Swimmers impress at Hock Championships
By Jay TurnerIt was a weekend of personal bests and several strong individual performances for the CHS swim teams as the Bulldogs traveled to Milford High School to compete in the 2019 Hockomock League Championship meet.
Junior Ben Guerini (Mike Barucci photo)
Sophomore standout Jessica Hart was the top overall finisher for either Canton squad, placing third overall in the 100-meter breast stroke with a time of 1:14.68. Hart, who is headed to this weekend’s MIAA girls south sectional at MIT, shaved two seconds off her previous personal best and is now just 0.30 seconds away from qualifying for the state championships.
Hart is also slated to compete in the 200 free relay at sectionals along with teammates Amy Coe, Brianna Gilchrist, and Maddie Nourse. Maddie Rousseau, who has been a key member of the relay throughout the season, will be unable to attend as she heads to South Africa as part of a research trip organized by CHS science teacher Rebecca Stang.
Other top finishers for the Bulldogs at the league meet included Matt Thompson, who placed fifth in the 200 free, knocking a second off his personal best, and sixth in the breaststroke; and Brendan Mitchell, who took fifth in the 200 IM and ninth in the 100-yard fly. Also scoring top 10 finishes were Nate Rousseau, who placed eighth and 10th in the 50 free and 100 free, respectively; Maddie Rousseau and Devin Kelly, who both took ninth in the 100 free; and Tony Ruggeri, who finished 10th in the 200 IM.
Several Canton relay teams also posted impressive results, including seventh-place finishes by the boys 200 medley team of Javier Ferstler, Thompson, Mitchell and Kelly and the girls 400 free team of Gilchrist, Hart, Nourse and Rousseau. The latter team recorded a season-best time and just missed out on qualifying for sectionals by one second.
Also scoring points at the league championships with a top 16 finish were Ferstler in the 200 free and 100 back, Eric Pham in the 100 free and 200 IM, Ruggeri in the 100 fly, and Ben Guerini in the 100 back. In the girls’ competition, top 16 finishers included Gilchrist in the 200 free and 50 free, Rousseau and Hart in the 50 free, Nourse and Erin Lane in the 100 fly, and Erin Zack in the 100 breaststroke.
In the team competition, the boys placed sixth overall out of 12 schools while the girls placed ninth. Head coach Cheryl Cavanaugh thought that both squads could have placed higher, but said it is a testament to the quality of competition in the Hockomock League that they could not crack the top handful of places.
Both teams did fare much better in the regular season standings, with the girls capturing the Davenport Division title with a perfect league record (8-2 overall) and the boys placing second behind Milford with only one league loss (6-4 overall).
The girls qualifiers will now prepare for the upcoming sectionals, which kick off Saturday at MIT at 4:30 p.m.
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Posted by Jay Turner
on Feb 9 2019. Filed under High School, Sports.
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