Hoosac Girls, Pittsfield Boys Victorious
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Sam Heisecke's victory in the 100-yard backstroke on Friday was no big deal in terms of the team race.
The Generals had things well in hand against an undersized Hoosac Valley team.
But you would not know it from the way Pittsfield coach Tim Mazzer was charging down the length of the Boys' and Girls' Club pool cheering on Heisecke.
"That's a Western Mass qualifiying time," Mazzer said after Heisecke finished in 1 minute, 35.22 seconds
"He took four seconds off to get that qualifying time, so it's a little bit more than we had expected.
"But we'll take it."
It is that time of year for area swimmers. The dual meets are dwindling down to a precious few, and the regionals are creeping up.
Not that there isn't business to take care of here in the county, and on Friday afternoon, the Hoosac Valley girls and Pittsfield boys took care of theirs.
With eight different girls finishing first and victories in all three relays, the Hoosac girls earned a 79-15 win over Pittsfield.
In the boys competition, Greg Fournier won the 200 and 100 freestyle and swam a leg on the winning 400 free relay to lead Pittsfield to a 68-15 win over the Hurricanes.
Hoosac's boys picked up one first-place finish, Mike DiSanti in the 50 free with a time of :25.47.
DiSanti is the lone Hoosac boy so far who has qualified for Western Mass. The 'Canes (7-0) are sending at least seven girls to the regional with three duals plus the county individuals meet left to go.
Liz Bartlett, Liz Bernardy, Cori Ghidotti, Alyssa Bush, Emma Whitney, Julia Whitney and Michaella Vecchiarelli are all going to the Western Massachusetts Championships.
"I feel good about Western Mass," Hoosac coach Eryn Brewer said.
"I feel I have a strong team. I have some really great girls this year, and they just want to do the best they can."
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Pittsfield's boys (4-2) swam all three relays unopposed and cleaned up in the individual events. Aaron Coty swam what amounted to a practice run in the 200 individual medley and clocked a 2:33.97, and he won a contested 100 butterfly in 1:08.31.
Mazzer said he was missing some swimmers on both Pittsfield teams due to injuries and illness.
The trick now is to get all those injuries taken care of before the postseason.
So far, the Pittsfield contingent at Western Mass will include one girl and five boys, including Zach Williams, who has qualified in five different events.
"I'm starting to think about preparing the guys for Western Mass," he said. "This week we had four full practices, so we worked really hard. I think that's why some of them are hurting a little bit. Now we'll start to taper down and get them ready for that tournament."
Brewer has a different take.
"I don't really taper my swimmers at all," she said. "Most of them are in year-round programs anyway so it's just another meet by the time they get to [Western Mass].
"I might taper them a little for states."
Photo gallery from this meet to come on iBerkshires.com