By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The Whalers boys and girls swimming and diving teams went up against possibly the toughest Bay Colony Conference competition of the season this weekend away from the confines of their home pool.
The Whalers traveled to Nauset on Thursday and North Attleboro on Saturday. The boys’ team split the busy week losing to powerhouse Nauset 90-79 before rebounding to defeat North Attleboro 83-79. The girls’ team dropped both meets, losing to Nauset 80-65 and North Attleboro 82.5-51.5.
“It is definitely a challenge. Especially with Nauset being the first meet. It just takes so much energy from setting up the meet, strategizing the line up, to the kids physically competing in such a high energy meet. It is very draining. I did notice coming into Saturday’s meet we were kind of flat,” head coach Jim Pignato said.
Nantucket is scheduled to host Taunton at home on Saturday at 1 p.m. Next Wednesday the boys’ team will face off at Sandwich.
Boys Swimming
The Whalers’ boys swim team engaged in a battle for the top spot of the Bay Colony Conference on Thursday against perennial champion Nauset.
“I thought of any team in the league, I thought our boys, with our depth would be able to take them down. It came down to the last relay and we needed first and third. They just had all of their top swimmers in the last event,” Pignato said.
The Whalers came in trailing 80-75 and needed the 10 points from a first and third place finish to overtake the Warriors. The Nantucket relay finished second in 3:46.22 well behind the first-place time of 3:37.28.
Nantucket had kept the score tight in the first half of the meet with second and third place finishes in the first four events. Harrison O’Rourke and Hunter Burnham finished two, three in a bang-bang 200-yard freestyle event where three swimmers finished within one second of each other. Beau Garufi topped his personal best 200-yard individual medley time with a second-place finish in 2:17.10 and a bid to the sectional meet.
The Warriors pulled away in the 100-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle events with first and second place finishes.
Garufi defeated frequent competitor Matthias Christensen for first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a personal best 1:04.84, which came within 0.14 seconds of breaking the school record.
Against North Attleboro on Saturday, the Whalers’ boys had an easier time wrapping up the meet early due to higher numbers and depth.
“This was a more conservative line up, giving our kids an opportunity to swim and see how deep we really are talent wise,” Pignato said.
Garufi continued to drop the seconds off his personal best times with another personal best in the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.19. Jeremey Schneider swam to a personal best in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:09.22, good for second place. The Whalers led 42-20 at the break and 83-41 following a one, two finish the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Girls Swimming
Low numbers continued to plague the Whalers girls team, especially against the strongest programs in the Bay Colony Conference this week.
“It is the story of our entire year. It is hard to win with just nine girls to fill the events. We definitely gave them some good swims, but just filling the events is killing us,” Pignato said.
Against Nauset on Thursday, the chaotic start to the high-intensity meet showed in the first event as three of the four 200-yard medley relay teams were disqualified for a quick start off the block.
Ainsley Ellis had a relatively uncontested first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 2:07.85, but the Warriors wracked up the points with the second, third and fourth place finishes in the event.
Ashley Martin finished second in the 50-yard freestyle in 27.47, which was good for a bid to the sectional meet in February, the first individual qualification for the junior swimmer.
The Whalers trailed 38-17 at the midway point of the meet. The Warriors picked up first and second place points in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard freestyle to open up their lead.
Later in the meet, Ellis improved on her state-qualifying, 100-yard backstroke time with a 1:05.66 finish.
Against North Attleboro on Saturday, the Whalers’ girls could place only seven swimmers in the line up compared to the usual nine swimmers.
“It was the first time in my coaching career I wasn’t able to fill all the events with the girls,” Pignato said.
Swimmers are allowed to swim two individual events and two relays or one individual event and three relays.
Martin earned the Whalers’ only official first-place finish with another strong swim in the 50-yard freestyle (27.87). Meaghan Lynch swam to a solid fourth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:37.56.
There was no diving event at either meet.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com
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