Four Double-Winners at Berkshire Individuals

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- There were no team scores on Saturday afternoon at Simon’s Rock’s Kilpatrick Athletic Center.

 

But there were plenty of team rivalries.

 

And, in the best spirit of those rivalries, they pushed the Pittsfield boys to excel at the season-ending Berkshire Individuals swim meet.

 

The Generals got their meet going with a bang, making the cut for the state championship in the 200-yard medley relay by touching in first place with a mark of 1 minute, 52.78 seconds.

 

Pittsfield’s road to the state meet started and ended with its rivalry against Monument Mountain.

 

“We’ve been working on that cut for about three weeks now,” PHS coach Jim Harrington said. “We realized we were close. When we swam against Monument, our time was three or four seconds off the state cut, and we said, ‘That’s pretty cool, we can maybe get that cut.’ We’ve been working on it and focused on it, and they got it.”

 

And they got it because they and the Spartans brought out the best in one another.

 

“”We call it the individuals … but the kids absolutely know who they’re up against,” Harrington said. “And they absolutely want to win the race. It’s Wahconah, Monument and Pittsfield boys who were pretty much all season the closest races, and absolutely it helps push them.

 

“It was nice not only to get the state cut in that opening relay but to beat Monument was a big lift.”

 

Pittsfield’s boys ended the day with one more relay win, in the 200 free, and a double winner as an individual, Isaac Boyd, who touched first in the 100 individual medley and 100 breaststroke.

 

Pittsfield’s girls had two double-winners: Szofia Lewis in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke and Jordan Bradford in the 200 freestyle and 500 free.

 

“The Big thing is not just the wins but their times,” Harrington said.

 

Bradford made a state cut in the 200 free with a time of 2:05.06 and dropped five seconds off her season time in the 500, finishing in 5:39.66 and missing the state cut time by half a second.

 

Lewis won her events without lowering her season times, but Harrington was not surprised.

 

“She’s been swimming a lot lately,” Harrington said. “The other day, she swam 5,000 yards at the Y and then came to my practice and swam another three or four thousand there. She’s been swimming a lot. My guess is when she gets a little rest the next two weeks, you’ll see her times start to come down.”

 

The post-season begins Feb. 10 with the Central/Western Mass sectional at Springfield College and continues with the state meets in Boston Feb. 16 and 17.

 

Monument Mountain figures to again be competitive in both. On Saturday, the Spartans had one double-winner, Asa Stone, who won the 100 butterfly and the 100 backstroke.

 

They also swept the relays and swept the podium in the 50 freestyle, where Anna Rubino out-touched teammates Olivia Rubino and Aubrey Blanchard.

 

The 1-2-3 finish was an emotional moment for Monument Mountain coach Jill Svirida. 

 

 “For me it was special because Anna, Olivia and Aubrey, my senior captains -- it was really special for me to watch them swim that race against each other, our last meet of the season and our last meet for them in this pool because they have been with me since -- Aubrey since she was 6 and Anna and Olivia since they were 9,” Svirida said. “They're like family to me.

 

“They've been with me forever. They visited me in the hospital when I had my son. They danced with me and my husband at our wedding. They've been there every step of the way, through everything.”

 

And that was followed by another big moment for the Spartans when junior Jack Glantz won the 50 freestyle after coming into the meet with the second-fastest seed time.

 

“That was exciting,” Svirida said. “He's got a lot of drive. He is only a second-year swimmer. He's been working on his turn, and I think his turn was part of what helped him to win that. I felt like that was an accomplishment for him, and I'm proud of that.

 

“That's a nice title to hold, sprint champion.”

 

Wahconah’s Fred Sears, who was seeded first in the 50, bounced back to win the 100. Wahconah also picked up a win from Noah Schweitzer in the 200 free.

 

Monument Mountain’s Glantz teamed with Harry Albert, Sam Cybulski and Ethan Dean to win the day’s final event, the 400 free relay, continuing a strong day in the relays for the Spartans.

 

“The one thing that I was really hoping for that we were able to accomplish is to bring down our seed times for relays going into the Western Mass meets ... in boys and girls,” Svirida said. “We had a season best time in the boys medley.

 

“Then the 200 free relay was really good for both teams, and the girls 400 free was a significant drop for the season. I think that's going to set them up well. We've had success at that meet, Western Mass, for many years. And they definitely needed to be under 4 minutes to be in the seed where we want them to be. They were 3:57 today, and I was really happy with that.”

