East Lyme makes it 22 straight ECC championship meet titles
Nov. 6—EAST LYME — Headed into Saturday afternoon's Eastern Connecticut Conference swimming championship, East Lyme High School coach Rob Bouchey mainly told his team to have fun with it and to do their best.
A little on the mild side for a team about to win its 22nd straight ECC meet.
"I knew this was a possibility," said Bouchey, by then soggy from taking a celebratory swim with the Vikings. "But I didn't want to give anyone false hope. I didn't want any negativity associated with the outcome. I wanted them to be proud of whatever the result. We knew we needed everything to happen right.
"... I am tremendously proud. These girls will remember this forever. We couldn't be more thrilled to carry it on."
East Lyme, getting wins from Lauren Hinckley in the diving event and the 200-yard freestyle relay team of Ella Pape, Hinckley, Julia Morcos and Sandra Kirvelevicius, finished with 591.5 points.
The Fitch cooperative team, the regular-season ECC champion with two wins over East Lyme, was second with 529.5 and Waterford was third with 298.
Delaney Reck, a Stonington senior representing the Fitch co-op, was named the Swimmer of the Meet after her wins in the 50 freestyle (24.10) and 100 backstroke (59.86). Fitch's Addison Fulling (200 individual medley, 500 freestyle) was also a double-winner.
It was the Fitch team, which includes athletes from Stonington, Wheeler and New London, which created a wrinkle for East Lyme if the Vikings hoped to keep their postseason ECC streak intact.
Fitch beat East Lyme 104-66 Sept. 27 at UConn-Avery Point and 104.5-78.5 Oct. 21 at East Lyme. The Falcons finished the regular season 11-1 overall, 8-0 in the ECC. It was Fitch's first title since winning outright in 2007 and sharing the title with East Lyme in 2008.
Headed into the final four-event stretch Saturday, East Lyme led by 68 points, making a Fitch comeback improbable.
East Lyme then pulled off a win over top-seeded Fitch in the 200 free relay, with anchor Sandra Kirvelevicius touching the wall just one-tenth of a second ahead of her opponent from Fitch, one lane over. Meanwhile, on the pool deck, former East Lyme head coach Jack Stabach, on hand as a spectator after overseeing the Vikings' first 21 championship meets, applauded as current assistant coach Cecelia Emblidge leapt up and down.
"I saw her (in the next lane) on the last stroke," Kirvelevicius said of the tense relay finish. "When I finished, I saw her. I knew that I got it but I had to check the time on the wall."
Kirvelevicius, whose sisters before her took part in East Lyme's string of championships, one for every year the ECC meet has been contested, captains the East Lyme team along with Hinckley and Hailey Newton.
"(Bouchey) just told all of us to get a (personal record), try our best, 110%," Kirvelevicius said. "It's on us to win. It's on us, not the coach, no matter the result we get. ... My whole family (has been involved in the program); yes, I've seen it grow. I just want to keep up the 21- or 22-year ECC winning streak."
Hinckley, in addition to arriving at the pool around 9:45 Saturday morning for the preliminary rounds of diving, was also second in the 50 freestyle and second as part of the 200 medley relay in addition to defending her diving title and contributing to the winning 200 free relay. The 50 freestyle was contested just prior to the diving finals.
"I came over breathing hard, my coach told me just to take a break," Hinckley said. "... We all put in a lot of effort. Our main focus was just have fun and have as many top places as we could."
Fitch, meanwhile, got wins from Reck in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke, Fulling in the 200 IM (2:21.50) and 500 freestyle (5:35.50), Anna Orphanides in the 100 butterfly (1:02.87), Jai-Lynn Wheeler in the 100 freestyle (57.34) and Laura Letellier in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.32).
The Falcons also won the 200 medley relay (1:56.74) with Reck, Letellier, Elliott Singer and Orphanides and the 400 free relay (3:50.30) with Fulling, Sophia Pacheco, Orphanides and Reck.
Waterford's Julia Gathy won the 200 freestyle in 2:04.92, more than eight seconds better than her previous best.
"I'm really proud of everybody," Reck said of her Fitch teammates. "Everyone did what they could do. I'm pretty sure almost everyone got best times; we did our best.
"... I definitely enjoyed everybody from all the different schools (on the co-op). It wouldn't be the same if it was just one school. We still got to win the regular season. This is probably one of my best seasons, for all of us."
