Kline Leads Spartans to Sixth at State Sectional

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Keaghan Kline Saturday led the Monument Mountain girls swim team to a sixth-place finish at the Central/Western Massachusetts Championships at Springfield College.

 

As an individual, Kline accounted for 30 of the Spartans' 104 points at the event.

 

She placed third in the 100-yard butterfly in a time of 1 minute, .75 seconds, nearly three seconds faster than her seed time but four seconds behind champion Lilah Doherty of Longmeadow (56.73).

 

In the 50-yard freestyle, Kline placed fifth with a time of 25.21, shaving more than eight 10ths of a second off her seed time. Minnnechaug's Gabby Harding won the event in 24.75.

 

Kline also swam legs on two medal-winning relays for Monument Mountain.

 

In the 400 free relay, she combined with Adalyn Shufelt, Helen Thorp and Annabel Holmes to place third with a time of 3:57.45.

 

In the 200 free relay, Kline swam anchor with the same three teammates and Monument Mountain placed fourth.

 

Monument Mountain's 104 points were tied with Belchertown for sixth place. Minnechaug won the event wiht 289 points.

 

Also competing as individual and earning points for the Monument Mountain girls were Thorp in the 100 back and 200 free, Shufelt in the 200 individual medley and Holmes in the 100 free.

 

Pittsfield's Maggie Vittum competed in two events on Saturday, the 100 backstroke and 50 free. Wahconah's Victoria Lattizzori swam in the 100 backstroke.

 

The sectional meets for the girls and boys were moved from Sunday to Saturday due to the impending snow storm.

 

In the boys meet on Saturday afternoon, Monument Mountain's boys placed 12th in a 27-team field. The Spartans finished with 87 points. Grafton was the sectional champ with 258 points.

 

David Iusco led the Spartans with a third-place finish in the 500 freestyle and a sixth-place finish in the 200 freestyle, hitting Division 1 State Tournament qualifying marks in both events.

 

In the 200, Iusco touched in 1:53.20. Ludlow's Joe Keroack was first in 1:41.61. Grafton's Braedon Ando won the 500 in 4:39.27; Iusco finished in 5:04.77.

 

Iusco, Reece Faggioni, Gregory Kay and Vincent Dragonetti teamed up to win points in the 200 free relay and 400 free relay. The Spartans were ninth in the 4-by-100 and 15th int he 4-by-50.

 

Dragonetti contributed to the team total with 11th-place finishs in the 50 free (23.74) and 100 free (51.76), where Faggioni also competed. Faggioni also swam the 100 butterfly for the Monument boys.

 

For Pittsfield, Joseph Kearns participated in two events on Saturday, picking up two team points with a 15th-place finish in the 100 freestyle (53.16).

 

The Division 1 and 2 State Championships are Saturday and Sunday at Boston University.