Gaffey makes big splash in Connetquot girls swimming victory
Connetquot's Mikaela Gaffey swimming the breastroke in the 200 medley. (Oct. 18, 2010) Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The listing of Connetquot boys and girls swimming records displayed at the Thunderbirds' pool might as well be a tribute to the Gaffey family. Of the 24 records, a Gaffey has a hand - either in a solo event or as part of a relay - in 10 of them.
Eric, Melanie and Megan have all graduated, leaving the family business in the hands of their younger sister, who just might be the best of the bunch. Mikaila, a junior who turned 16 in August, could easily be the picture you see if you looked up "well-rounded" in the dictionary. A standout violinist, she'll also graduate in June - a full year ahead of schedule - and has designs on going to Columbia University.
Oh, and she's also a record-breaking swimmer who sits at the top of the Suffolk food chain.
"She has it on both ends of the spectrum," said assistant coach Alex Scichilone, who's coached all of the Gaffey kids, and Mikaila since she was 6. "Academically, unbelievable. Musically, she's All-State. Swimmingwise, she's up on the national level now."
Mikaila swam the lead leg in the winning 200-yard freestyle relay (1:37.99), was part of the third place 200 medley relay (1:50.16) and finished third in the 50 free (24.24) at the 2009 Federation state championships.
Monday, she won the 100 backstroke (1:01.77) and 100 butterfly (1:04.56) and was part of the winning 200 medley relay (1:57.28) and 400 freestyle relay (3:51.95) in a 97-83 win over Harborfields.
Yet the Gaffey dynasty, and Mikaila's domination, might have come about only because her mom was trying to make things easier on herself.
"First we started out in all different types of sports, because my mom's a runner, and my dad was a gymnast," Mikaila said. "And then my mom realized that because there's four of us, she didn't want to be taking one to soccer, one to gymnastics, one to field hockey. We always loved the water ever since we were little, and she saw that and decided to put us into swimming."
Good decision.
In the 100 butterfly, she stayed underwater on each turn longer than any of her competitors, then her head emerged a foot ahead of anybody else. In the backstroke, she was a body length ahead of the rest of the pool after a matter of seconds.
"I was a little less competitive than my sisters in the beginning," she said. "And as time went on, I wanted it more than anybody else."
Need proof? Her resume hangs right next to the pool at Connetquot.
