The North Haven girls’ swimming and diving team returned to the pool for practice on Oct. 30 after its scheduled virtual meet on Oct. 26 was postponed following the closure of the high school due to a positive COVID-19 case in the building. As high school sports begin to resume in town, North Haven is scheduled to finish its regular season with its Senior Night meet against Lauralton Hall and Daniel Hand on Friday, Nov. 6, after which Head Coach Martha Phelan’s squad will participate in the virtual Southern Connecticut Conference Championship on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

North Haven has been competing in virtual meets throughout the season and has a record of 4-2 thus far. The team has earned two wins versus Mercy, a win over Hand, and a victory versus Hamden to go with defeats against Cheshire and Amity.

Throughout the season, North Haven’s athletes have been competing at Walter Gawrych Community Pool on Mondays, while its opponents have been competing at their respective home pools either on that same day or later in the week. After the both teams turn in their performances, their times and point totals are compared to each other in order to score out the meet and determine a winner.

While it’s been an unusual season, Coach Phelan is still emphasizing the same thing she does every year in that she wants all of her athletes to focus on recording lifetime-best performances. Even though there are no opponents in the neighboring lanes to push her athletes to do their best, Phelan has been pleased to see her swimmers and divers succeed as they strive to improve upon their own top marks. After that, it’s just a matter of letting the point totals fall where they may, and they’ve been falling in North Haven’s favor more often than not.

“The feeling of the season has been very satisfying. With all of the obstacles that they’ve overcome, the team has absolutely excelled,” said Phelan. “I’ve been showing them clips from the meets to show them what they need to do to enhance their performances. That takes their mind off not having someone next to them and helps them focus on their own race. We’ve worked a lot on those strategies of mentally preparing for a race without the element of dual-meet excitement, and the team has really responded.”

Coach Phelan starts every practice with a speech in which she tells her athletes to feel grateful for the opportunity of being there, especially since there are no guarantees about how the season will ultimately pan out. Phelan said that her “biggest fear came true” with a positive COVID case at the high school. Phelan was preparing for her practice on Oct. 23 when she heard word that all the students were sent home as athletics were put on pause.

The news was a tough blow for Phelan and her athletes, but she did everything she could to help them stay in a positive frame of mind.

“I sent out a group message and told them to stay positive, work through it by doing something aerobic, and hopefully, we will have our Senior Night celebration,” Phelan said. “On [Oct. 26], we got the OK to return to the pool on [Oct. 30]. We’re trying to keep our season going right to the end, and we’re hoping that this was just one small outbreak that has been stopped and that there are no more positive cases.”

Now, Coach Phelan and her athletes are getting ready for North Haven’s Senior Night meet on Nov. 6. Although the atmosphere won’t be the same as in past years since North Haven will be the only team competing at Walter Gawrych Community Pool that day, Phelan is happy that her seniors will get a sendoff that honors their contributions to the program.

“Personally, I think that this might be one if my most emotional Senior Night meets, because of all the challenges and emotions that these kids have had to deal with,” Coach Phelan said. “This has been an emotionally exhausting season for me, but I am also so proud that team has risen to my challenge to be the best team we can be no matter what challenges they have had to face.”

North Haven’s senior captains are Maddie Bergin, Riley Jooss, and Alyssa Laborde. The other seniors on the team are Molly Coyle, Ava Guidone, and Nicole Reynolds.

North Haven’s junior class features divers Chandler Ceste-Martinez and El-Lana Coleman, along with Giulia Faulkner, Grace Finch, Olivia Grimm, Taya Laborde, Brooke Nebor, Abrielle Osborne, and Sarthi Shah. The other athletes on the squad are sophomores Makenzie Alogna, Victoria Pachnik, Mikayla Rapuano, Alice Scalmani, and Tara Stoeffler; along with freshman diver Alexis Knapp and fellow freshmen Morgan Nunez, Madisen Karavas, Victoria DeMagistris, and Fiona Rosano.

A few days after the Senior Night meet, North Haven’s athletes are slated to hit the water for the final time this fall when the team competes in the virtual SCC Championship on Nov. 10. All 17 teams in the SCC are competing separately throughout the week in order to tabulate the point totals and standings for the championship. Coach Phelan is allowing her athletes to pick their two best individual events to compete in, so that everyone has an opportunity to shine at SCCs.

“We don’t have the benefit of a live meet, but this is as close we will get to it,” said Phelan. “We’re going to try to make it as exciting and festive as we can. We don’t want to squander an opportunity to do our personal bests.”

In the end, it all comes back to achieving lifetime-best performances for North Haven. That’s always been the biggest thing for Coach Phelan, and 2020 is no exception. While the logistics are vastly different, North Haven’s dedication to excellence remains the same.

“I am pleased with what they have done so far, and I have a feeling that some girls are saving their best for last, especially with how we were almost denied our last opportunity. We are going to end with a bang and on a positive note,” Phelan said. “I could not be prouder of what these young ladies have done in spite of everything. The high school experience should be about reaching your own personal potential in order to collectively benefit the team and, with great chemistry, positivity, and support, it all comes together.”