Girls beat OA in strong week for CHS swim

Although they only had one team win to show for it, the CHS swim teams turned in another solid week, highlighted by several personal bests and the continued emergence of sophomore Tiffany Ha.

Canton’s lone victory came on the girls’ side against Oliver Ames last Tuesday, as the Bulldogs overcome a three-point deficit halfway through the meet to earn a convincing 91-75 win.

“We came together as a team and knew that every race was needed,” said head coach Lori Mooney.

Julia Guerini and Shay Connolly sparked the comeback with a first and third place finish, respectively, in the 100-yard butterfly, followed by a sweep of the top three spots in the 100-yard freestyle behind Kim Frazier, Kaitlin McCarthy and Kelsey Irons.

“That gave us a comfortable lead and OA just couldn’t catch us,” said Mooney. “The fact that the girls stepped in to fill race slots was a major factor in the win. We scored extra points just by having the depth in each race.”

Ha, who had previously qualified for both sectionals and states in the 200IM, qualified for sectionals in the backstroke and came within .03 seconds of qualifying for states.

Later in the week against Sharon, Ha posted a new personal best in the 200IM and also qualified for sectionals as part of the 200IM relay along with Frazier, Guerini, and Emilee Mercuri.

Several other swimmers also had personal bests against the Eagles, including Frazier and Izzy Bankowski in the 100 free, Dasol Lee in the 50 free, and Julia Remy, who shattered her previous best in the 500 free by 42 seconds.

On the boys’ side, the Bulldogs came up just short in both meets last week, falling to OA 89-79 and Sharon 87-79.

Mooney said illnesses left the team a little thin against OA, yet they still kept it close, led by the winning 200 free relay team of Dan Nadeau, Kevin Wing, Diego Ferstier, and Sam Reimer.

Owen Guerini also won the 500 free with a personal-best time, while Jimmy Hamrock posted a personal best in the 200IM. The relay team of Anthony Maffie, William Stalcup, Tim Conway and Guerini also swam hard, placing second in the meet.

Mooney said the Sharon meet came down to the last relay, but the Bulldogs could not pull it off. “It was a real heartbreaker,” she said.

Nevertheless, there were several impressive performances, including wins by Ferstier in the 50 free, Guerini in the 500 free, and the 200 free relay team of Sean Mitchell, Nadeau, Ferstier and Guerini. Caleb Casmir and Steven Hellmuth also had convincing personal bests while Anthony Maffie and Brian McCarthy contributed much-needed points for the team.

Mooney said the Canton swimmers have done a remarkable job this season — especially for two teams that have yet to compete at home due to heater problems at the Blue Hills Regional pool. “The kids have a great attitude and that is really helping with their times,” she said.

The Bulldogs will next compete in the Hockomock championship meet, scheduled for January 31 for the boys and February 1 for the girls. The teams will then close out the regular season against Stoughton on February 5 before moving on to sectionals and states.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jan 23 2014. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.