Swim close to defending state champ Reading
Published on November 5, 2019 edition.
By DAN BYRNE
WALTHAM — In terms of team accomplishments for the Wakefield Memorial High School girls’ varsity swim team, there was not much that could top last season’s 4th place finish at the Middlesex League Championship Meet. That is until this seasons’ League Championship Meet.
Against Reading in their final meet of the regular season, the Warriors lost a close swim to the defending State and League Champion Reading Rockets.
“Reading is always a tough matchup but the girls really stepped up and gave them some good races,” Warriors’ head coach Kathy Byrne said of her team’s final regular season meet. “We also had some personal best times, as well as some qualifying times for the championship meets.
“In the Medley Relay we gave Reading quite a run as we were in the lead most of the race with Reading winning by :40 seconds in the last leg of the race,” Byrne said. “We also had our best time of the year at 1:57.47.”
Alyssa Toppi won the 200 Freestyle Relay with her breakout performance with a personal best and state qualifying time 2:08.18, Sophie Brown came in 4th and qualified for sectionals with a 2:12.89.
Hannah Guay won the 200 Yard Medley Relay, Katie Patt won the 100 Yard Butterfly and Abbie Federici took 3rd place in the 100 Yard Freestyle with her best time the season.
“Alyssa Toppi qualified for sectionals in the 500 Free, and Hannah Guay took 2nd place which was great,” said Byrne.
“We had our best time in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, Katie Patt took 1st place in the 100 Yard Backstroke, one of her best times of the season,” the coach recalled.
She continued saying, “We took 1st and 2nd in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, with Laura Sweeney coming in 1st and Emily Chan coming in 2nd, that was a big accomplishment for the team.”
Despite the result, coach Byrne felt the Warriors were in a good place heading into League Meet.
“I feel it was a really strong meet going into our league championships,” said Byrne.
On Wednesday, the Warriors traveled to Bentley University to compete in the Middlesex League Championships. In 26 years with Kathy Byrne as the head coach, 2019’s 3rd place finish is the best in her tenure, and perhaps in school history.
With their 200 IM and the 100 Backstroke swimmers placing in the No. 1 seeds, and both relays placing No. 3, the Warriors went to Bentley for League Championships with high expectations.
However, they may not have imagined they would end up 3rd ahead of Melrose, Stoneham, Winchester, Belmont, Burlington, Woburn, and only behind Lexington and Reading.
A separate story developed at the top of the standings as Reading edged Lexington in the final relay, winning the League Championship by just a point and a half.
On the Warriors’ side, the start of the meet was very exciting with Wakefield finishing 2nd in the 200 Yard Medley Relay.
“They swam so well,” Byrne said. “We took 2nd place and I was very thrilled with that.”
The team of Hannah Guay, Katie Patt, Emily Chan, and Abby Federici finished in the 2nd position with a time of 1:59.66.
The Warriors then had a strong showing in the 200 Yard Freestyle with Alyssa Toppi coming in 5th place and Sophie Brown finishing in 8th place.
Brown also claimed 9th place later in the meet in the 500 Yard Freestyle.
“The 200 Freestyle, we had some really good swims, Alyssa Toppi and Sophie Brown swam fabulous,” the coach mentioned.
The Warriors saw their first Middlesex League Champion crowned in the 200 Yard IM, as Hannah Guay swam a 2:17.79 to finish in first place. Guay had a stellar overall day as she would bring home 2nd in the 500 Yard Freestyle.
Erica Pecjo outswam Reading’s Emma Kyes to claim the final point for 16th place.
The Warriors placed two swimmers inside the top 10 in the 50 Free, as Laura Sweeney came in 4th place and Abby Federici finishing 9th.
Warrior sophomore Katie Patt had a strong day individually, taking home the Middlesex League crown for 100 Backstroke and finishing 3rd in the 100 Yard Butterfly.
Wakefield took 3rd and 4th in the 100 Fly with Abby Lane finishing 4th.
Lane also claimed points for her 12th place finish in the 100 Yard Backstroke, as the top 16 finishers are awarded points at League Championships.
Federici was the Warriors’ top finisher in the 100 Yard Freestyle, as she brought home 9th place.
The Warriors placed 2nd in the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay with Federici, Patt, Laura Sweeney, and Guay falling just a tad over two seconds short of 1st place with a 1:46.82.
“Second was great, it was what we hoped for,” Byrne said. “Abby did a 27.52 for the 2nd time this season, the cutoff for Sectionals is 27.51; it isn’t a bad time, just not what she wanted.”
Laura Sweeney was the top Warrior swimmer in the 100 Yard Breaststroke, bringing home 5th place. Emily Chan wasn’t far behind claiming 7th place for Wakefield.
Wakefield placed 5th in the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay with Abby Federici, Abby Lane, Alyssa Toppi, and Sophie Brown swimming to a 4:08.80.
“We took 5th in the 400 Yard Freestyle, we were hoping that Abby would qualify for sectionals, but she went and qualified for States, it was so exciting.”
Looking back at the day, Byrne said, “We came in 3rd overall which is our best finish in 26 years. It feels awesome. It’s all the girls hard work. We try to put a strong lineup together before the meet, putting people in their best spots to earn the most points for the team, and I think it worked out pretty good.”
“Lexington is so deep and Reading is so strong, it came down to the last relay between those two, but we just kept chipping away, I think we stayed in 3rd place the whole meet; it was a strong meet from start to finish.”
Wakefield’s Championship squad will swim next in the MIAA D2 North Sectionals on Sunday at Boston University.
