The Jericho Girls varsity Swim Team took home the program’s first Nassau County championship on Saturday, Nov. 8.
Coach Richard Stern said he has been with the program for nearly two decades. He said the program was runner-up in 2011 and has had several top finishes, but had never been crowned champions.
“I still don’t believe it,” Stern said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s something that I have worked for my entire career.”
Stern said that many of the swimmers contributed to the team’s success, with senior Cherry Lee clocking her season-best time in the 100-yard breaststroke and finishing third in the race. Yuna Lee, Cherry’s younger sister, placed third in the 100 butterfly and Yuri Shlivko placed third in the 200 individual medley.
The team also had three top relayers in the top five, a top-10 diver and received consistent performances throughout the competitions en route to the county championship.
Stern said that this year’s county title was “wide open” with several schools competing for the championship.
“All eight Conference 1 teams had a really good shot to win this meet, and it’s just a testament to the girls I coach,” Stern said.
Stern said the team had what he called “an up-and-down season.” The team went 2-4-1 during the regular season, losing meets for one reason or another, Stern said.
But yet the coach said he had confidence in his team.
“It was kind of like an up-and-down, kind of battling, but from the first day of the season and after every meet, I told the girls, no matter what our record is, if we win county championships, nobody is going to remember our record, and that’s what matters,” Stern said.
Several Jericho swimmers traveled to Rochester this past weekend to compete on the state level.
