The East Haven/Wilbur Cross girls’ swimming and diving team recently completed its first month of competition with new Head Coach Leanne Boisvert, who feels that things are moving in a positive direction for her squad.

The Yellowjackets took two home losses at the East Haven Recreation Pool last week. East Haven lost to Sheehan by a 98-70 final on Sept. 24 and then dropped a 92-71 contest against Hamden on Sept. 27. However, Coach Boisvert said that wins and losses aren’t the primary focus for the team at this time. Instead, she’s emphasizing incremental progress in the pool.

“One of the hardest things we’ve tried to focus on is making sure the girls know what matters most is them showing growth, rather than trying to win every meet we go into to,” Boisvert said. “Because we have a lot of beginners, it’s difficult to go into every meet and think we’re going to win, so there is this reinforcement that the best way to improve the team is for everyone to focus on their own personal growth.”

Plenty of swimmers have recorded personal-best times for the Easties through their first five meets of the year. Coach Boisvert feels pleased with the way everyone is coming along during the early phases of the campaign.

“Our first meet of the year was against Branford on Sept. 7, and our Hamden meet was on Sept. 27. Within those 20 days, our girls had a significant amount of growth with one girl dropping over 30 seconds between the first and last meet, which is pretty unheard of,” said Boisvert.

Boisvert is referring to freshman Sophia Cumelar, who is in her first season of competitive swimming. In the 200 freestyle, Cumelar swam a time of 2:45.25 against Hamden, marking a drop of 34.37 seconds. Junior Alaiana Robert is down to a 3:22.28 in the 200 individual medley and recently posted her best time of 1:35.57 in the 100 butterfly. Both of those times came in the Hamden meet, where freshman Shea McNamera and junior Becca Flynn swam personal-best times in the 100 freestyle. McNamera finished in 1:31.24, which is 13.48 seconds better than her previous best; while Flynn notched a mark of 1:18.95 for an improvement of 6.07 seconds.

Coach Boisvert, who swam for Newington, is implementing a motivational technique in East Haven that helped bring out the best in people at her old high school.

“We do something that they did in Newington, where we give out magic [lollipops]. Every time a girl gets a new best time, they come in and get a magic lollie, which is a Tootsie Pop or a Blow Pop,” Boisvert said. “The idea is every time you get a lollie, you have more magic in you, and it will continue to help you cut down on your times and improve.”

Freshman Norah Rome has set a goal to break the five-minute barrier in the 500 freestyle this year. Rome started the season at 5:31 and is currently down to 5:21, which earned her first place in the meet versus Hamden. Sophomores JJ Kim and Alora McCarroll also turned in first-place performances for East Haven-Cross at that meet. Kim won the 100 butterfly at 1:05.19, while McCarroll was victorious in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:18.97.

The Yellowjackets also saw victories in all three relay events against Hamden. In the 200 medley relay, Kim, McCarroll, junior Syreena Melendez, and Rome won with a time of 2:04.03. Those same four athletes joined forces for the 200 freestyle relay and took first in 1:53.17. The Yellowjackets’ 400 freestyle relay of Robert, freshman Camryn Lendroth, sophomore Angelica Blaze, and Cumelar finished first by timing in at 5:06.98.

In the previous meet versus Sheehan, Kim and Rome both posted a pair of victories for East Haven. Rome won the 200 freestyle (2:06.40) and the 500 freestyle (5:31.28) at the meet. Kim earned top honors for both the 100 butterfly (1:03.51) and the 100 backstroke (1:09.19). The Yellowjackets’ 200 medley relay of Kim, McCarroll, Melendez, and Rome placed first in 2:04.06. The 400 freestyle relay team of Melendez, Rome, McCarroll, and Kim was victorious by finishing in 4:05.18.

In addition to many improved performances, Coach Boisvert also feels happy about the excellent chemistry on her team this season.

“One of the things that I’m seeing a lot of during our meets, whenever girls aren’t in actual events, they’re at the side of pool or the end of pool, cheering each other on,” she said. “I can see they all want their friends to push themselves to be the best they can be. They’re a family.”

One of the biggest reasons behind this unity is the leadership from the team’s senior captains. Boisvert said that McCarroll, who’s from East Haven; and Melendez, who goes to Wilbur Cross; have done a great job of making sure that every athlete on the roster is on the same page.

“They have done such an amazing job making sure the girls have a strong morale when it comes to practices and meets,” Boisvert said. “They reach out to the coaches whenever they’re seeing problems to make the team stronger. They do not hesitate to make sure the girls are getting the best out of their time on the team.”