By Allison Goldsmith
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Will Soverino, front, gets ready at
the start of the 100 yard backstroke
in the Whaler's meet against Barnstable Saturday. |
I&M Sports Editor
The boys swim team swiped two more wins this week with victories over Sharon 95-88 on the road last Wednesday and Barnstable 95-50 at home on Saturday. The girls, on the other hand, lost both meets, falling to Sharon 96-75 and Barnstable 109-67.
With the wins, the boys improved to 6-2 overall this season, while the girls fell to 1-6. The Whalers final home meet of the season against Taunton has been rescheduled again for Monday, Feb. 12.
“The past two meets, we have had some really good competition in the pool and it really helps to push our kids,” head coach Jim Pignato said.
The competition has helped the Whalers prepare for the Bay Colony Conference Championships scheduled for this weekend. The diving championships will be held on Friday night and the swimming championships Saturday morning at New Bedford High School.
The boys team will be looking to challenge Nauset and Sharon for the top spot in the conference meet. Both Nantucket and Sharon each gave league leader Nauset a close dual meet during the regular season, and are looking for revenge in the championships.
“If you spread those three teams out in a conference-style meet, any one of us could make a run at it,” Pignato said.
The girls team will be looking to use the high-level competition to push a few more competitors into the sectional and state meets and for those that have already qualified to continue to lower their times.
“They know the situation going in. They know they don’t have the numbers to win, but they are continuing to swim faster and faster each time and we are going to continue that forward into the championships,” Pignato said.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Senior Harrison O'Rourke swims in the 100 yd butterfly in the Whalers' meet against Barnstable Saturday. |
Boys swimming and diving
The Whaler boys added two more qualifiers for the sectional meet this week. Hunter Burnham earned a sectional-qualifying time in the 500-yard freestyle, posting a 5:40.00 against Sharon, and improving that time to 5:37.98 against Barnstable. Harrison O’Rourke also qualified for the sectional meet with a 23.90 finish in the 50-yard freestyle against Sharon. The senior captain also bettered his sectional-qualifying 100-yard butterfly time to 1:00.81 against Barnstable.
The boys were up against one of their toughest competitors in the conference last week against Sharon. The meet was close until the diving event, when the diverless Whalers took a 13-point hit from three Sharon divers earning points. The boys were able to claw their way back with a key first- and third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. But it was the one-three-four finish in the 100-yard breaststroke that put the Whalers back on top with swims by Beau Garufi (1:05.47), Caleb Mitchell (1:17.21) and Will Martin (1:17.06).
Nantucket needed a first-place finish in the final 400-yard freestyle relay to win the meet. Burnham, Jeremy Schneider, O’Rourke and Garufi provided it, swimming a season-best 3:41.19.
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Ainsley Ellis is seen in a tight race during the 100 yard backstroke, while Anna Cavanaugh comes to the surface in the foreground. |
Against Barnstable, the boys earned the easy victory, earning all 11 first-place finishes. In addition to the qualifying times, Schneider swam to a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (56.08) and a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (2:07.82). Trevor Lockley also broke the six-minute mark in the 500-yard freestyle at 5:54.91.
Girls swimming and diving
The girls continued to better their
times against stronger competition this week. Ashley Martin lowered her 50-yard freestyle time to 27.33 and her 100-yard freestyle to 1:02.15 against Barnstable, both personal bests. Ainsley Ellis again dropped her 200-yard freestyle (2:05.37) and 100-yard backstroke (1:04.77) times, also against Barnstable.
Meaghan Lynch continues to drop time off her 500-yard freestyle, swimming a season-low 6:23.07 on Sunday. Her 100-yard backstroke (1:21.89) is one second away from a sectional meet qualification. Also for the girls, diver Justine Paradis still needs one more score over 178 to qualify for the state meet.
With the victory over Nantucket on Sunday, Barnstable secured the top spot in the Bay Colony Conference with an undefeated record in league meets. The Red Raiders put up some impressive swims against the Whalers, taking 10 of 11 first-place finishes in the swimming events. Ellis’ 100-yard backstroke was the only winning swim for Nantucket. Paradis continued her unbeaten streak with another victory in diving with a score of 176.55. Tiffany Lee put up another season-high score with 133.85.
Reach Allison Goldsmith at sports@inkym.com
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