Huntington High School’s swimmers and their teammates from Walt Whitman and Harborfields are off to their best start in memory. The squad is undefeated and has already met county and state championship cut times.
The Huntington swimmers have contributed to victories over Connetquot/East Islip (97-81), Sachem (97-79) and Brentwood/Bay Shore (87-64).
Last week at Brentwood, Blue Devil swimmers Pierre Leroy, Jonathan Larice and Evan Spagnoletti, with the help of Whitman senior Joseph Tonna, rallied and qualified for the states in the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 freestyle relay.
The team has now qualified in all three relays and several other events. Huntington senior William Weber and sophomore Lucas Spagnoletti have also met the state cut time and qualified for the championships at Ithaca.
“I am very excited to have qualified for states in the 100 fly and along with all my friends in the three relays, Evan Spagnoletti said. “I am looking forward to beating my times at states and spending more time with the boys. Being a state finalist is definitely in the picture this year. I want to represent my fellow Blue Devils while competing.”
The Blue Devils are coached by veteran Meg McConnell. The team will try and make it four-for-four on Wednesday when it travels to Half Hollow Hills, which is also 3-0.
“I am excited to have qualified for states in many events and especially in the relays,” Leroy said. “I look forward to bettering my personal bests and the school records in several individual events this season. Qualifying for the relays with my good friends is exciting. I’m proud to have helped send more of my peers to states in those relays. I look forward to a great season and to having lots of fun while competing with the goal of winning the county championships and scoring highly at states.”
The Blue Devils are highly competitive, in and out of the pool. They are striving to make this Huntington’s best season – ever. Qualifying for the states so early in the season is a remarkable achievement.
“I am super excited that our relay made states in all three events,” Larice said. “I, along with my teammates, have been working hard day in and day out so this was definitely in the books. Everything seems like it’s coming together in my last season with the team and we are only just getting started. I look forward to the rest of the season where I can hopefully make more state cuts.”