By Allison Goldsmith
I&M Sports Editor
The Nantucket swimming and diving team’s second appearance in the Cape Cod Classic was cut short for the second year in a row Friday. The Whalers were forced to leave the seven-team meet after the 200-yard freestyle relay event in order to catch the last boat home. They missed the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard breaststroke and 400-yard freestyle events, leading to a low point total.
The boys team finished third out of four teams and the girls squad finished third out of three teams at the second annual event at Sandwich on Friday.
Nantucket diver Tiffany Lee was named diver of the meet with a first place finish of 133.85 in her first competition of the season, matching her season best point total from last season.
“We need to figure something out for next year. This is the second time this has happened and it hurts us. We want this to be a meet with some meaning behind it and if we are leaving early every meet it doesn’t give us that,” head coach Jim Pignato said.
The Barnstable girls team led the way with a meet-clinching 179 points in front of Nauset’s 89 points and Nantucket’s incomplete 50 points. On the boys side the Sandwich boys team won with 140 points in front of Nauset with 104, Nantucket with 54 and Barnstable at 46.
The Whalers were scheduled to open dual meet competition on Monday against Taunton. The meet, which was originally scheduled for Saturday but moved to Monday, was postponed due to wind. No make-up date has been announced. The Nantucket teams will return to action after the new year when they host Coyle Cassidy on Jan. 5.
The Cape Cod Classic celebrated its second year after a successful inaugural event last December. The meet was developed by Pignato and Nauset assistant coach Justin Bohannoa. The two were swimming rivals through club swimming, high school and college and as coaches decided to establish an event on the Cape to bring teams together.
“It is fun to see these teams again throughout the year. We really just get to see them in a dual meet and at championships. It is nice to build continuity within the Cape and keep the Cape and Islands swimming strong,” Pignato said.
Participating teams swim the same format as a regular dual meet, with two heats per event to accommodate all of the swimmers. With diving in the middle of the meet, the event runs longer than a typical dual meet.
The boys 200-yard freestyle relay was the only first-place finish in the swimming events for the Whalers. In the final Nantucket race of the afternoon, minutes before bolting to the boat, the team of Sam and Henry Toole, Jeremy Schneider and Beau Garufi set a meet record, finishing the event in 1:39.10.
The girls 200-yard freestyle relay team of Carly Jensen, Ashley Martin, Theresa Head and Ainsley Ellis finished second overall in 1:49.82.
The boys team raked in three individual second-place finishes. Will Martin finished second in the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best 2:07.65, Garufi swam the 200-yard individual medley in a personal best and state-meet qualifying 2:10.94 and Sam Toole finished the 50-yard freestyle in 24.63.
Trevor Lockley finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle in 6:01.68.
Ellis took second place and qualified for the state championships in the 100-yard freestyle with a finish of 55.49 and Head finished fourth in the same event in 1:02.10. Ashley Martin swam a personal best and sectional qualifying 2:14.79 for fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle and freshman Carly Jensen swam the 200-yard individual medley for the first time and placed sixth in 2:36.66.
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