What the Seymour High girls swimming lacked in quantity, it compensated for it in quality.
Although teams usually excel with bigger squads at championship meets, having only seven girls compete in the Class S championships didn’t deter Seymour on Tuesday at Wesleyan University, where it finished in fourth place with 413 points.
East Catholic (579) won the 30-team field, Weston (498) took second and New Fairfield (434.5) was third.
“Absolutely amazing,” said first year Lady Wildcats coach Missy Orosz, who took over from Kevin Quill. “We had seven girls here and placed very high. We had many changes this year and everyone worked hard and swam well.”
Except for diving, Seymour had at least one entry in every other event and most of them scored in the second heat, which helped raise its point total. Relays also helped the Lady Wildcats as they finished either in third or fourth place in them.
Seymour started the day well by taking third place in the 200-yard medley relay with junior Maggie Crocamo, senior Amber Bjerke, junior Lauren Almonte and sophomore Michelle Pleban with a time of 1:56.84, scoring 52 points for its top-three finish.
The Lady Wildcats took another bronze and scored 52 more points in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:44.55) behind Crocamo, Bjerke and senior co-captains Rhiannon Urciuoli and Anna Pleban. Almonte, Urciuoli, Anna Pleban and Michelle Pleban powered the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:46.52) into fourth place and earned 50 points.
The Pleban sisters carried Seymour in freestyle sprinting events with Michelle Pleban placing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle (25.56) and Anna Pleban was right behind her in fifth (25.94). In the 100-yard freestyle, Anna Pleban (56.24) grabbed sixth and Michelle Pleban (57.38) was eighth.
“I just went as fast as I could,” said Anna Pleban.
While the Plebans ruled sprint freestyle events, Urciuoli’s endurance sparkled in distance freestyle events. Urciuoli powered her way into fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle (5:29.59) and took seventh in the 200-yard freestyle (2:03.62). Bjerke was 11th (2:07.80) in the 200-free.
“I felt good in the 500,” said Urciuoli. “My pace was off but my second half was key. I just didn’t give up and I tried my hardest.”
Crocamo (1:02.72) and Almonte (1:03.88) finished fifth and eighth, respectively in the 100-yard butterfly, which was the Lady Wildcats’ best non-freestyle individual event. Bjerke (1:14.39) and senior Sabrina Suarez (1:20.38) placed eighth and 20th, respectively, in the 100-yard breaststroke. Almonte (2:22.75) and Suarez (2:33.45) took 11th and 21st, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley. Crocamo was 15th in the 100-yard backstroke (1:07.26).
“I think it’s crazy we did so well,” said Anna Pleban. “It took a lot of determination from all of the girls.”
Urciuoli said, “I think our team did great, especially since we had only seven girls. We did the best we could. Our hearts were in it and we wanted it so much.”
Seymour finished the regular season at 11 – 1 with its only loss coming at Torrington High. The Lady Wildcats have 20 swimmers overall and took second at the NVL championships at Kennedy High, placing behind Torrington.
“I think it’s great for the seniors,” said Orosz. “They did well and the underclassmen got to see what lies ahead in the future. We graduate nine seniors and only 11 girls come back. We’re going to be starting over.”
