Growing Pains for Huntington Girls’ Swimming
Sophomore Molly Arceri won the Suffolk diving championship but the Huntington girls’ swimming and diving team endured growing pains under first year varsity head coach Christopher Helmke. The Blue Devils finished with a 1-9 record, fifth in League III and 12th in the Section XI state qualifying championships.
Arceri captured league and county titles and placed 21st in the state meet. She won eight-of-nine regular season contests. Helmke called her “a dedicated hard worker and excellent athlete who continues to excel at diving – a sport she really loves.”
The other leading Blue Devils were eighth grader Emily Maggio, freshmen Erica Flor and Taylor Palmer, sophomore Diana Harvey and juniors Samantha Mohr and Alexandra Durante.
“With the loss of six seniors from last year’s team that included All-State swimmer Katie Larkin, we inherited a young team in transition with a great deal of potential,” said Helmke, who previously coached the middle school swim squad.
The team’s three returning seniors, Lindsey Magerle, Katie Gerz and Andrea Meyer were named tri-captains “and created the backbone of our young team,” Helmke said.
Huntington relied heavily on a core group of underclassmen, including Arceri, who became the only Suffolk diver to compete in the state championships.
“Our best team accomplishment occurred at our league championship meet,” Helmke said. “Our diver, Molly Arceri, not only placed first but was nearly 50 points ahead of her closest competitor. Other great accomplishments were seen by Erica Flor in backstroke and Diana Harvey in butterfly, which allowed both swimmers to achieve All-League status.” In all, nine Huntington swimmers notched personal best times in the league meet, prompting the coach to call it “an all-around excellent performance.”
Helmke is bullish on the future. “All but three seniors will return next year as our eighth, ninth and tenth grade core advances to the next level, offering improvement in speed and allowing for much needed depth to our team,” he said. “We hope to improve upon our league record of 1-4 as the team becomes more seasoned.”
Blue Devil Notes: Helmke called Maggio “a rising star with tremendous potential and a good work ethic” . . . Harvey, who has already earned four varsity letters with two years of eligibility remaining is “a solid swimmer with great potential to excel,” according to the coach . . . Meg McConnell served as the team’s assistant coach . . . Palmer is “a solid swimmer with great athletic ability, which will allow her to excel and achieve her goals,” said Helmke . . . Huntington dropped several close meets, including battles with Connetquot (91-87), Half Hollow Hills (93-88), Hauppauge (94-87) and West Islip (53-47) . . .The coach called Flor “a driven, hardworking athlete with an excellent outlook toward swimming; excels in all strokes” . . . The Blue Devils’ lone victory came against West Babylon (91-80) . . . Mohr has a “great work ethic, which allowed her to have a breakthrough year in breaststroke, paving the way to an excellent senior year,” the coach said.
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