Hauppauge Rocks The Relay Carnival

Each year, our team puts together a theme for the Relay Carnival. This year's theme: Rock The Relay Carnival.

Every year, Suffolk County's swim teams send their best to the annual Relay Carnival, a relay-only meet that kicks off the season. It's one of the most intense meets on the calendar. Coaches spend weeks building relay combinations to put forth the team that best represents their program, and the energy from the first whistle is something you have to be there to understand.

The meet is a single session. It opens and closes with two special relays that bring together 10&U, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18 boys and girls, where each team puts their best against everyone else's best. In between, the events run through IM order: all butterfly relays, then backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Each age group goes girls then boys, starting with 10&U and working up through 15-18, with each team limited to one relay entry per event.

This year, Hauppauge Swimming placed 2nd as a team for the first time in program history. Throughout the Relay Carnival's history, this meet has been won by the same few teams, with some winning 10 or 20 years in a row before another takes over.

We entered 34 relays and finished in the top 3 in 29 of them. 10 first place finishes, 13 second place, and 6 third place. Across every age group, boys and girls, our swimmers showed up and competed.

This was a historic day for Hauppauge Swimming, and it sets the tone for what's ahead. We have a full season of meets in front of us, starting with several meets this fall including our December Eagle Invite as we build toward the Suffolk County Championships in the spring. Results like these don't happen by accident. They come from the work our swimmers put in every day at practice. Keep showing up, keep training hard, and let's see what this team can do.