In its first year as a functioning co-op family, the Shoreline girls’ swimming and diving team adapted quite quickly and strongly to the new squad format in 2024. The Cougars rode the momentum of a very successful regular season right into a lovely landing spot at the state championships that saw several athletes have their finest hours–and minutes and seconds–on the biggest stage.

Following an unbeaten dual-meet season, the Shoreline Co-op girls’ swimming and diving team (comprised of athletes from Valley Regional, Haddam-Killingworth, Old Lyme, and Old Saybrook high schools) continued its proficiency in the pool by cracking the top 10 and placing 10th at the Class S State Championships on Nov. 13 at Cornerstone. Head Coach Alison Karam detailed that it was a seamless transition from the regular season to the postseason, and the girls did not skip a beat.

“We won the final two dual meets of our swim season to finish with an unbeaten record,” said Karam. “The challenge was to keep riding that wave into the state championships. The girls were all-in gearing up for states, and the results were great.”

Even more impressively, for the first time in anyone connected with the program’s memory, the Cougars qualified an athlete in every finals event, including the diving championship.

Diver Bethany Erkkila (a junior from Valley Regional) had a 12th place finish, giving the co-op 15 valuable points, with her score of 264.4. In the state trials, the Cougars achieved 18 personal-best times, and many who swam broke those marks in finals–including each of the relay groups. In total, the Shoreline Co-Op swam 31 personal best times at State Championships.

“This team had so many standout performances and personal best times,” said Karam on her team’s overall performance. “It’s hard to pinpoint just one or two.”

Maggie Miller (an H-K junior) showed her versatility as a long-distance swimmer and sprinter. She broke the six-minute threshold in the 500-yard freestyle, swimming a time of 5:56 in trials. She placed 13th for the finals in a total time of 5:57.43. She also finished 18th for the 200 freestyle in 2:14.42.

“There is a five-minute break between that event and the 200 freestyle relay, which Maggie swam anchor on,” said Karam. “She then crushed her fastest 50 freestyle split by swimming in 27.80 seconds. That’s impressive!”

Olivia Macaluso (H-K senior) was the club’s highest individual event placer, finishing ninth in both the 200-yard individual medley (IM) and the 100-yard butterfly with a personal best time of 1:04.34. She had the eighth-fastest swim overall in the IM with a mark of 2:29.77, and the seventh-best in the butterfly event.

“Olivia had qualified 12th in the IM and 10th in the fly,” said Karam. “Yet with locked heats, you can’t move up into the top 8 qualifying heat, regardless of the time you swim in finals.”

Valley freshman Claire Johnson, as Karam remarked, “peaked beautifully for states. Every time she dove off the block, she had a personal-best swim.” She finished 11th overall in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:06.20, and 14th in the 200-yard IM in 2:31.81.

Her classmate Phoebe Spallone had some solid swims at states, finishing 13th in the 100-yard backstroke with a personal-best mark of 1:08.89. Two events later, she filled in for one of the Cougars’ swimmers who became ill mid-meet, and she swam the 400-yard freestyle relay, which placed 11th overall in 4:07.29. She was also 13th-best in the 100 backstroke in 1:08.89.

Joining Spallone for that relay were Johnson, Miller, and Macaluso. The 200 medley relay team of Spallone, H-K senior Sofia Campo, Macaluso, and H-K sophomore Gianna Dabkowski placed ninth in a mark of 2:03.17. The 200 freestyle foursome in Johnson, freshman Lauren Thebeau, Old Lyme junior Rose Dimmock, and Miller placed 11th in 1:54.66.

Elsewhere, H-K sophomore Olivia Forristall finished 22nd for the 200 IM in 2:41.15, and then in the 100 breaststroke, she was 14th in a mark of 1:19.44. Campo placed 24th for that event as well (1:21.88). Dabkowski placed 24th in the 50 freestyle (in 28.4 seconds).

Now looking back at the results, Karam explained that the girls underwent a lengthy and diverse preparation period for the finals. Each group of swimmers specialized in different regimens depending upon the length of their competitions, while they all gained sound mental reflection and had plenty of entertainment along the way.

“We geared up for states in the postseason with focused workouts, taper, stroke details, and mental preparation,” said Karam. “Long-distance swimmers did pace work, while sprinters focused on starts, turns, and fine-tuning their stroke technique. We did a lot of relay transition work to practice strong starts and finishes. They had some fun practices, as well as an in-water meditative visualization session the day before finals.”

This is Karam’s seventh year as head coach at H-K. The assistant coach is Steve Cusano, who is in his fourth year as the assistant coach with the Cougars.

The Shoreline Co-Op 2024 roster consists of seniors Olivia Campo (of H-K), Sofia Campo (H-K), Macaluso (H-K), Veronica Pypa (H-K); juniors Miller (H-K), Dimmock (Old Lyme), Alexandria Dziebel (Old Saybrook), Erkkila (Valley), Emma Wakelee (Old Saybrook); sophomores Dabkowski (H-K), Forristall (H-K), Sophia Langer (H-K), Elsa Shatraw (H-K), Elena Abbott (H-K); plus freshmen Aria Cummings (H-K), Lauren Thebeau (H-K), Madeline Cummins (Old Lyme), Kinsley Grenier (Old Lyme), Johnson (Valley), and Spallone (Valley).

2024 Shoreline Co-Op Girls’ Swimming and Diving Regular Season Results

Sept. 17: Shoreline Co-Op 93, Ledyard 76

Sept. 26: Shoreline Co-Op 86, Windsor Locks Co-Op 84

Oct. 4: Shoreline Co-Op 96, Suffield 65

Oct. 8: Shoreline Co-Op 95, Waterford 81

Oct. 15: Shoreline Co-Op 102, Rocky Hill 72

Oct. 22: Shoreline Co-Op 102, Ledyard-St. Bernard 68