I bet I caught your attention with that headline, right?
You read it correctly, Katie Ledecky was on Long Island last week for an “An Evening With Katie Ledecky”, an event organized by Catholic Health. Though it’s not unusual for Ledecky to be in our neck of the woods, since she’s made a few appearances at UBS Arena to support her Uncle Jon’s hockey team, the New York Islanders.
“Meghan Brady was named one of Newsday’s top 25 swimmers. Because she was named top 25, she got [her and I] tickets to the event. Not only tickets to the event but also tickets backstage to meet her,” said SayBayBlue head coach Nicole Mendez Chicas. ”So altogether with Megan’s tickets and my tickets, we got six free tickets. It just happened to be that we have five seniors and me, so it worked out that it was kind of like a final hurrah with all the seniors, which is really nice.”
The Sayville/Bayport-Blue Point girls’ varsity swim team is a member of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) and competes in League II. The team is led by 11th-year head coach Nicole Mendez-Chicas. She is joined poolside by assistant coach Hayley Beutel. SayBayBlue are 11-time League Champions in the pool with their most recent title coming last year. This season, they finished with a 5-4 record.
The swim team was celebrated by their peers in the Parade of Champions that took place on Sunday afternoon. Sayville High School honored their fall season champions as a firetruck led the teams down Main Street in celebration. The swim team recognized their County Champion swimmers, Grace Cullen and Meghan Brady. At Counties, Brady finished in first place in both the 100 & 200 yard free, and Cullen finished first in the 100 yard breast and second in the 200 yard individual medley.
Katie Ledecky is synonymous with swimming. She’s a legend, and that cold hard fact is absolutely not up for debate. Her world records and accomplishments speak for themselves. Ledecky won 14 Olympic (nine gold) medals and is a 23-time World Champion, beginning at the age of 15. Her athleticism is unmatched, and she’s still going strong, breaking her own records time and time again.
“We were more in awe; we were kind of starstruck just because she’s such an incredible athlete and such an inspiration to all of us. We have all seen her swim in the Olympics. I don’t know if the girls on the team remember the 2012 Olympics when she was 15 years old and won gold, but that has always stuck with me. She’s been around for so long but she’s still breaking records,” Mendez-Chicas told The Messenger.
The Stanford graduate made the trek to Long Island on December 2, spending the evening at the Tilles Center located on LIU’s campus to share stories about her life as an elite swimmer and advocating for health and wellness. The conversation was moderated by sports anchor Bruce Beck. Ledecky is in partnership with Catholic Health, serving as a Health & Wellness Ambassador since July. As part of a public education campaign, “Optimizing Your Health for Greater Performance”, Ledecky’s event coincided with the theme.
“It was incredible. Hearing about her journey and just what an inspiration she is, and just reminding everybody to kind of push yourself, don’t rely on other people to push you. It was very cool,” said Mendez-Chicas.
SayBayBlue was in attendance, getting the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear and learn from the legend herself. The team capped off the night by getting a photo with the Olympian, a moment that will surely last a lifetime.
“So unfortunately, there were so many people that it [photo op] was very rushed. We didn’t get to really talk to her. But just being in the audience during the whole interview, she’s so genuine and down to earth and really cares beyond just her fellow athletes; she cares about people in general, and she really wants to help. So that’s another inspiring thing, she’s real,” said Mendez-Chicas.
Girls’ varsity swimming on Long Island, Suffolk County specifically, currently has 13 varsity swim teams. A majority of them [10] are combined teams, due to the lack of pools at some schools. Nonetheless, the girls make it work.
“I don’t think it gets enough attention or credit. These swimmers, these athletes, I can speak for the girls, but all of the athletes. They practice a lot of times before school and then practice again in the afternoon, just the amount of hours. Swimming is a year-round sport, so it’s beyond just the varsity season. You have to be a true athlete. As a swimmer, it’s all muscle groups, it’s physical, it’s mental, and it definitely doesn’t get enough credit. But honestly, COVID-19 really hurt our sport, because a lot of kids, when they were kind of developing in a sport, chose the outdoor sports because you could social distance. That has hurt our numbers, and I still see the effect of COVID-19 on the numbers in swimming,” said Mendez-Chicas.
This season, the squad saw four girls qualify for and compete at States. Meghan Brady, Abby Hendershot, Grace Cullen, and Jane Southworth got to swim at the highest level of competition this season. All four swam in the 200 & 400 free relay, Hendershot swam in the 50 & 100 free relays, and Brady swam in the 100 & 200 yard free and the 200 individual medley.
Sayville/Bayport-Blue Point will have three of its graduating seniors go on to swim at the Division I level next fall. Abby Hendershot will be swimming at Sacred Heart in Connecticut, Grace Cullen is headed to Niagara, and Meghan Brady will be a Husky, attending Northeastern in Boston.
A fish named Dory once said to “Just Keep Swimming.” SayBayBlue has done just that. With a renewed source of motivation from an icon [Ledecky], they’ll look to make some waves in the pool next season.
