On Thursday, Nov. 21, Manhasset swimmers Sarah Henry, Meredith Johnson, Madeleine Kang, Grace Kenlon, Kylie Mulholland, Madeleine Quinn, Megan Smith and Allegra Sodi traveled with Nassau’s State Team to Ithaca, New York to compete in the NYS Championships, which was being held on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22 and 23 at Ithaca College.
At Friday’s preliminaries, The MHS swimmers showed tremendous poise competing against the best in New York State. Friday’s goal was to improve the seed place and qualify for Saturday’s finals. Historically, many of New York’s state qualifiers achieve their personal best time to qualify for States and have a tough time matching that performance on the biggest stage for high school swimming. It often takes a year or two of experience swimming on this stage to adjust to the environment and competition. The Manhasset girls, experienced and first time state swimmers had a different goal. “They swam as if it was just another meet,” stated MHS Coach Matt McGrane. “Their preparation, focus and routine did not change among all the distractions that they face at this level.”
The Indians had a strong showing on Friday, qualifying both relays (200yd. Medley and 200yd. Free) and six individual swims for Saturday’s State Finals. This was another school record!
At Saturday’s finals, the girls had another strong performance, often improving their seed from Friday’s preliminaries.
Highlights from the two-day meet include the following:
Senior, Madeleine Quinn, swam a personal best and new school record time of 2:08.40 in the 200 yd. Individual Medley, finishing ninth in New York State. Unofficially, this is the highest finish of a MHS girl swimmer at the NYS Championships. She also had a strong performance in the 100yd Butterfly to qualify for Finals and finish 19 in NYS. Madeleine was recognized by the State Swim Committee on Saturday as a Scholar Athlete and was selected as the Good Sport Award Recipient for Nassau County.
Sophomore, Kylie Mulholland, swam a personal best time of 2:11.30 in the 200yd Individual Medley to finish 22nd. In her second event, Kylie had a strong swim on Friday qualifying for and finishing 24 at Saturday’s finals.
Sophomore Grace Kenlon qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 100yd Backstroke with a strong showing on Friday. On Saturday, she improved her time and place finishing 21 in NYS.
Freshman, Megan Smith, set a new school record in the breaststroke, swimming a time of 1:07.90 at Friday’s preliminaries. On Saturday, she improved her preliminary seed to finish 16 in NYS.
The 200yd Medley Relay team consisting of Grace Kenlon, Allegra Sodi, Megan Smith and Meredith Johnson, had a strong preliminary swim to qualify for Saturday’s finals. At finals the relay improved their time and seed to finish 21 in NYS.
The 200yd Free Relay team consisting of Madeleine Quinn, Madeline Kang, Kylie Mulholland and Sarah Henry improved their seed at prelims to qualify for finals. At Saturday’s finals, the relay team improved there time and seed to finish 22 in NYS.
Congratulations to Sarah, Meredith, Madeline, Grace, Kylie, Madeleine, Megan and Allegra on their accomplishments!!!
