GSWIM: Twin juniors shine for Amity on Senior Night

By Tanner Harding
@tanner_harding

It may have been Senior Night for the Amity High School girl’s swimming and diving team, but it was juniors Maggie and Megan Lasto who really shined in the team’s 93-84 victory over North Haven High School.
 
The girls, who are twins, placed in the top three in every event in which one of them participated, except for the 100-yard backstroke, which North Haven (6-5) swept.
 
However, Amity (9-3) took first place in seven out of the 12 events, in a dominant performance that pleased head coach Todd Rainey.
 
“This is what I was hoping for,” Rainey said about the win. “Sometimes on senior night, the focus isn’t always on what it’s supposed to be on, but the girls really stepped up and did a good job tonight.”
 
Before the meet, Amity honored seniors on both teams on the pool deck, which was donned in black and yellow streamers, balloons and signs for the Amity seniors.
 
A member of the Amity team gave a flower to each North Haven senior in recognition of their years dedicated to swimming and diving.  
 
Coaches then honored the seven Amity seniors with their parents on the deck, a bouquet of flowers, and gave the four captains—Hannah Flaherty, Kelly Grindall, Diana Karsanow, and Brittany Smith—a gift bag, as well.
 
This particular group of seniors has seen a lot of success with a 43-4 record over the past four years. The team was undefeated from 2011 until last year, when the it stumbled a little after losing a big group of seniors.
 
However, with Maggie and Megan leading the way, Rainey doesn’t seem concerned that losing seven more girls will present the same problem.
 
“We’ve lost some big swimmers in the past, but we always seem to have girls step up” he said. “We’re going to miss (the seniors) but we’re going to be OK.”
 
Megan echoed this sentiment.
 
“We all work together to push each other, I think, and bring the freshmen up to our level,” she said.
 
Maggie placed first in both the 200-yard medley relay and the 500-yard freestyle, and placed fourth in the 100-yard backstroke—the best of any Amity swimmer.
 
Megan placed first in the 200-yard individual medley, first in the 100-yard butterfly and was on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team.
 
This meet was the team’s final dual meet of the season and Rainey is looking forward to the twins’ performances in the state competition the team has coming up.
 
“I look to them to be state finalists in the championship heat, and hopefully state open qualifiers like they were last year,” Rainey said. “[We look for] them to again to lead us and show us how it’s done.”