Lady swimmers shine at Hock championships
By Jay Turner
Amanda Walsh is headed to sectionals along with five of her Bulldog teammates. (Mike Barucci photo)
It’s been a memorable season for the Canton High girls’ swim team, and on Saturday the Bulldogs achieved new heights with a fifth place finish at the Hockomock championship meet in Attleboro — the program’s best showing in over five years.
Led by freshman sensation Shannon McLaughlin, the girls turned in countless personal-best times and a number of top ten finishes.
McLaughlin, who qualified for the upcoming sectional tournament in five individual events and two relays, finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a blistering time of 56.91. She also placed fifth in the 500 free (5:48.49) and was part of a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay, along with Kim Frazier, Amanda Walsh, and Julia Guerini.
Meanwhile, Frazier also shined in her individual events, placing eighth in the 50 free (27.65) and fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, where teammates Walsh and Brianna Duserick finished fifth and ninth, respectively.
Other top performances were turned in by Alison McHugh, Duserick, and Piper Conway in the 200 free; Walsh and Guerini in the 200 IM and 100 free; Abbey Willis in the 100-yard butterfly; Isobel Heck in the 500 free; and Guerini, Duserick, McHugh and Emily Breviglia in the 400 free relay.
In addition, the following swimmers posted personal-best times in at least one event: Jen Arthur, Rosa Bonilla, Megan Breviglia, Amberly Diep, Shaina Forte, Catherine Hunter, Marissa Pati, Bridget Phelan, Haley Rosenblatt, Julia Salisbury, and Megan Tse.
Several Canton boys also had a strong showing at the league meet, where the Bulldogs placed eighth out of ten teams.
Eric Newton had the top individual finish, placing fifth in the 200 IM with a personal-best time of 2:25.30. James Frazier also had an excellent meet with a pair of eighth-place finishes in the 50 free (24.09) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:10.91).
Other notable swimmers included Scott Buresh, who dropped four seconds off his best time in the 100-yard backstroke (1:12.99), and John Whittemore and Matt Potts, who both made similar gains in the breaststroke.
Matt Potts (Mike Barucci photo)
Personal bests were also turned in by Caleb Casmir, Matt Chamberlain, Tim Conway, Edouard El Massih, Kyle Hanscom, Christian Hobbs, Brian McCarthy, and Yanni Papadopoulos.
Earlier in the week, the girls capped off the regular season with a 102-82 victory at home over Oliver Ames, while the boys fell to the Tigers in a close meet.
The girls were led by a pair of relay teams: the 200 IM behind McHugh, Walsh, McLaughlin and Frazier, and the 200 free behind Frazier, McLaughlin, Duserick and Guerini. Both relays are headed to sectionals, and three of those swimmers — McLaughlin, Walsh and Frazier — earned a spot in at least one individual event.
The boys will not have a representative at sectionals this year, although they finished the season strong with the following first-place finishes: Newton in the 200 IM, Frazier in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke, and Buresh in the 100 backstroke.
“These are a group of exceptional swimmers,” said head coach Lori Mooney of both the girls’ and boys’ teams. “They are dedicated to the sport and continue to make gains every time they enter the pool. They are so exciting to watch.”
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=11469
Posted by Jay Turner
on Feb 8 2012. Filed under High School, Sports.
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