EHHS Swimming holds Senior Night

An EHHS diver performs an open pike during the meet against South Windsor. Photos by Evan Pajer.

On Oct. 16, the seniors on East Hartford High School's varsity girl's swim team had their final meet at home against South Windsor. Despite strong performances in the 50- and 500-meter freestyle and diving, the Hornets lost, 105-79, bringing their record to 4-4.

The team's strongest performance by far came in the 500 freestyle. In the first few seconds of the race, senior Emily Kaminski took a controlling lead, and South Windsor was never able to catch up. At times, South Windsor's swimmers were as far as a full lap behind Kaminski, who finished the race in 6:11:85. Kaminski's drive to win showed in every one of her movements, as she kept top speed and perfect form throughout the event. Kaminski scored one of the only first-place times for East Hartford during the meet.

EHHS also scored strong in diving, where senior Aura Talero came in first, scoring 133.5 points. Talero's dive list included several difficult-looking pikes, which she pulled off effortlessly, even as another diver hit her leg against the diving board on the way down.

Other highlights included a second place finish by Hannah Oney in the 200-meter individual medley, with a time of 2:28:39, and a second place finish by Sheryl Wong in the 50-meter freestyle, with a time of 26:89.

After the meet, EHHS held Senior Night to honor the swim team's seniors at their last home meet. Coach Jill Piedescalzo called up each senior swimmer to applause from the packed bleachers, where they received flowers to recognize their accomplishments as members of the swim team. Although the seniors were not able to win over South Windsor for their last meet, there are still two meets left in the season, giving EHHS a chance to end the season on a high note. Piedescalzo said that the team will focus on getting their times down for their last two meets. “For us, it's about our personal bests,” she said.