Relay Lifts Monument Mountain Boys to Tight Win over Taconic
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – The Monument Mountain boys swim team went to the day’s final event with a one-point lead in Friday’s season opener at Taconic.
The Spartans’ 4-by-100 freestyle relay team would not be denied.
Anchor Isaac Schultze touched the wall with a comfortable margin ahead of the nearest Thunder quartet to secure a 77-74 win in the Berkshire Family YMCA pool.
“We knew we had to win the relay to win the relay to win the meet, so there was a lot of stress going in,” Schultze said. “But I made sure to make sure that everyone did their part.
“It was a team effort. It wasn’t just at the end. All the people who swam in the events before led up to it. We were behind the whole meet. That just put us ahead at the end.”
David Iusco gave the Spartans an early lead in the decisive relay. James Tonetti and Tomas Ceola swam the middle legs before Schultze hit the water and brought the win home.
Monument Mountain’s girls also picked up a dual meet win, beating the Thunder, 105-36.
Keaghan Kline and Helen Thorp led the way with a pair of wins apiece. Kline took first in the 200-meter individual medley and the 500 freestyle. Thorp won the 100 free and 100 backstroke.
Taconic’s girls got a pair of wins from Mia Zuccalo in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke.
But the Spartans dominated the relays, winning all three, including 1-2 sweeps in the medley relay and 200 free relay.
“It’s a very small team on the girls side,” Taconic coach Marisa Plant said. “But we’ve got some new swimmers, and they’ve really come on and embraced trying and worked really hard.”
Monument Mountain also is working some newcomers into the mix this winter – in a season that did not start, well, swimmingly.
“We had a situation where we didn’t have our pool for the whole week last week because of a repair situation that went awry,” Monument Mountain coach Jill Svirida said. “So we are a bit behind where we would normally be in our training and where our new swimmers would be in their ability to get in and work the skills.
“The expectation for tonight was, let’s set a baseline, and Asa [Cade] and I look at what’s working well, what needs to be improved, maybe where we haven’t quite covered enough. We have a lot of kids working on their flip turns, learning the rules of swimming.
“The expectation is just to see where we are, and we build and we build and we build.”
Despite coming out on the short end of the scoreboard, Plant saw a lot to build on for the Thunder as well.
“It was tough, but it was a great meet to watch,” she said. “It was exciting and really gets you amped up for the season. … We got some Western Mass times, so that’s always exciting.”
The Thunder also overcame a bit of adversity when one of its swimmers had a medical issue following the 100 freestyle at the midway point of the meet. EMTs were called to the scene to take the swimmer to the hospital.
In addition to helping one athlete get the attention they needed, Plant had to get the rest of her team ready to continue the meet.
“I said, ‘It happened, we’ll update you on what happens next, now let’s all come together as a team and really support each other in this time to make sure everyone is in the right frame of mind to be able to continue,’ “ she said.
Boys
Monument Mountain 77. Taconic 74
Medley relay: 1. Taconic (Jack Bradway, Scott Langlois Guage Statley, Tyler Hynes-Drumm) 2:14.78; 2. Monument Mountain, 2:16.00.
200 free: 1. Vincent Dragonetti, MM, 2:39.96; 2. Jack Bradway, T, 2:41.01; 3. Hunter Gangell, T, 3:01.65.
200 IM: 1. David Iusco, MM, 2:35.27; 2. Scott Langlois, T, 2:45.47; 3. Anthony Trapani, T, 3:07.46.
50 free: 1. Isaac Schultze, MM, 26.94; 2. Guage Statley, T, 27.64; 3. Logan Soule, T, 30.68.
100 free: 1. Thomas Ceola, MM, 1:04.87; 2. Tyler Hynes-Drumm, T, 1:09.75; 3. Gregory Kay, MM, 1:11.64.
500 free: 1. David Iusco, MM; 2. Vincent Dragonetti, MM, 5:49.35; 3. Jack Bradway, T, 6:02.06.
200 free relay: 1. Taconic (Anthony Trapani, Tyler Hynes-Drumm, Alec Ginsberg, Guage Statley) 1:59.37; 2. Monument Mountain, 2:06.82; 3. Monument Mountain, 2:58.27.
100 backstroke: 1. Isaac Schultze, MM, 1:18.58; 2. Logan Soule, T, 1:40.33; 3. Jacob Haskins-Vaughn, MM, 1:52.02.
100 breaststroke: 1. Scott Langlois, T, 1:23.77; 2. Thomas Ceola, MM, 1:27.31; 3. Anthony Trapani, T, 1:32.96.
400 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain (David Iusco, James Tonetti, Tomas Ceola, Isaac Schultze). 2. Taconic, 5:00.34; 3. Taconic, 6;06.13.
Girls
Monument Mountain 105, Taconic 36
Medley relay: 1. Monument Mountain (Helen Thorp, Stella Baden, Keaghan Kline, Shea Sawyer), 2:31.75; 2. Monument Mountain, 3:02.50.
200 free: 1. Alissa Schettini, T, 2:37.57; 2. Adalyn Shufelt, MM, 2:47.69; 3. Kaitlyn Millette, 2:56.21.
200 IM: 1. Keaghan Kline, MM, 2:52.34; 2. Stella Baden, MM, 3:38.89; 3. Kelly Molino, MM, 4:21.21.
50 free: 1. Mia Zuccalo, T, 31.05; 2. Annabel Holmes, MM, 32.09; 3. Shira Sawyer, MM, 35.44.
100 free: 1. Helen Thorp, MM, 1:10.71; 2. Jasper Livak, MM, 1:25.66; 3. Mikaela Becker, MM,1:31.70.
500 free: 1. Keaghan Kline, MM, 5:15.15; 2. Alissa Schettini, T, 5:34.45; 3. Vernoika Becker, MM, 7:06.06.
200 free relay:1. Monument Mountain (Adalyn Shufelt, Shira Sawyer, Annabel Holmes, Keaghan Kline), 2:15.22; 2. Monument Mountain, 2:52.51.
100 backstroke: 1. Helen Thorp, MM, 1:18.44; 2. Kaitlyn Millette, T, 1:22.71; 3. Annabel Holmes, MM, 1:30.12.
100 breaststroke: 1. Mia Zuccalo, T, 1:26.83; 2. Adalyn Shufelt, MM, 1:43.81; 3. Isabella Perreira, MM, 1:56.32.
400 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain (Annabel Holmes, Jasper Livak, Adalyn Shufelt, Helen Thorp), 5:15.76; 2. Taconic, 5:26.45; 3. Monument Mountain, 6:23.19.