Stone Leads Monument Mountain Girls to Fourth at Sectional

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Sophomore Asa Stone took third place in two events Saturday to lead the Monument Mountain girls swim team to a fourth-place finish at the Central/West sectional championships at Springfield College.

 

Stone lowered her seed time by nearly two seconds and finished third in the 100-yard butterfly, touching in 59.70 seconds, a Division 1 state qualifying time that let her less than a second behind winner Ruby Gottlieb of Northampton (58.89).

 

Stone's Spartans teammate Aubrey Blanchard placed 11th in the event in 1:05.16.

 

In the 100 back, Stone shaved nearly three seconds off her qualifying time, coming in in 1:01.70, also a state qualifying time. This time, she finished behind Longmeadow's Casey Barett (:59.01) and Minnechaug's Olivia Ranck (1:01.26).

 

Olivia Rubino (1:04.15) and Anna Rubino (1:05.04) placed ninth and 13th, respectively, in the backstroke, earning points for the team.

 

Both Runbinos, Stone and Blanchard teamed up to post a runner-up finish in the 400 freestyle relay. Monument finished in 3:45.47, behind only Longmeadow (3:41.98).

 

Blanchard also swam the anchor leg on Monument's 200 freestyle relay quartet, which took home a bronze medal. Maddie Fife, Olivia Rubino, Anna Rubino and Blanchard finished in 1:44.35, just missing out on second place behind Longmeadow (1:44.30).

 

The Spartans' girls were eighth in the 200 medley relay, taking a second off their qualifying time and finishing in 2:00.55.

 

Freshman Fife earned points as an individual in the 200 free, where she placed 11th in 2:05.85, and the 500, where she was ninth in 5:36.61.

 

Minnechaug won the girls team title with 352 points. Monument finished with 166 points, good for fourth place.

 

Pittsfield's girls placed 23rd in the field behind Jordan Bradford, who placed 13th in the 200 free (2:06.98) and 12th in the 500 free (5:44.67).

 

Taconic's Caitlin Hall and Delaney Ivas also competed at the meet, in the 100 fly and 100 back, respectively.

 

Monument Mountain's boys placed 18th in their sectional with 45 points. Longmeadow was the top boys team with 282.5.

 

The Spartans' morning was highlighted by senior Nick Dillon.

 

Dillon placed fifth in the 100 fly in the D1 state qualifying time of 55.03, more than two seconds better than his seed time . Westborough's Jutin Papagelis won the event in 51.80.

 

Dillon came back to post a sixth-place showing in the 100 breaststroke, again qualifying for states in 1:04.18, more than three seconds under his seed time. Minnechaug's Connor Richard led the way in 1:00.55.

 

Dillon, Sam Cybulski, Colin Thorp and Jack Glantz teamed fo finish 13th and earn eight team points in the 200 medley relay. The quartet swam the team's season best, 1:52.05.

 

Glantz and Dillon also swam legs on the team's 12th-place 400 free relay. Teaming with Ethan Dean and Harry Albert, they went 3:37.63, more than eight seconds faster than the Spartans' seed time.

 

Isaac Boyd led the Pittsfield boys to 20th-place showing.

 

Boyd placed eighth in the 100 breaststroke, touching in 1:05.55 in an event won by Minnechaug's Richard (1:00.55).

 

Boyd was 11th in the 200 individual medley, finishing in 2:11.21. Eric Eastham of West Springfield won the sectional title in 1:56.00.

 

Boyd was joined by Connor Hayford, Connor Mooney and Hayden Plouffe in a 14th-place finish in the 200 medley relay, where the Generals touched in 1:53.15.

 

The team's 200 free relay earned points with a 16th-place showing. Boyd, Plouffe, Hayford and Mooney finished in 1:40.33.

 

Jacob Kunzmann, Josh Kunzmann, Pedro Santos, Noah Schweitzer, Fred Sears and Xavier Wellington represented Wahconah at the sectional.

 

Schweitzer posted Wahconah's highest finish of the day, earning a 20th-place showing in the 500 freestyle, where he took more than three seconds off his seed time to finish in 5:29.73.