By Alex Kappel
The Girls Swim Team was 9-0, ECIC Division II champions, Class B champions, and 5th in the state overall. Coach Chris Miller says that “this has been the most successful season in Williamsville East’s 50+ year history.”
There were 34 total girls on the team this year, which is a lot to manage, but luckily we had 5 wonderful coaches on deck at meets and practices everyday. Head Coach Chris Miller swam for East in high school, and has been coaching for 20+ years. Coach Lindsay Deboth is in her second year as assistant coach for this team. Coach Lindsay’s idea that she brought to the team is the Big & Little System. Each upperclassmen is assigned a few underclassmen to “take care of” and be a sister to. There are fun challenges each meet, and you can earn points to win a prize at the end of the year. This is a great opportunity for any younger swimmers, who may be feeling overwhelmed, to have a familiar face, until they get to know other people. Coach Jess Shine swam in high school for East and had a very successful career at East, breaking a couple of records. This season was her first year as a coach, and she fit right in with the team. Coach Brandon Garcia was also new to the team this year. He is an extremely positive and funny coach, and it was his idea to have an “Eras Tour” practice. Everyone dressed up, we decorated the pool, and we played Taylor Swift all practice. It was a big hit with the team! Coach Kim Eaton has been coaching for a long time, and she always has good insight about our technique to help us improve our swimming.
Coach Chris Miller says that the girls were able to be so successful because they “were filled with talent from top to bottom.” He claims that the advantage we had over other teams was that our talent was so deep. “Many meets weren’t won by 1st places, it was the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th places that led us to an undefeated season,” says Coach Miller. 21 out of the 34 girls qualified for the ECIC Division II and the Class B championships, and 11 also qualified for the Section VI championship.
The NYSPHSAA Girls Federation Championships were the most successful the Girls or Boys team at Williamsville East have ever been, according to Coach Chris Miller. The 200 Medley Relay consisted of Zoey Griffin (Senior) in the Backstroke, Madden Anderson (Junior) in the Breaststroke, Phoebe Risch (Freshman) swimming Butterfly, Lauren Golden (Sophomore) in the Freestyle for a time of 1:47.70 finishing 3rd overall. In her 50 Freestyle, Golden went a 23.96 in prelims to tie for 10th. She then had to do a swim-off after all her other events, and ended up beating the other swimmer by .5 seconds. She swam a personal best of 23.96 at finals to tie for 4th in the event. In the 200 Freestyle Relay, Golden led off, then came Hannah Megan (Senior), next up Griffin, and lastly, Risch anchoring for a time of 1:38.37, securing 3rd place, yet again. In Griffin’s individual event, the 100 Backstroke, she swam a 56.53, earning her 5th place. The last event, the 400 Freestyle Relay, the team of Golden, Megan, Anderson, and Griffin swam a 3:38.02, earning 8th place.
This team made an impact that will be seen for many years to come on record boards all across Section VI. The records broken this year are:
- – The 200 Medley Relay of Griffin, Anderson, Risch, and Golden broke the school record with a time of 1:47.70, taking Coach Jess Shine and her team’s record from 2017 down.
- – Earlier in the season, at our first dual meet of the year, the same 200 Medley Relay broke the pool record at Transit, taking their rival, Orchard Park, off the board.
- – Earlier in the season, the 200 Medley Relay of Golden, Anderson, Griffin, and Megan broke the Pioneer pool record.
- – Griffin broke the 200 Free school record at ECIC’s with a 1:55.26.
- – Golden broke her own school record in the 50 free with a time of 23.91.
- – The 200 Freestyle Relay of Golden, Megan, Risch, and Griffin broke their own record from last season, shaving more than 2.5 seconds off that time (1:38.37).
- – That same 200 Freestyle Relay relay also broke the ECIC meet record with a time of 1:40.11.
- – Griffin broke her own school record in the 100 backstroke from last year by 2.5 seconds going a 56.42 at States.
- – Griffin also re-broke her pool record at Transit this year against Starpoint in the 100 backstroke.
- – The 400 Free Relay of Golden, Megan, Anderson, and Griffin broke the school record from 2006 with a time of 3:37.61, beating the previous record by 3 seconds.
- – At the Class B championships, the same relay team also broke the pool record at Sweet Home with a time of 3:40.51.
- – At the dual meet at Maryvale, diver Hailey Hayes (Junior) broke the pool record with a 6-dive score of 218.85.
To say that the 2023 Girl’s Swim Season was successful, would be an understatement. This team will be remembered by many for years to come!
