By Joshua Balling
I&M Managing Editor
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Ainsley Ellis swam to a school record (56.60 seconds) in the 100-yard freestyle against Barnstable. |
Both the boys and girls swim teams exploded off the blocks Dec. 14, beating up on a Barnstable squad that brought close to 60 swimmers to the Nantucket Community Pool for the opening dual meet of the season.
Led by the Ellis sisters, who set three school records between them, the girls were victorious 101-70. The boys weren’t far behind, winning 95-70.
“Traditionally, Barnstable has had a good squad. They are a much bigger school,” head coach Jim Pignato said after the meet. “Last year, they lacked the numbers, but had a talented core group of boys and girls. This year, they had an overwhelming number of swimmers, close to 60. But in the end, our talent outmatched their depth.”
The Nantucket swim teams (each 1-0 in the Bay Colony Conference) now have a long break over the holidays before their next meet, scheduled for Jan. 5 at Oliver Ames.
Pignato said he was pleased with the teams’ performances in their first meet, especially since a fuel spill in Hyannis Harbor prevented them from attending a non-competitive relay carnival in Attleboro over the weekend where they have traditionally worked out the opening meet jitters.
“I was nervous coming in to the Barnstable meet because I hadn’t had a chance to see my entire team race,” Pignato said. “We like to use the relay carnival as a non-threatening meet, to see some of our times, how things are shaping up.”
Obviously, they are shaping up pretty well.
Cruise control
The girls took first place in eight out of 12 events, and were led by Ainsley Ellis, who set school records in the 50-yard freestyle (25.56 seconds) and 100 free (56.6). Her time in the 50 free was also a conference record.
Ellis’ sister Kateyln also set a school record in winning the 200-yard individual medley in 2:21.27.
Pignato also singled out the winning performance of the 200-yard medley relay team of the Ellis sisters, Tharon Anderson and Martha Carl, who were victorious in 2:01.18, about one second shy of the school record.
The girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay team of the Ellis sisters, Rachel Schneider and Martha Carl also cruised to victory, winning in 1:49.42.
But the Ellises weren’t the only sisters churning up the pool. Ashley and Kelley Martin also swam extremely well, Pignato said. Ashley, a freshman, won the 200-yard freestyle in 2:21.94, and placed third in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:31.07.
“Those are two tough events to swim in your first meet,” Pignato said. “And Ashley’s older sister Kelley also had a great 50 free, coming in second in 27.97.”
“Barnstable came in with a lot of girls,” Pignato said. “If this meet shows what our team is capable of right now at this point in the season, they should be swimming very fast toward the end.”
Keeping pace
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Jeremy Schneider finished third in the 100-yard butterfly against Barnstable |
The boys didn’t set any records, but swam equally well, taking nine out of 12 first-place finishes. Pignato singled out the performance of Henry Butler, Harrison O’Rourke, Tim Kuratek and Jesse Sandole, who swimming together finished first in both the 200 free relay (1:49.42) and 200 medley relay (1:55.14).
Butler also finished first in the 200 free (2:06.40) and the 500 free (5:47.74). O’Rourke was victorious in the 200 individual medley (2:32.71) and 100 freestyle (59.10), and Kuratek took first in the 50 free (24.79) and 100-yard breast stroke (1:15.50), although he exhibitioned the race, which allowed Barnstable to take the points after the meet was already won.
Pignato also praised Rob Lucchini’s victory in the 100-yard butterfly (1:07.64) and the work of divers Jessie Hull and Nick Valero, who faced no competition in the meet, but were diving for a new coach.
“It was really tough to know how this was going to go at first,” Pignato said of the boys’ meet. “We didn’t swim against Barnstable last year. I knew they lost a lot of seniors on the boys side, but they came in with a lot of swimmers. It became obvious pretty quickly that we had the talent advantage.”
Yet the season has barely begun, and Pignato acknowledged there are still areas that need work, and a big break before the next meet against Oliver Ames.
“The vacation break is kind of tough,” he said. “I wish we had a dual meet this weekend to kind of continue this positive momentum, but we’ve got two and a half weeks off. We need to stay focused during that time, and work on the little things: starts, turns, finishes. We’ve got six or seven scheduled practices, and some optional workouts for kids that will be around over the holidays. Hopefully we can continue our progress.”
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