Pittsfield's Boyd Enjoying, Excelling with High School Team

For the Pittsfield High swim team, Isaac Boyd was worth the wait.

 

The PHS senior joined the high school team this year while taking a break from his ultra-competitive club swimming career.

 

And, among other things, the move allowed Pittsfield’s coaches to stop answering a certain question.

 

“Isaac has been dedicating the better part of his life to the sport of swimming and came to us as a senior,” PHS co-head coach Jim Harrington said at the squad’s Senior Day festivities. “Tim [Mazzer] and I always used to meet people who would say, ‘Why is Isaac not swimming for you?’ 

 

“Well, Isaac wasn’t swimming for us. But he did this year, and we’re extremely glad to have him.”

 

Boyd helped the Generals to an 8-2 dual meet record. He won two individual titles and swam on a pair of winning relays at last Saturday’s Berkshire Individuals meet. And, on Sunday, he will represent Pittsfield at the Central/Western Massachusetts Championships at Springfield College.

 

It all started with a decision he made last spring.

 

“Back in May of 2018, I was at a point in my life where there was a lot going on. I was doing many, many different activities. Life was just a little bit much,” Boyd explained on the pool deck at Simon’s Rock’s Kilpatrick Athletic Center after last week’s league championships. “So I decided that I needed to take a step back from some things. So I took about six months away from swimming as a mental breather.

 

“And I decided going into the high school season that swimming is the biggest piece of me there is, so there's a big chunk of me missing. I decided to ease my way back into it through high school swimming, understanding that I've taken six months off, and there will be a difference in how I'm swimming now versus how I was swimming then.”

 

Three months into the high school season, Boyd is now swimming well enough to enter Sunday’s meet with the sixth-seeded time in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke.

 

“With breaststroke, in particular, it started off when I was younger being the stroke that I liked, the stroke I enjoyed swimming,” he said. “Eventually, that turned into the stroke that I ended up being the best at, in comparison to the other three strokes.

 

“Otherwise, aside from the breaststroke, I would consider myself an IMer because I do enjoy the 200 IM. When I go back to my club team, I’ll probably swim the 400 IM as well.”

 

The decision to swim on the high school team reunited Boyd with some old teammates.

 

“Some of my teammates I swim with now, I started out with them years ago in 2005 or 2006, with the [YMCA] Polar Bears,” he said. “That’s where a lot of us started swimming.”

 

After one season with the varsity, Boyd said there is a difference between the sport at the high school level and at Williamstown-based Purple Valley Aquatics, the club he has called home for years.

 

“The training is different,” he said. “There’s a whole different mentality.

 

“I’ve been able to enjoy the sport again through high school swimming, where it is more laid back and I do have the room to enjoy myself and then move on after this season back to my club team and train hard and excel.

 

“That’s really the whole point of me dong high school swimming right now, to enjoy it again.”

 

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All four county high school teams qualified swimmers into Sunday’s sectional meet.

 

On paper, the athlete with perhaps the best chance for a podium finish is Monument Mountain sophomore Asa Stone.

 

She is seeded third in the 100 butterfly, qualifying with a time of 1:02.42. The top seed in the race, Northampton’s Ruby Gottlieb, comes in with a best mark this season of 1:00.75.

 

Two Pittsfield juniors also figure to be in the mix for top finishes in the girls meet.

 

Jordan Bradford enters the pool Sunday as the fourth-seeded swimmer in the 200 freestyle. Her time of 2:05.06 is behind top seed Ella Smith of Chicopee Comp, who boasts a 1:56.77 -- well ahead of the rest of the field. Bradford is less than a second off the time of the meet’s second-seeded swimmer.

 

In the 500 free, Bradford is seeded sixth with a qualifying time of 5:39.66; Westfield’s Lizzie Fraser (5:32.22) is the favorite.

 

Bradford’s teammate Szofia Lewis also owns a six seed -- in the 200 IM, where her qualifying time (2:21.97) trails top seed Casey Barrett of Longmeadow (2:14.35). Lewis is seeded fifth in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:12.54; Chicopee Comp’s Smith again is the favorite there with a mark of 1:07.17.

 

Boys qualifiers (with seed number and qualifying time)

200 medley relay: Pittsfield (16th, 1:52.78); Monument Mountain (18th, 1:54.73); Wahconah (26th, 1:58.06)

200 freestyle: Noah Schweitzer, Wahconah (18th, 2:00.27)

200 individual medley: Isaac Boyd, Pittsfield (sixth, 2:10.58); Jacob Kunzmann, Wahconah (34th, 2:20.59)

100 butterfly: Nick Dillon, Monument Mountain (9th, 57.56)

100 freestyle: Fred Sears, Wahconah (19th, 53.62)

500 freestyle: Noah Schweitzer, Wahconah (19th, 5:32.85); Harry Albert, Monument Mountain (21st, 5:35.67)

200 freestyle relay: Pittsfield (15th, 1:41.86); Monument Mountain (20th, 1:42.63); Wahconah (29th, 1:45.52)

100 backstroke: Jacob Kunzmann, Wahconah (18th, 1:03.30); Sam Cybulski (Monument Mountain), 1:03.50

100 breaststroke: Isaac Boyd, Pittsfield (sixth, 1:04.97); Nick Dillon (Monument Mountain), 1:07.43

400 freestyle relay: Monument Mountain (13th, 3:48.07); Pittsfield (16th, 3:52.78); Wahconah (20th, 4:03.07)

 

Girls qualifiers (with seed number and qualifying time)

200 medley relay: Monument Mountain (12th, 2:02.35); Pittsfield (19th, 2:06.91)

200 freestyle: Jordan Bradford, Pittsfield, (fourth, 2:05.06); Ashley Wellenkamp, Monument Mountain (12th, 2:07.22); Maddie Fife, Monument Mountain (22nd, 2:09.90)

200 individual medley: Szovia Lewis, Pittsfield (sixth, 2:21.97)

50 freestyle:

100 butterfly: Asa Stone, Monument Mountain (third, 1:02.42); Aubrey Blanchard, Monument Mountain (13th, 1:06.58); Caitlin Hall, Taconic (15th, 1:06.69); Jenna Codey, Monument Mountain (21st, 1:08.15)

100 freestyle: Anna Rubino, Monument Mountain (13th, 58.01); Olivia Rubino, Monument Mountain (16th, 58.57)

500 freestyle: Jordan Bradford, Pittsfield (sixth, 5:39.66); Ashley Wellenkamp, Monument Mountain (17th, 5:49.40); Maddie Fife, Monument Mountain (21st, 5:54.24

200 free relay: Monument Mountain (ninth, 1:49.15); Pittsfield (21st, 1:54.06)

100 backstroke: Asa Stone, Monument Mountain (eighth, 1:04.40); Olivia Rubino, Monument Mountain (13th, 1:06.35); Anna Rubino, Monument Mountain (22nd, 1:07.27)

100 breaststroke: Szofia Lewis, Pittsfield (fifth, 1:12.54); Delaney Ivas, Taocnic (13th, 1:17.15)

400 free relay: Monument Mountain (10th, 3:57.96); Pittsfield (24th, 4:22.91)