Local swim teams float up to Stony Brook for county championships
By Steven Zaitz
The Smithtown-Hauppauge swim team capped off their undefeated season at Stony Brook University by winning the Suffolk County championship in overwhelming fashion on Saturday, Feb. 10.
They collected 366 points which was 98 more than second place Connetquot-East Islip.
Dylan Gallub won the 50-yard freestyle event and finished second in the 100-yard freestyle. The Smithtown East senior was also part of the team that won the 200-yard freestyle relay, along with his brother Tyler Gallub, Christopher Sweeney and Alex Trzaskowski. The quartet’s time of 1:25.13 was a Suffolk County High School record, qualifies them for New York State championships and also garners All-American consideration. This same foursome also won the 200-yard medley relay with a state qualifying time of 1:36.07.
Tyler Gallub placed second in the 100-yard butterfly; his brother Dylan was second in the 100-yard freestyle. Overall, these four swimmers were fast enough to qualify for state championships in eight different events.
Also contributing to the big win for the ‘Smith-pague’ team were the divers. Five divers from the team scored points including second place overall diver Colin Buscarino. Also in the top 12 were Kristen Krause, Danielle Krause, Sydney Poulis and Lexie Poulis. The diving event is mixed gender.
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The Northport-Commack and Huntington-Harborfields-Whitman and Glenn boys swimming teams made excellent showings at the Section XI championships as well.
The HHWJ team finished third overall behind overall winner Smithtown-Hauppauge and second place Connetquot-East Islip. Northport-Commack was a respectable eighth out of 22 teams.
HHWJ’s 200-yard medley relay team, featuring Evam Creter, Lucas Spagnolleti, Patrick O’Brien and Liam O’Hanlon finished in third place and qualified for New York State championships, Creter finished second in both the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke adding two more state qualifiers to his resume. His teammate Max Leroy was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle and also qualified for state championships. Their times were 1:44.04 and 1:46.51, respectively.
Spagnoletti, Leroy, O’Hanlon and Creter regrouped to finish second in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:16.88 and yet another state qualifier.
Northport-Commack’s 200-yard medley relay team of Milo Marrero, Kyle Sundberg, Jasper Johnson and Logan Decena finished in sixth. Sundberg just missed a state qualification in the 200-yard individual medley, finishing fifth with a time of 2:02.80. The NoCo 200-yard freestyle relay team of Sundberg, Johnson, Decana and Oskar Sokolowski finished fifth with a solid time of 1:32.29.
The New York State High School swimming championships will be held at Ithaca College on the first weekend of March.
