Bulls Overrun Sachem East in League I Opener

The Smithtown Bulls boys swimming team left Sachem East Tuesday afternoon with a 102-84 win despite some high placements from the Arrows in the League I opener.

Chuck Herrmann was key for the Bulls against East, winning the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.68 plus the third leg of the winning 400-yard freestyle relay (Matt DeVito, Eric Damm and Bill O'Brien rounded out the relay team) that timed a combined 3:44.83, he swam the lead-off leg of the tied-for-first-place 200-yard medley relay team (combined time 1:48.58), and filled in for the 200-yard individual medley at the last moment, finishing in 2:14.26 for another second placement.

O'Brien also won the 50-yard free (24.45 seconds), and Damm took first in the 100-yard butterfly (59.12 seconds).

Eighth-grader and two-year varsity swimmer DeVito anchored the 400-yard free and took second place in both the 200 and 100-yard free.

"He's been clutch all year," said Smithtown head coach Terry Martin.

Sixth-place finishes plagued East in several events, said East head coach Bill Kropp, which eventually eroded points overall.

"If we had gotten fifth in it, we could've won," he said.

In diving, Jared Forman (179.85 points), Nick Hladky (119.77 points) and Jordan Frielingsdorf (106.72 points) had mostly solid executions but fell over 22 points short of a win in the category. East's two divers combined for 428.54 points.

Smithtown has not posted a winning record in three seasons, and does not currently have a junior varsity program. That reality has forced Martin to retain as many swimmers as he can, allowing them the space to condition and hone technique before they are upperclassmen.

"We're competitive, but what's making us strong is the number of kids flourishing now as high school swimmers," he said. "We have a fair number of club swimmers to help fill in, but now we're doing well with the seasonal swimmers too."

Smithtown will have its next meet at 4 p.m. at Half Hollow Hills on January 13.