Lady swimmers shine at Hock championship meet

Junior Shay Connolly competes in the 100-yd. butterfly. (Mike Barucci photo)

The Canton High girls’ swim team added a new chapter to its outstanding 2012-13 season as the Bulldogs bested eight other teams to finish fourth overall at Saturday’s Hockomock League championship meet in Milford.

The deep and talented Canton squad, led by sophomore sensation Shannon McLaughlin, racked up 205 points to finish just ahead of Franklin in the team competition. Canton also finished tops among the six Davenport Division schools, with the top three spots going to Kelly-Rex Division strongholds North Attleboro, King Philip, and Mansfield.

“It was a pretty amazing day for the girls,” said head coach Lori Mooney, who will accompany 10 swimmers at the upcoming sectional championship meet at MIT.

Mooney said it was the best performance by a Canton team at a league meet in at least 15 years, with the Bulldogs producing numerous “podium standers, point scorers, and personal bests” across several different events.

Leading this group was McLaughlin, who took home second in the 100-yard butterfly and third in the 200-yard freestyle — the two events that she will compete in at the sectional and state meets.

McLaughlin, whose other qualifying events include the 500 free and 200 IM, also took the podium as a member of the 200 IM and 200 free relays. The former team, which includes Tiffany Ha, Amanda Walsh, and Kim Frazier, placed third on Saturday and qualified for both postseason meets. The latter team, which features Hailee Duserick, Julia Guerini, and Frazier, finished fourth overall and is also headed to the postseason.

Other top performers for Canton at the league meet included Ha, who placed third and qualified for both sectionals and states in the 100-yard backstroke with a personal-best 1:06.71, and Walsh, who placed sixth in the 200 IM, smashing her previous personal best by 12 seconds (2:26.08) and qualifying for both postseason meets.

Walsh also previously qualified in the 100-yard breaststroke, while Ha qualified for sectionals in the 200 IM. Other qualifiers include Frazier in the 50 free (states) and the 400 free relay team of Ha, Katie LeDonne, Brianna Duserick, and Emily Breviglia (sectionals).

Numerous other Canton swimmers posted personal bests at the Hockomock meet, including Emilee Mercuri and LeDonne in the 200 free; Shay Connolly in the 100 backstroke; and Grace Ransford, Jen Arthur, Megan Breviglia, Erin Martin, Rosa Bonilla, Piper Conway, Rachel McHugh, Abbey Willis, and Lauren Winter in the 100 free.

In addition to the success of the girls’ team, the CHS boys also had several notable performances at the league meet, held Friday afternoon in Milford. Although the Bulldogs finished 10^th in the team competition, more than a dozen swimmers posted personal-best times, including Sam Riemer and Kyle Hanscom in the 200 free; Dan Nadeau and Tim Conway in the 50 free; Steven Hellmuth in the 100 fly; Dan Lupo in the 100 backstroke; Christian Hobbs, Mike Larsen, Kevin Wing, and Yanni Papadopoulos in the 200 IM relay; and Jimmy Hamrock in both the 200 IM and 100 free.

“This is where their hard work and dedication pays off,” said Mooney of the boys’ team. “They are a tremendous group of young men that represented Canton High with dignity and respect.”

In other action last week, both the girls and boys hosted Oliver Ames in their final home meet of the season, with the girls winning 92.5-72.5 and the boys falling 99-66. Prior to the meet, a short ceremony was held to honor the contributions of the team’s ten seniors: McHugh, Willis, Emily Breviglia, Brianna Duserick, Winter, Bonilla, Rachel Salive, Hanscom, Hobbs, and Lupo.

The Bulldogs were due to wrap up the regular season this week with an away meet Tuesday against Stoughton. Then it’s on to the postseason for Canton’s ten female qualifiers, beginning with sectionals this weekend at MIT and then the Division 2 state meet next Saturday at Springfield College.

Share This Post

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=18885