Field, Tobin Lead St. Joe as Crusaders, Monument Soar at Western Mass

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Saturday’s Western Massachusetts Swimming and Diving Championships featured a rare dead heat and a passel of podium performances by Berkshire County high school swimmers.

 

St. Joseph Central School senior Jessie Tobin, representing her school in its final year of existence, was a double winner as an individual and swam the first leg on her team’s victorious 200-yard medley relay quartet.

 

Ellie Field, a Hoosac Valley junior who swims on the St. Joseph cooperative team, also placed first in two individual events and swam the freestyle leg on that winning medley relay.

 

In the boys meet, Monument Mountain’s Brandon Louison started the day at Springfield College by swimming the first leg on the Spartans’ winning 200 MR as the Spartans finished in 1 minute, 40.65 seconds, well ahead of second-place Agawam (1:43.02).

 

Louison went on to finish second in the 100 freestyle, just .11 seconds behind winner Chase Konstantakos of Minnechaug, and second in the 100 backstroke, finishing in 53.68, behind Northampton’s Nick Whitcomb, who broke his own meet record with a time of 51.99.

 

Monument’s Ben Wyatt placed second in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.99) behind Northmapton’s Quinn Nortonsmith (1:01.02). The event also saw Spartan Nick Gray finish fourth (1:03.22).

 

Nick Dillon teamed with Wyatt, Gray and Louison on Monument’s third-place 400 freestyle relay quartet (3:21.44), which shaved more than eight seconds off its seed time but could not catch Belchertown (3:19.89).

 

The Spartans’ winning 200 MR included Louison, Wyatt, Gray and Mazy Moeini.

 

Pittsfield’s boys’ day was highlighted by Liam Mooney’s 10th-place finish in the 100 butterfly (58.25) and Lucas Godwin’s 10th in the 100 back (1:01.94). The pair teamed with Evan Dempsey and Greg Fournier to finish 10th in the 400 free relay.

 

The highlight of the girls meet was a thrilling 50 freestyle, where St. Joe’s Field and Monument Mountain’s Caroline Bissaillon finished in 24.91 seconds, earning each swimmer a gold medal.

 

Field was all alone atop the podium in the 100 free, where she finished in 53.93 seconds to beat Longmeadow’s Monika Nowak (54.90) by just less than a second.

 

St. Joseph’s Tobin won the 500 free in 5:11.45 -- nearly 10 seconds clear of Belchertown’s Haley Synan (5:21.22). And Tobin won the 200 free in 1:55.58, beating Minnechaug’s Samantha VanZandt (1:59.76).

 

Tobin, Elizabeth Bartlett, Theresa Kirsimagi and Field teamed to win the 200 MR in 1:54.88, well ahead of second place Belchertown (1:56.23).

 

The same foursome finished fourth in the 200 free relay (1:44.61), an event won by Monument Mountain.

 

Spartans Aubrey Blanchard, Kathleen Bissaillon, Emma Wilber and Caroline Bissaillon combined to finish in 1:42.02, nearly five seconds better than their seed time and just .09 seconds ahead of Minnechaug (1:42.11).

 

Monument’s Wilber won the 100 breaststroke (1:09.04) and was second in the 100 fly (59.99), behind Northampton’s Ruby Gottlieb (58.79).

 

Caroline Bissaillon (55.05) and Kathleen Bissaillon (56.83) finished third and fifth, respectively, in the 100 free behind Field.

 

Both Bissaillons, Blanchard and Wilber teamed up a second time to finish second in the 400 free relay (3:45.23), where Minnechaug finished first in 3:43.51.

 

St. Joe’s Elizabeth Bartlett (1:12.15) Pittsfield High’s Szofia Lewis (1:13.12) finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke. St. Joe’s Kirsimagi was seventh in the 100 fly.