The Hand girls’ swimming and diving team has come into this year with a lot of uncertainty, from having two new head coaches, along with having a small squad with no seniors. However, as they begin to emerge from the postseason waters, the Tigers are riding the waves to a triumphant tide of multiple successes.

Hand welcomed in two new coaches in Scott Butler and Christina Forristall, who have acted as co-coaches for the Tigers this fall. Additionally, Hand only sported a baker’s dozen of 13 swimmers for the dual-meet portion of the year. The Tigers refused to use any of these characteristics as excuses, though, as they finished 9-2 for their meet season and collected a top 4 finish at the SCC Championship.

On Nov. 15 at the Class S State Championship at Southern Connecticut State University, Hand placed third overall for the competition with 418.5 points. The Tigers finished only behind runner-up Woodland Regional, who tallied 492 team points, and winner Weston (782 points).

On the night, the Tigers did boast one state champion, as sophomore Samantha Chemacki was top in the 100 breaststroke. She clocked in with a time of 1:08.42, besting runner-up Emma Starzman of Woodland Regional (1:09.44).

Butler boasted that the Tigers have made the best of their limited roster. Additionally, in the midst of the action, they have grasped the equally crucial component of collective camaraderie.

“Our success has been due a lot to the fact that we have a team of quality over quantity of swimmers,” said Butler. “All 13 athletes that have competed in meets for us this year qualified for states. Our roster may seem small, but we actually had depth coming into the year because there are no weak links. We also had all four of our drivers qualify for states. The kids are also great friends with each other, and we made the atmosphere fun but competitive. No one has felt left out, and they have been able to push each other. We know that if we work together and work hard, then we can reap the benefits of it.”

In relays at States, the 200 medley team of junior Norah Stotz, sophomore Aniella Lesnik, freshman Sofia Rastelli, and freshman Ella Speerli placed 11th (2:07.63). In the 200 free, the sophomore foursome of Seorin Kim, Chemacki, Ariana Potter, and Lillian Miller swam to sixth (1:47.46). Finally in the 400 free relay, Hand was fifth in a time of 3:51.84 with the efforts of Miller, Kim, Stotz, and Chemacki.

For the remainder of solo events, Miller placed eighth for the 200 free (2:01.82) with Kim following in 14th (time of 2:07.85) and junior Haley Wines at 17th (2:07.37). Chemack finished fourth for the 200 IM, clocking in at 2:15.32 before Rastelli placed 17th with the 100 butterfly (1:06.47).

Potter tied for sixth in the 100 free with Sheehan’s Kaylynn Chen (56.29 seconds), and Stotz found 10th in that same event (58.93), and then Wines was 19th (59.60). For the 500 free, Miller came in seventh place with a pace of 5:26.56, and junior Lucy Schwarz was 19th (5:58.52) with Rastelli in 21st (6:01.70). Kim came in 10th for the 100 backstroke (clocking in at 1:04.62) as Stotz was 15th (1:08.31). Joining Chemacki in the 100 breaststroke were Potter (8th, 1:15.68), Lesnik (17th, 1:21.00), and Schwarz (19th, 1:21.39).

Prior to the swimming portion of the meet, the Tigers were represented by three divers when the Class S Diving State Championship was held at Sheehan High School on Nov. 9. Speerli, junior Hadley Reiss, and sophomore Georgia Cohen competed on behalf of Hand.

Speerli finished in seventh place among 22 qualifying divers by recording a score of 321.45 points for her 11-dive performance at the Class S Diving State Championship. Reiss claimed 15th place (265.05 points). Cohen finished in 17th place (with 247.65 points) for the Tigers.

Understandably with such a small slate of athletes, Hand did have its work cut out for itself when entering each meet during the regular season portion of the season. While the Tigers overtook any prior expectations before the campaign started, they did it via each athlete setting their own legacy.

“Dual meets were a question mark for us at the beginning of the year,” said Butler. “With only 13 or 14 girls to compete with, we were unsure of the outcomes for our dual-meet season. Our goal was to just do the best we could in the meets, and we overshot that goal. I showed the team a snowglobe with yellow gold Hand Tiger shards, and we had each person on the team identify themselves as one of the shards in it. We wanted them to become better swimmers, athletes, and people individually.”

To kick off the postseason portion of the campaign, Hand went to the water at the SCC Championship that took place at Southern Connecticut State University on Nov. 3. The Tigers finished in fourth place (697 team points) at the SCC meet. Cheshire took the title by scoring a total of 1,226 points.

While marveling over multiple masterful performances by the Tigers on the SCC night, Butler explained that it showcased a very bright future for this young squad.

“The fact that we had all of our girls in the finals for SCCs was great,” said Butler. “Sami Chemacki shined in the 500 and 200 freestyle [finishing 2nd and 5th, respectively]. Lilian Miller was great in the 200 [8th, 2:01.60] and 500 [7th, 5:33.16] freestyle events. A core of our team is a lot of sophomores. We also have eight juniors, and our divers have blossomed and helped us become a great diving program. I am super excited for our future.”

The Tigers do not boast any seniors nor do they have any captains this fall. Still, Butler and Forristall crafted a contingency plan towards the future by implementing a captain-by-committee strategy.

“We came up with a junior leadership team this year. We rotated juniors weekly, and they took turns being team leaders to organize events, practices, speaking with the refs before each meet,” Coach Butler said. “We feel it can help prepare the kids for next year when they become seniors and we have captains. This idea was a big curveball to the girls, but they thrived off of it.”

It has been a year of transition for not only the athletes, but also the Tigers’ two new coaches at the helm, but Hand has in fact proven that when you apply concentration and cohesion, anything is possible no matter the roster numbers.

“Maturity is the word for us this year. It was a year of new coaches and new environments. But they quickly learned that there are expectations when you have experienced coaches, and they rose to the occasion,” Butler said. “We are all business here, and everything else is on the outside. We focus on why we are at the pool and don’t let outside variables affect our training. The cohesiveness came in after a few weeks into the year. Everyone on this team has had a voice.”

The complete Tigers’ 2022 roster was comprised of juniors in Rachel Gentil, Molly Hoban, Reiss, Schwarz, Abigail Simpson, Stotz, Wines; sophomores of Emily Butler, Chemacki, Cohen, Kim, Lesnik, Miller, Alexander Muenker, Potter, Lily Vest; and freshmen Rastelli, and Speerli.