to push through because you have so many hard sets in practice that works up to this."