Herricks' Katie Yee, Kailey Simons lead way at Nassau girls swimming championships

Katie Yee and Kailey Simons have meant the world to the Herricks’ girls swimming program.

Both seniors made sure to put on a show in their final Nassau County championship appearance.

Yee won the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly events, while Simons won the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke Saturday at the Nassau County Aquatic Center.

“I’m losing two of the best seniors ever who are the backbone and captains of the team,” Herricks coach Danielle Sullivan said. “I can put them in any event and they will excel, but they are two of the nicest and most supportive girls I’ve ever met.”

Yee successfully defended the titles she won last year in the same two county events — improving her times in each race. She finished the 200 IM with a time of 2 minutes, 5.11 seconds, 1.33 seconds faster than last year. And she won the 100 fly in 55.49, .92 seconds faster than her previous best time.

The butterfly is one of Yee’s favorite strokes, and she credits her participation in the IM for much of her success.

“I used to be really bad at backstroke and breaststroke, but doing IM made me learn to put all my effort into every single stroke and not just my favorites,” Yee said. “But the butterfly is one of the toughest because any small movement can slow you down so much.”

Simons missed last year’s County Championship meet because of a shoulder injury. But she showed no signs of rust Saturday with her clocking of 24.07 in the 50 free and 55.92 in the 100 back.

“I was very slow when I came back,” Simons said. “After working on my swimming for the last few months, I’m really glad to be where I’m at right now.”

Yee and Simons were joined by Natalie Wu and Isabella Chang in winning the 200 medley and 400 free relays. Herricks clocked 1:49.25 in the 200 medley and 3:35.47 in the 400 free.

Herricks finished fourth in the team scoring with 317.5 points. Syosset won with a team score of 433.5, marking the school’s first girls swimming county title.

Bellmore-Merrick finished second with 359.5 points and Manhasset finished third with 355.

“I’m so proud of this team,” Syosset coach Michael Cippolino said. “I couldn’t think of a better group to do it because this one is really special.”

Megan Hu was Syosset’s only individual winner, taking first place in the 100 breaststroke in 1:05.28.

“Honestly, the other girls in that race really worried me,” said Hu, a junior. “But that just motivated me to go even faster. I was nervous, but I think it helped out in the end.”

Garden City’s Madison Connor won the 200 free (1:51.38) and 100 free (51.83). Samantha Anderson of Manhasset timed 5:00.69 to win the 500 free, and Bellmore-Merrick’s Calista Chen, Cara McDonald, Veronica Gelfand and Riley Fried teamed to win the 200 free relay in 1:40.49.