Strong Local Contingent Heads to Western Mass

Taconic High School senior George Sommerville heads to Sunday's Western Massachusetts swimming championships as the top qualifier in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 butterfly.

 

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association on Wednesday posted the psych sheets for the sectional championships for boys and girls, which will be contested on Sunday, Feb. 9, at Springfield College.

 

Sommerville has a seed time of 53.99 seconds in the butterfly, .35 seconds faster than Amherst's Marc Klepacki. In the 50 free, Sommerville's time of 22.19 better's Klepacki's by .34 seconds.

 

In the girls' meet, which begins first at 9 a.m., St. Joseph Central School freshman Jessie Tobin is seeded third in the 500 free and fourth in the 50 free. Her 500 time of 5:23.40 is about 11 seconds behind the fastest qualifier, Holyoke Catholic sophomore Kristyn Popowski (5:12.79). In the 50, Tobin qualified with a time of 26.08; the fast time in the region this winter was recorded by Easthampton's Jessica Harper (24:41).

 

The Hoosac Valley girls enter the meet with the fifth-fastest 200 medley relay time (1:59.88). Northampton is the favorite in the event with a seed time of 1:54.88.

 

Hoosac, a cooperative team that includes swimmers from Mount Greylock and Drury, also has the sixth best time in the 400 free relay (3:58.11), one of 10 state-qualifying times recorded by a Western Mass girls quartet this winter.

 

Individually, Hoosac's Elizabeth Bernardy leads a strong Hurricanes contingent in the 100 backstroke. She has the seventh-best time entering the sectional (1:13.68), and teammates Cori Ghidotti, Julia Whitney and Elizabeth Bartlett qualified in eighth, 10th and 18th, respectively.

 

Hoosac's Emma Whitney carries the seventh-best 100 backstroke time (1:03.37). She also qualified as an individual in the 100 fly.

 

Other individual qualifiers for Hoosac include: Michaella Vecchiarelli in the 50 free, Ellie Field in the 200 free and 100 fly.

 

Monument Mountain's girls are set to battle Hoosac in two relays. In the 200 MR, the Spartans turned in the sectional's fourth-fastest qualifying time (1:57.69), just ahead of the 'Canes. In the 4-by-100 free relay, Monument has the fourth-fastest qualifying time, 3:56.07.

 

Monument junior Maeve Wilber is poised to have a big Western Mass meet. She qualified with the fourth-fastest time in the 200 individual medley (2:18.82), which is a little less than three seconds behind the second-fastest time, which belongs to Northampton's Maela Whitcomb (2:15.92). Longmeadow's Jerrica Li is a a prohibitive favorite after recording a 2:04.90 in the regular season.

 

Wilber enters Sunday with the third-fastest time this winter in the 100 back (1:01.99), just a second behind Chicopee's Colleen Humel.

 

Monument's boys have several swimmers entering the meet with top-10 qualifying times.

 

Spartans freshman Brandon Louison has the meet's fourth-fastest qualifying time in the 100 back (58.42), a little more than two seconds behind the top seed, Amherst senior Alan Tang (56:25).

 

Monument senior William Palmer is seeded fifth in the 100 free (52.18) and the 50 free (23.49).

 

Monument Mountain's boys qualified in all three relays. The Spartans have their best chance for a podium finish in the 200 free relay, where they enter with the sixth-best qualifying time, a state meet-qualifying mark of 1:37.49. Longmeadow and Amherst figure to battle for the sectional title in that event; they qualified with times .4 seconds apart (1:35.20 and 1:35.60, respectively).