Published February 21, 2019

BOSTON — The swimming Hornets had an exciting finish to their season at the MIAA Division 2 State Championship meet on Saturday.

The North Reading-Wilmington co-op swim team sent six swimmers, the most in the last four years, to Boston University to compete amongst the best swimmers in the state. Although the Hornets compete in Division 2, many of the qualifying times proved to be faster than those of Division 1.

To start the meet, Captain Molly Feffer, Melanie Feffer, Kaia Grabar and Kristina Valenti swam the 200 yard medley relay. They had a season-best time of 1:58.05, dropping over a second from their seed time.

Next came the individual events. Molly Feffer competed in the shortest event of the night, the 50 yard freestyle. Originally, she was seeded 22nd and entered the meet with a time of 26.01. However, she earned herself a new personal best of 25.89 and finished in 18th place.

THE HORNETS made their presence felt at the Div. 2 State Swim Meet at BU on Saturday. Pictured from left to right are Emma Ryan (Wilmington), Kristina Valenti, Melanie Feffer, Brianna Saunders- Correa, Nicole Steinmeyer, Molly Feffer and Kaia Grabar. (Courtesy Photo)

Two events later, Kristina Valenti competed in the 100 yard freestyle. Valenti swam an impressive 56.50, shaving 0.53 seconds from last weekend. She also finished in 14th place and earned three points for the Hornets.

About halfway through the meet, Melanie Feffer, Brianna Saunders-Correa, Nicole Steinmeyer, and Kaia Grabar competed in the 200 yard freestyle relay. The girls finished 22nd with a time of 1:48.81, cutting 1.22 seconds from the time they swam at Sectionals. This all-underclassmen relay team certainly has a bright future ahead of them.

To conclude the meet, the Hornets competed in the 400 yard freestyle relay. The foursome that swam it at Sectionals the weekend prior, Molly Feffer, Melanie Feffer, Kaia Grabar, and Kristina Valenti, again hit the pool. The team cut their time from a 3:56.47 to a notable 3:55.26, breaking the school record they had set themselves just a week prior. On top of this, the girls scored four points by finishing in 14th place.

With only six swimmers, the Hornets still managed to secure 35th place out of 51 teams. While this may not seem like much, the Hornets were forced to compete against teams that had busses full of swimmers. These six young ladies proved the notion that what really matters is quality over quantity.