Milford's Kane: State meet appearance is one milestone

14-year-old freshman trailblazer believes her swimming success is just beginning

(Cooperstown Swim Coach John Hodgson and Milford freshman Emily Kane will each be attending their first state swim meet, starting Friday in Webster. Photo by Greg Klein.)

Friday, Nov. 17, a 14-year old who doesn’t attend school in New York’s Section III will represent the section anyway, competing in the 200 IM after becoming the first girl in Cooperstown swimming history to win a title at Section III’s state qualifying meet.

Of course, Milford freshman Emily Kane doesn’t attend Cooperstown, either.

A lifelong resident of the village of Milford, Kane has become one of many Wildcats allowed to compete — and excel — at Cooperstown in sports the Section IV Class D school does not offer.

MCS is about seven miles south of CCS, and the Milford-Cooperstown sports partnership has been incredible for Kane’s progress as a swimmer, she said Tuesday, Nov. 14, during an interview before practice at The Clark Sports Center in the town of Middlefield.

Kane said her mom, Stephanie Banks, would take her to the Oneonta YMCA while Kane’s older sister was at dance class. As a child with a lot of energy, she took to swimming and was in the pool by age four.

“It turned into me watching the swim team and then we decided I should try it,” she said. “Ever since then, I have just grown with the sport.”

In her third season swimming varsity at CCS, Kane has thrived in her favorite event, the 100 breaststroke, and has had even more success in the event she won at qualifiers, the 200 IM. She also won both events at the Section III Class C swim meet, where she was named the Class C Outstanding Swimmer and her coach took Class C Coach of the Meet honors.

Kane is the youngest of the 22 girls representing Section III in the state meet.

“It feels good, but there is a way to go for me,” she said. “It is one milestone for me.” 

Kane also swims with the Clinton Cudas and credits their coach, Andre Paradis, with much of her stroke progress the past year. She said her first CCS coach, Ashley Dadey, helped her settle into high school sports when Kane was a seventh grader. Kane credits her CCS coach the past two years, John Hodgson, for his kindness, his humor and his mentoring.

“He's helped me a lot,” she said. “He's definitely new to the sport, but he is a great mentor.”

Hodgson, in turn, credits Kane with making the entire girls team better. The team was short on swimmers this season and had just one senior, but the speedy freshman was a leader, and her wins helped the team beat expectations at meets, he said. The 200 IM relay team of Kane, Caitlin O'Sullivan, Alana Peitruszka and Jaina Bischof also did well at the qualifier, as did O’Sullivan in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle.

“(Emily) works harder than any swimmer I have ever seen,” Hodgson said. “She is the first in and the last out. She does doubles. She motivates herself. She always arrives happy and leaves happy. She never has a bad day. The reason why our swim team works hard and swims hard is because Emily sets the pace.”  

Kane is the second female swimmer representing Cooperstown to make the state meet. However, that distinction carries many caveats. Bridget Quinn went to the state meet about 20 years ago. Prior to that, the girls swam on the boys team and had no opportunity to make a girls state swim championship meet. Many of the best local swimmers never swam for CCS, or left for private school, and the most famous one — Olympian Sarah Groff — swam on the boys team and left CCS for a private school where she could train and compete on a girls team. Becky Fisher also made the state meet as a diver and went on to compete at Colgate.

Kane said she is content to do double duty for the Cudas and Hawkeyes, all while walking the halls at MCS year round. She gets about two months off per year from competitive swimming, which has school, club and summer seasons. Like her older sister, she also dances; Kane said she prefers jazz and also enjoys competitive dance. She said she hopes to swim for Indiana University and study sports journalism.

Kane said she hopes to swim breaststroke in college, but she knows her dedication and distance ability makes her a candidate for the IM.

“I really dislike butterfly, but, honestly, time wise, backstroke is my lagging stroke, but it is getting better,” she said. “I am concentrating on breaststroke right now, and as of right now, I think I would become a 200 breaststroker. I swim the 100 mostly, but the 200 IM is my second event, so maybe I could (IM in college).” 

However, before college, Kane has three more years of school and, she hopes, three more shots at bringing a state title to Milford and Cooperstown. Her fire-truck parade is already scheduled for Cooperstown’s Main Street at 6 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 18. A Milford version seems certain to follow.

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association Girls Swimming and Diving Championships take place at the Webster Aquatic Center on Friday and Saturday. All swimmers compete together in open-class competition.

Kane and her coach said they have modest goals for their first trip to states.

“I hope that she has a great time, makes as many friends as she can, and I hope she's happy with her performance,” Hodgson said.

“To PR at state would be pretty cool,” Kane said, and “also not coming in last at state would be good.”

Coverage of Cooperstown’s 2023-24 is brought to you in part by an anonymous local business. To sponsor a team, season or the school year, contact Greg at JYDBook@gmail.com.