The East Haven girls’ swimming team played host to Hamden on Sept. 29 at the East Haven Pool and were handed an 83-65 defeat. The loss keeps the Yellowjackets winless on the season, but Head Coach Jacci D’Auria was most impressed with how many girls on her squad set personal best times throughout the meet.

The strongest swimmer throughout the meet for East Haven was sophomore Laura Bedoya. She helped two relay teams to great finishes, as well as swam to two first-place spots in her individual events.

Individually, Bedoya took part in the 200 freestyle and the 500 freestyle events, coasting to victories in both. The two events were different from her usual events, a tactic D’Auria used so Bedoya wouldn’t get bored with her typical events. Bedoya’s winning time in the 200 was a 2:09, but D’Auria loved her showing in the 500 as it’s a new event to the sophomore.

“She usually is swimming different events, but today we switched it up so she isn’t swimming the same thing every meet. This was actually the first time this season that she swam the 500,” D’Auria said. “We like to switch it up so they’re not bored with what they’re swimming. She did a great job. She hasn’t swam the 500, even in practice this season, so she had a really strong swim.”

Bedoya’s time in the 500 was 5:44, as she topped teammate Shannon Wynne, who finished second at 6:30. The duo combined to score East Haven’s 10 points in the event, one that may be East Haven’s strongest with three capable swimmers—including Gina DiVerniero who didn’t swim the event at the meet.

“We have three girls that can swim the 500. Since we have so many new girls, there are not many girls that we can put in it, but Gina and Shannon swim it pretty much every meet,” D’Auria said. “Today I switched it up, and they’re all very strong in the 500 and they actually like it, which most people don’t because it’s so long. So we do have some strong swimmers that swim the 500.”

DiVerniero swam the 200 individual medley, as well as the 100 butterfly and posted second-place finishes in both events. In the 200 medley, her time was 2:44 and in the fly she beat her best time in practice by about four seconds with a 1:18.

Ellyn DeVerniero swam the 100 breast stroke to a first-place spot of 1:52, dropping a second off her personal best time, and the 400 freestyle relay team beat their best time by four seconds to finish first with a 4:43.

“Sometimes it’s hard on Mondays because people are out of town on weekends and we don’t get a ton of practice time in, but they came in and did a strong time today,” D’Auria said. “We had a lot of best times today, so it was a really great meet.”

A big challenge for D’Auria and assistant Kathy Collins is a wealth of youth on the team. With a majority of the squad swimming for the first time, as well as many either being hurt or inactive due an illness, the coaches are ecstatic that the team as a whole is improving in all aspects of their swimming, as they begin the second half of the season.

“They progress even in little things; their dives, their flip turns, and finishing an event without looking at me like they want to kill me,” D’Auria said. “We’ve been able to put more girls in more things and they’ve all done a fantastic job. When I tell them that they’re swimming a 100, they’re more used to it, can swim the four laps, and be perfectly fine with it. They’re progressing.”