Girls Swimming Rallies to Defeat Manhasset

Written by Katherine Hall

In a thrilling come-from-behind victory before a packed crowd at the Manhasset High School Natatorium, Garden City divers Katherine Donovan and Anna and Elsie Schaubeck scored a one, two, three finish that created an 11-point swing in Garden City’s favor.

Trailing by six points before the start of the diving competition, the girls were able to put Garden City ahead to stay with their best performance of the year. There was no shortage of great performances, as the outcome came down to the very last event in what was easily the most exciting meet of the year.

There are 12 separate events at high school girls swimming and diving dual meets, and the diving competition counts as just one.

In the end, with the meet on the line, the 400-yard Freestyle relay team of Gabriella Meringolo, Rose Kelly, Kerri Heuser and anchor Carrie Bonvissuto took first place to seal the victory.

Gabby Clarkson won two individual events for the Lady Trojans, leading a host of strong individual performances. As has been the case all season, the depth of the team was on display and the principal reason the girls were able to overcome a team loaded with stars.

Seventeen different Garden City swimmers were able to score points.

Next up is Bellmore-Merrick Saturday night at Hofstra University in what promises to be another highly competitive contest. Led by USA Junior Nationals qualifier Paige Kaplan, Bellmore-Merrick is the only other undefeated team in the league. This is the last dual meet of the season, with the championship meet just around the corner on Nov. 9.