Lady Spartans Swimming Stings Hornets

The Amity girls swimming and diving team defeated Branford 99-87 at the John O'Connor pool at the Branford Intermediate School on Tuesday.

"This meet played out exactly like it should have. You know what you are getting yourself into. The kids swim all year long so you can get all the data you want," Branford Swimming Head Coach Scott Butler said. "The score flipped back and forth. The killer was in diving when they outscored us by ten points. It could have swayed one way or another. All it would have taken was three of our swimmers to go in the right direction in a race and three of Amity's to go in the wrong direction."

Branford won five events and tied Amity in the 500-yard freestyle but Amity's depth proved to be too much for the Lady Hornets to overcome.  There are a total of twelve events.

"We are a very deep team," Amity Swimming and Diving Head Coach Todd Rainey said. "I relied on the depth when I made out the line- up and the girls responded. There were no real standouts.  Everybody pitched in and did what they were supposed to do."

Branford trailed 79-77 before the 100-yard breaststroke.

"We got to the 100 yard breast stroke and our fire power just died out," Butler said. "It is a depth thing. One more (top) swimmer would have made the difference for us. It is hard when you get that close and you know that in the 400 freestyle you were not going to have it."

Amity improves to 8-1 while Branford drops their first meet of the year to fall to 8-1.

Branford won the first event of the meet:  the 200-yard medley relay (sophomore Chrissy Beaulac, sophomore Calla Cameron, junior Maryam Pourmaleki and sophomore Abby Raynor )swam a (1:59.88). They also won the second event, the 200 freestyle, as Christine Rasile took first (1:58.59) and sister  freshman Lauren Rasile finished third (2:02.86). The Lady Spartans sophomore Anna Lu finished second (1:59.67). Amity used its depth to beat the Hornets in points in the 200-yard individual medley 50 Freestyle, diving and the 100-yard butterfly. In the 200-yard individual medley Branford sophomore Calla Cameron won the event. Amity would take second (freshman Jessica  Kochiss, 2:20.14) third (junior Stephanie Antonellis,2:24.13)) and fourth ( sophomore Shannon Earley,2:25.12). In the 50- yard freestyle Amity's Dana Grindall took first (24:56). Branford did take second (Jessica  Parker, 27:01) and third (Abby Raynor,27:18) but Amity scored two more points than Branford in the 50-yard freestyle.

The Lady Spartans scored ten more points than Branford in diving. They took the top three spots and took the lead in the meet for the first time 43-35 that they would not relinquish. Amity's Amanda Craig won the event (179.8), sophomore teammate Carly Young(176.7) finished second and senior Molly McDermott (170.05) finished third.

Grindall then picked up her second first place finish as she won the 100 butterfly (57.04). 

"Grindall  did not do her best times today  but she did darn good," Rainey said. "The other girls feed off her and it really is coming together."

The Hornets did grab second and fourth place in the 100 butterfly to make the score a 52-42 Amity advantage.

In the 100-yard freestyle Branford's Christine Rasile claimed the event and the Lady Hornets scored two more points than Amity. Kochiss of Amity finished second (58:25) and Lindsay Morton third.  (58:64). The 500 yard freestyle was won by Branford's  Calla Cameron (5:20.10) but Amity (Anna Lu) grabbed second  (5:22.05) and  Rachel Holden third (5:37.74) for a deadlock in points awarded for the event.

The 200-yard freestyle event went to Branford (Lauren Rasile, Abby Raynor, Maryam Pourmaleki and Christine Rasile (1:43.31).  The Spartans grabbed second (Anna  Lu, Lindsay  Morton, Jessica Kochiss and  Grindall (1:44.35). Amity also took third (senior captain Katelyn Wong, freshman Elizabeth Lubin, junior Emma Feldmann and junior Morgan Turner) swam a (1:54.18).

Branford's Lauren Rasile would finish first in the 100-yard backstroke (1:04.65) and the Hornets Chrissy Beaulac second (1:05.09). Amity would take third, fourth and fifth. Sophomore Shannon Early finished third for Amity with a time of (1:06.88).

At this point Branford only trailed 79-77.

However in the 100 yard breastroke Amity junior Katherine Holden would take first (1:14.26) and sophomore teammate Melissa Gulia second (1:17.12) for a six point cushion before the 400 freestyle. Amity led 89-to-83.

"That was a nice win by Katherine Holden in the breaststroke that gave us a little breathing room," Rainey said.

In the final event the Spartans took first and third place in the 400 yard freestyle relay to win the meet 99-87. Anna Lu, L. Morton, Kochiss and Grindall were victorious with a time of (3:50.56). The third place relay (4:07.79) consisted of junior Rachel Holden, freshman Samantha Austin, junior Colby Champagne and Earley.)

Amity had a six point lead going into the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Amity outscored Branford by six in the 400-freestyle relay.

"We needed to take second place to guarantee (at least) a tie (400 free relay). We went 1 and three," Rainey said. "We knew it was going to be close (everybody had to show up and swim hard). That is what they did. These girls like to race and they did and they were rewarded for it."

Amity will swim against Cheshire on Friday at 7:00 pm at the Cheshire Community Pool.