Lampe, Ward Melville girls swimming champion again

Every year the Ward Melville girls swimming team personifies the adage about losing the battle but winning the war. The Patriots win an event or two, but largely sink the competition with a shock-and-awe attack of depth.

The trend continued Saturday at Suffolk CC-Brentwood, where the Patriots won their 19th consecutive Suffolk title, beating Connetquot, 422-359, as the county team swimming championships. Ward Melville won just two of the 12 events, with Shannon Lampe taking first in the 100-yard backstroke (57.51 seconds) and Taylor DaSilva, Jessica Fabrizio, Alex Donnelly and Lampe coming in first in the 400-freestyle relay (3:43.91).

The last time the Patriots haven't won a county title was 1991, the year "Seinfeld" premiered, Operation Desert Storm was launched and Buck Showalter was named Yankees manager. The streak has gone on so long that no current swimmer or diver on the team has been alive a year Ward Melville hasn't won.

"It's weird to say we've gone so far," DaSilva said. "You look back and think, 'how did we do that? How, every year, did we come out on top? What did we do that's so different from every other team?' "

But this year was no cakewalk, with Connetquot closing the gap after a 116-point loss to the Patriots last year in the finals.

Part of the reason for the surge was meet Mikaila Gaffey. The meet MVP took first in the 100-breaststroke (1:05.40) and 50-freestyle (24.32), and was part of the winning 200-medley relay (1:49.26) and 200-freestyle relay (1:37.23) with Sara Dieterich, Claudia Reyes and Nicole Hetzer. The breaststroke, medley relay and freestyle relay were all county records.

"I think it shows how much better our team is getting every year," Gaffey said. "It's not even like we're staying where we are. We're improving each year."

Through four events, Ward Melville held a slim 153.5-149 lead. But gradually the Patriots started picking up momentum and used their customary second-half surge to leave little doubt who the victor would be, again.

"We knew both Hills and Connetquot were going to be right behind us once again," Lampe said. "But we knew we just had to use our depth to get as many points as possible."

Arceri repeats. For the second straight year, Huntington's Molly Arceri won the Suffolk diving finals, posting a score of 450.60. Sachem North's Colleen Gallagher finished second with 388 points and Half Hollow Hills' Nicole Drury placed third with a 376.55.

"I worked on changing my dive to the pike position more and jumping higher," said Arceri, who improved over her 2009 county score of 411.75.

Arceri never trailed and had a comfortable lead from her fifth dive on.

"It's actually better for me when I know I'm leading," she said. "I'm focused more and can just go for the high scores."