THE WARRIOR girls’ swim team completed another excellent season in the pool with an impressive outing at the Div. 2 State Meet. The Warriors’ swimming accomplishments were complimented by winning the MIAA sportsmanship award, pictured above.
Published in the November 27, 2017 edition.
By DAN BYRNE
WORCESTER — The final laps have been swum for the 2017 Girls’ Varsity Swim Team at Wakefield Memorial High School with a selection of girls traveling to Worcester last Sunday, November 19 for the MIAA Division 2 State meet at WPI.
Wakefield came in 12th out of 18 teams, as local rival Reading finished in 1st place.
The highlight of the day for the team might have been the 400-yard Freestyle relay, as head coach Kathy Byrne put her best into the final event. She spoke in a recent interview about the final meet.
“For the 400-yard Freestyle relay we switched it up and put in our fastest girls,” Byrne said, with Laura Sweeney, Caroline Sweeney, Katherine Maloney, and Hannah Guay taking the pool for the Warriors. “They did our best time of the season,” said Byrne, “They brought the relay time down a little over six seconds, quite an accomplishment for them.”
“It was a great way to end the meet,” the coach added, “They took 11th place, but having that time of 4:00.02 is very respectable and I think they should be very proud of themselves.”
The 200-yard Freestyle relay swam their best time of the season, dropping 0.2 seconds as Laura Sweeney, Caroline Sweeney, and Hannah Guay were joined by Abby Federici to set the season’s best time.
In the 200-yard Medley Relay, Wakefield came in 13th out of 16 with Skylar Forbes, Katherine Maloney, CC Colliton, and Caroline Sweeney representing the Warriors.
“The splits were good, I’m happy with the way the girls swam,” Coach Byrne said.
Hannah Guay decided to swim the 200-yard Individual Medley instead of the 100-yard Backstroke, as she qualified in multiple events and could only swim in two.
“She decided that she would give the 200 IM a shot,” Byrne said,“She did close to her best time and placed 11th out of 23, which is great because if you’re in the top 16 you score points.”
Guay also placed 11th in the 500-yard Freestyle.
Laura Sweeney swam the 100-yard Freestyle and placed 15th out of 24. She also swam the 100-yard Breaststroke and was about one second off her best time.
Wakefield had a strong representation of freshmen at the meet, causing coach Byrne to comment on the success of the youngest team members.
“As freshman, these kids are getting great experience,” she said, “And just the fact that they qualified for the meet is quite an accomplishment.”
As for traveling to Worcester to swim states, Byrne said, “It was a new pool, and the first time we’d ever been to WPI, but it’s the State Meet, you never know how it’s going to go.”
