Maeve Wilber Leads Monument Girls at Western Mass

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Monument Mountain senior Maeve Wilber won an individual title and swam on two winning relay teams to lead the Spartans to a third place finish at the Western Massachusetts swimming and diving championships on Saturday.

 

Wilber won the 100-yard backstroke in a time of 59.03 seconds, edging East Longmeadow's Kelly Lajoie by .19 seconds.

 

Wilber also placed third in the 200 indvidual medley with a state-qualifying time of 2:09.98. That event was won by Longmeadow's Jerrica Li in 2:02.48, which broke the Western Mass record.

 

Wilber swam the first leg on Monument's Wester Mass champion 200 medley relay quartet. She and Rowan Rice, Emma Wilber and Caroline Bissaillon finished in 1:50.85 to beat Longmeadow (1:51.22).

 

In the 400 free relay, the same Monument quartet finished first in 3:41.92, ahead of second-place Northampton (3:42.46).

 

Northampton won the team championship with 303.5 points. Longmeadow was was just behind with 302. Monument was third (211), and St. Joseph was sixth (162).

 

Bissaillon finished second in the 50 freestyle in a time of 25.17 seconds, behind Minnechaug's Lauren Quinn (24.56), and third in the 100 free (55.49), which also was won by Quinn (53.24).

 

Rice was third for Monument in the 100 breast stroke in 1:10.38. Longmeadow's Li won that event in 1:04.08.

 

Emma Wilber was third in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 1:00.06. East Longmeadow's Kelly Lajoie wsa first (57.90).

 

For St. Joseph, Jessie Tobin finished third in the 500 free with a time of 5:17.88. Longmeadow's Sydney Joyce won the event in 5:07.47.

 

Tobin swam on two top-five relays for the Crusaders. In the 200 medley relay, St. Joe finished fifth in 1:56.12 with the quartet of Emma Whitney, Elizabeth Bernardy, Ellie Field and Tobin.

 

In the 200 freestyle relay, the same combination was fifth for St. Joe in 1:44.79. Longmeadow was first in 1:41.98.

 

Field finished fourth in the 200 free with a time of 2:00.08. Longmeadow's Joyce was first there in 1:54.76.

 

In the 100 backstroke, St. Joe's Emma Whitney was sixth (1:02.26), and Taconic's Gillian Campbell was 15th (1:08.96).

 

In the 100 breast, Bartlett was sixth (1:13.69) and Bernardy was 11th (1:14.92) for St. Joe.

 

In the boys competition, Monument Mountain finished sixth in the section with 136.5 points. The team title was won by Longmeadow with 310 points.

 

Brandon Louison led the Spartans with a second-place finish in the 500 free and a third place in the 200 free.

 

In the 500, Louison finished in 4:55.67 behind Belchertown's Benjamin LeClair (4:49.77). In the 200, Louison finished in 1:48.93; South Hadley's Ryan Manniello was first in 1:46.06.

 

Louison also swam legs on a pair of relays for Monument. In the 200 MR, the Spartans were fourth in 1:46.20; Belchertown won the title in 1:41.41. Louison was joined by Benjamin Wyatt, Nicholas Gray and John Collingwood in that event.

 

In the 200 FR, Collingwood, Wyatt, Louison and Zachary Richardson finished third in 1:33.84. Longmeadow won the title in 1:31.83.

 

Collingwood placed eighth in the 50 free (:23.49) behind Amherst's Marc Klepacki (:22.16). Wyatt was seventh in the 100 breast stroke (1:07.47) behind Longmeadow's Charly Blazy (1:01.05).

 

Pittsfield's Lucas Godwin placed seventh in the 100 back with a time of 1:05.31. Northampton's Nick Whitcomb won the event in :55.37.

 

Godwin, Matt Salvie, Brian Desrosiers and Greg Fournier teamed up to place ninth in the 400 free relay in 3:53.37. Belchertown finished first in 3:20.37.