Leah Treglia leads Hauppauge/Smithtown to Suffolk title in girls swimming
Leah Treglia of Hauppauge/Smithtown takes her cooldown lap after winning the 100-yard butterfly during the Suffolk girls individual swimming championships on Sundayat Stony Brook. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Falling just short last season due to a critical disqualification, the Hauppauge/Smithtown girls swimming team entered the fall remembering exactly how close they were to winning the county title.
It was a lesson they embraced, discussed and used as a source of motivation this time around.
At the conclusion of Sunday afternoon’s meet, the sting from that downtrodden moment suddenly was relieved.
Leah Treglia of Smithtown West led the way, winning both the 100-yard backstroke (55.32 seconds) and 100 butterfly (56.11) as Hauppauge/Smithtown scored 345 points to win the Suffolk girls swimming championship in convincing fashion at Stony Brook University.
Half Hollow Hills (271) placed second and Northport/Commack (240) was third. Ward Melville had won the last three county titles.
"Even though we got disqualified last year, we knew we could have won," Treglia said. "It was upsetting but we were still proud of ourselves. But this year we just told ourselves to be careful and that if we did it right we could win it. We just had to be smart. As long as we worked together we knew that it was going to be fine."
Smithtown coach Sean Montalvo said the "key disqualification in one of our relays last year," ultimately helped lead to this triumphant outcome.
"We kept that in the back of our head and used it as motivation to work harder and win it this year," he said.
The combined team’s victory also doubled as the first county title in swimming for either the boys or girls program in Smithtown history, according to Montalvo.
"Our swimmers get along so well and it’s just awesome to know that we could finally win something for Smithtown," Treglia said.
Treglia, a junior, also broke the county record in the 100 backstroke with a seeding time of 54.71.
"I was so happy because I was trying to do it since last year and to know I finally did it was amazing. I was very proud of myself."
With both of her victories she qualified for the state championships. Having done so every season since joining the team in seventh grade and looking to win her first title, Treglia will be seeded first in the 100 backstroke when the meet takes place at Ithaca College from Nov. 19-20.
Other state qualifiers included Shoreham-Wading River’s Emily Herr in both the 200 freestyle (1:53.33) and 100 freestyle (51.96), Denise Phelan of Northport/Commack in the 200 individual medley (2:01.48) and Port Jefferson’s Kate Sommerstad in the 500 free (4:59.57).
