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11/17/2016 11:00 PMCompeting as a team of two, Westbrook senior Caitlin McNary and her sophomore sister Marissa McNary swam at the Class S State Championship at Wesleyan University on Nov. 16. The siblings combined to score 106 points on behalf of the Knights, putting them in 16th place out of 28 schools. Caitlin McNary recorded her sixth and seventh career victories in states by winning both the 100-yard freestyle and the 200 freestyle. McNary has now won the 100 freestyle twice at the Class S meet and taken the 200 freestyle title in three of her four seasons. She’s also won the 100 backstroke and the 500 freestyle at the state meet in previous years.
“It kind of felt like a redemption from last year since I lost in the 200 free. I now have both events under my belt,” McNary said. “I knew I had to win the first one to be in the right mindset to win the second.”
Starting the night in the 200 freestyle, Caitlin McNary prevailed in the finals with a time of 1:50.89, beating runner-up Dia Gawronski of Woodland (1:55.47) by a whopping five seconds. It was McNary’s personal-best time in the event as she improved her mark in states for the fourth-consecutive season.
“It was weird winning by that much, but I’ve been doing this since my freshman year, so some people at school think this is expected,” said McNary. “They don’t grasp that it’s an extremely huge accomplishment because I’ve been doing it since I was 14.”
McNary qualified for the 200 freestyle by swimming a top time of 1:53.92 at the Class S Qualifier at Plainville High School on Nov. 12. She typically comes on strong in the 200 free toward the end of the year.
“It’s an event I struggle with throughout the season, but I usually pull through towards the end of the season in that event,” she said. “It’s a mental event. I find it very hard to focus, but if I just swim instead of getting caught up in how to swim it because I know how to swim it is when I’m at my best. Sometimes, I get too into my own head.”
McNary was also best in the preliminary of the 100 freestyle at 52.95, after which she captured first place in the main event by swimming a 51.46. She was a half-second better than Weston’s Charlotte Proceller, who timed in at 52.06.
With the two first-place finishes, McNary scored 60 points at the state meet. She will swim both the 100 and 200 freestyles at the State Open Championship at Yale University at noon on Saturday, Nov. 19.
McNary also recently signed her National Letter of Intent to swim at Division I Fordham University in New York City next year.
“Every year, I try to switch up my events for college. In the past, I strayed away from the 100, but I swam it a few times and ended up qualifying for junior nationals, so I wanted to stick with it and get as close as I could to an All-American time,” McNary said. “I’m extremely excited about [swimming in college]. I’m excited to be a part of a great program that holds both high academic and swimming standards.”
Marissa McNary competed in the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke at the Class S State Championship, just like she did as a freshman last season. In the qualifying, McNary was fifth in both the 200 IM (2:16.70) and the backstroke (1:02.85). At the finals, she scored 23 points in each event with a pair of sixth-place finishes. McNary clocked in at 2:14.95 for the individual medley and recorded a time of 1:01.69 in the backstroke.
“This year I was a lot less nervous because I knew what was expected. It wasn’t as nerve-wracking going into the finals,” she said. “I was really proud when I achieved my best times in both events. It was really rewarding to see that all my hard work paid off and great seeing some of the swimmers we swam with during the season showing up to support us.”
Aside from their teammates from Daniel Hand High School who were at the meet, the McNary sisters were both very pleased with the support they received from people in the community, mentioning neighbors Bob Humba and John Cietanno, along with their parents, plus their older sister, who came home from college to watch.
“We definitely pull our weight for the sport and finishing 16th this year definitely shows that,” Caitlin McNary said. “I was so excited with the turnout of our crowd. Having them there was the support we needed going into those races.”