By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
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Photo by Nicole Harnishfeger
Ainsely Ellis swims the 100-yard freestyle in the final home meet of the season. Ellis set the BCC record in the event at the state meet last weekend. |
Freshman Ainsley Ellis’ two fourth-place finishes led the girls swim team to a 12th-place team finish last weekend at the Division II State Swimming Championship at Harvard University.
With only two representatives, the Whaler boys team placed 31st out of 37 scoring teams representing some of the most elite competition in the state.
Gardner topped the 32-team field to earn the girls’ state title with 198 points, while Weston dominated the boys’ meet with 309 points to lead the pack.
“I think this year compared to last year, it is a great improvement. Our kids stuck together mentally at this meet and really performed well. Nantucket does tend to get lost a little bit in a meet like this, but our kids kept their composure and really swam well,” head coach Jim Pignato said.
Unlike last year, the Whalers did not find the state meet falling on the second weekend of school vacation week, which tended to impact some of the times last season.
“I think that helped us (this year), because we stayed together. We had a practice schedule throughout the week unlike other schools who were on their vacation,” Pignato said.
Ellis led the five Whaler girls at the meet by securing two fourth-place individual finishes on Friday. She re-set the school record in the 100-yard freestyle by finishing in 55.27 seconds. The personal best also broke the 55.65-second Bay Colony Conference record set by North Attleboro’s Erica MacDonald last February.
“I am glad that she did it. I thought she had it at sectionals. From day one we knew she was a fast swimmer. I am just glad we are giving her the opportunity to showcase what she can do,” Pignato said.
Ellis also finished fourth in the 50-yard freestyle by swimming a 25.69.
Ellis’ sister Kaitlyn, a junior, was the only other Whaler to qualify for an individual event at the state championship, but was unable to swim due to injury.
“We didn’t swim Kaitlyn because her shoulder has been acting up on her and I didn’t feel comfortable putting her in and didn’t want to risk more injury to her. After a week of taking it really light and hoping that the shoulder would heal, we decided that it wasn’t the best thing to do to have her swim,” Pignato said.
Ellis was scheduled to swim in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard butterfly.
Nantucket also sent two relay teams to the state meet. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior co-captain Martha Carl, Rachel Schneider, Kelley Martin and Ainsley Ellis finished in eighth place in 1:47.89. The 400-yard freestyle relay team of Briana Vittorini, Martin, Schneider and Ainsley Ellis came in 11th with a final time of 3:59.97.
As the lone swimming representative from the boys squad, senior co-captain Henry Butler concluded his Whaler career with a solid performance in the 100-yard backstroke. Butler, who qualified for the state meet with a top-12 finish at the sectional meet the prior weekend, finished 16th overall in 1:00.09.
“I think it is good that we can be represented at the state level on the guys side. The qualifying times for both sectionals and states were very challenging,” Pignato said.
Nantucket’s seven total points came by way of junior diver Nick Valero, who finished seventh overall in the one-meter diving event. Valero racked up 336.55 points for his 11-dive performance.
“We were working towards this day all year, so it is nice to have it come out positively. It gives us lot to look forward to next year and a lot work on as well,” diving coach Tom Olcott said.
Valero advanced to the final round with 12 of the 20 total divers in the state championship and placed two spots higher than his ninth place finish as a freshman.
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