 

Prior to the meet, the teams held a moment of silence for Harrington's co-head coach at Pittsfield, Tim Mazzer, who died without warning late in the season.

 

Girls Results

200-yard medley relay: 1. Monument Mountain A (O. Rubino, Blanchard, Stone, Fife), 2:02.34; 2. Pittsfield, 2:08.20; 3. Monument Mountain B, 2:09.48.

200 freestyle: 1. Jordan Bradford (PHS), 2:05.06; 2. Caitlin Hall (Taconic), 2:13.10; 3. Yael Snowise (PHS), 2:26.65.

200 individual medley: 1. Szofia Lewis (PHS), 2:30.95; 2. Emily Bradford (PHS), 2:39.86; 3. Savannah Robson (Mount Anthony), 2:49.90.

50 freestyle: 1. Anna Rubino (Monument), 26.91; 2. Olivia Rubino (Monument), 27.03; 3. Aubrey Blanchard (Monument), 27.12.

100 butterfly: 1. Asa Stone (Monument), 1:02.42; 2. Alex Sotek (New Lebanon), 1:04.64; 3. Jenna Codey (Monument), 1:08.59.

100 freestyle: 1. Aubrey Blanchard (Monument), 58.23; 2. Olivia Rubino (Monument), 58.57; 3. Caitlin Hall (Taconic), 1:01.77.

500 freestyle: 1. Jordan Bradford (PHS), 5:39.66; 2. Maddie Fife (Monument), 5:54.24; 3. Emily Bradford (PHS), 6:03.96.

200 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain A (O. Rubino, A. Rubino, Chassi, Blanchard), 1:49.15; 2. Mount Anthony, 1:58.95; 3. New Lebanon, 2:00,87.

100 backstroke: 1. Asa Stone (Monument), 1:04.40; 2. Anna Rubino (Monument), 1:07.27; 3. Alex Sotek (New Lebanon), 1:07.53.

100 breaststroke: 1. Szofia Lewis (PHS), 1:13.90; 2. Delaney Ivas (Taconic), 1:17.15; 3. Ashley Wellenkamp (Monument), 1:18.52.

400 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain A (Fife, A. Rubino, Wellenkamp, Stone), 3:57.96; 2. Pittsfield, 4:18.92.

 

Boys Results

200-yard medley relay: 1. Pittsfield (Hayford, Boyd, Mooney, Plouffe), 1:52.78; 2. Monument Mountain A, 1:54.54; 3. Mount Anthony, 2:00.97.

200 freestyle: 1. Noah Schweitzer (WRHS), 2:01.80; 2. Harry Albert (Monument), 2:04.67; 3. Jeffrey Miller (New Lebanon), 2:11.70.

200 individual medley: 1. Isaac Boyd (PHS), 2:10.58; 2. Jacob Kunzmann (WRHS), 2:20.59; 3. Anthony Mazzola (Mount Anthony), 2:23.73.

50 freestyle: 1. Jack Glantz (Monument), 25.17; 2. Stevie Zuccolo (Taconic), 25.26; 3. Connor Hayford (PHS), 25.37.

100 butterfly: 1. Nick Dillon (Monument), 58.36; 2. Jacob Kunzmann (WRHS), 1:03.32; 3. Devin Deets (Mount Anthony), 1:09.34.

100 freestyle: 1. Fred Sears (WRHS), 54.08; 2. Connor Mooney (PHS), 56.34; 3. Harry Albert (Monument), 56.84.

500 freestyle: 1. Jeffrey Miller (New Lebanon), 6:03.67; 2. Fausto Pinto (Mount Anthony), 6:40.72; 3. Joshua Kunzmann (WRHS), 6:40.87.

200 free relay: 1. Pittsfield (Boyd, Plouffe, Hayford, Mooney), 1:41.81; 2. Monument Mountain A, 1:42.63; 3. Mount Anthony, 1:55.68.

100 backstroke: 1. Sam Cybulski (Monument), 1:03.80; 2. Connor Hayford (PHS), 1:09.08; 3. Christian Marchbanks (PHS), 1:14.45.

100 breaststroke: 1. Isaac Boyd (Pittsfield), 1:04.97; 2. Nick Dillon (Monument), 1:07.43; 3. Anthony Mazzola (Mount Anthony), 1:11.15.

400 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain A (Glantz, Albert, Cybulski, Dean), 3:51.15; 2. Wahconah, 4:03.17.