Important cogs in Rye’s scoring machine: From left are Lente Geelen, Lara Geelen, and Grace Kujawski.
Combined Rye/Rye Neck/Blind Brook Girls’ Swimming
Rye Takes League Title, Qualifying More Swimmers for States
By Mitch Silver
The Rye Area Girls’ Swim Team, under second-year Head Coach Kelly Johanson, turned the tables on a strong White Plains squad by winning the League 2 Swimming & Diving Championships October 26, with a score of 381.5 to 355 for the Tigers. The victory avenged an early-season, 94-90 dual-meet loss to White Plains.
In addition to the team crown, the Rye/Rye Neck/Blind Brook girls took individual golds in the pool at Clarkstown’s Felix Festa Middle School. Rye Neck’s Grace Kujawski won the 100 Breaststroke in 1:07.76, qualifying for the New York State meet to be held at Ithaca College November 22 and 23. Rye High senior Katie Laverty broke the 300-point mark in Diving, an effort she hopes to improve upon at States. Johanson’s quartet of Garnet freestylers — Lente and Lara Geelen, Julie Tiedemann, and Ella Brady — are also Ithaca-bound after they touched the wall first in a brisk 1:40.40 in the 200 Relay.
Kujawski jumped in for Tiedemann and Rye splashed to third in the 200 Medley in a time of 1:51.26. They’ll compete in the State meet as well. Sophomore Lente Geelen had already gone under the State mark in the 100 Backstroke (as well as the 50 and 100 Free events). Her 58.74 was good for third.
The last race of the morning was the 400 Free Relay. The team of senior Abby Wang, ninth grader Zoe Lien, and juniors Tiedemann and Blind Brook’s Caitlin Bedell finished fourth in 3:52.76, clinching the team title with 30 points, though they just missed the State standard.
After the meet, Head Coach Johanson said, “Our juniors and seniors are incredibly strong this year. Eight of our girls already qualify for Sectionals, and our diving team, including sophomore Mia Waldman and ninth grader Julia Cabrera, all qualify for Sectionals.”
That Sectional Tournament starts with diving November 1 at SUNY Purchase and continues back at Felix Festa Middle School for all swim events November 4 and 5.
