Personal Bests Fall by the Wayside at Berkshire Individuals Meet

CRARYVILLE, N.Y. -- There were a lot of personal bests set on Saturday at the Taconic Hills pool.

 

It is fair to say that few athletes were as excited about theirs as Pittsfield High freshman Kiera Devine.

 

"That was my personal best, and that goal has been my time since the beginning of the season," Devine said after winning the 500-yard freestyle at the 47th annual Berkshire County Individuals Meet.

 

Devine's time of 5 minutes, 35.48 seconds qualified her for the state championship and shaved nearly 11 seconds off her seed time in the event.

 

"It's really good to know that all my work paid off," she said.

 

"Our team has done a lot of preparation, like a lot of mental stuff to get ready for this meet. And everyone's been really been good getting everyone excited. The whole team is great. We worked hard."

 

Devine was one of four Pittsfield swimmers to take home first-place finishes on Saturday.

 

Jordan Bradford won the 200 freestyle in 2:05.21, Caitlyn Hall took the 100 free in 58.01 and James Swanton joined Devine in winning the 500 in a time of 6:01.64.

 

Pittsfield's girls capped an undefeated dual meet season and Berkshire County North Division title by taking two of the three relays on Saturday.

 

Bradford, Szofia Lewis, Hall and Jackie Roccabrunna won the 200 medley relay in 2:01.84. Bradford, Hall, Roccabrunna and Lewis won the 200 free relay in 1:47.81.

 

Monument Mountain's girls took the third relay, winning the day's final event, the 400 free relay, in 3:58.20. The quartet of Maddie Fife, Carolina Chassi, Zoe Holmes and Asa Stone then celebrated in the warm-up pool and watched their male teammates take their third relay of the day.

 

Harry Albert, Colin Thorp, Sam Cybulski and Ethan Dean won in 3:42.73. Earlier in the day, Cybulski, Thorp, Albert and Zachariah Annand took the medley relay in 1:54.75. Jacob Gray, Annand, Colby Sweet and Dean won the 200 free relay in 1:43.49.

 

No team took home more titles on Saturday than the Spartans.

 

Stone and Cybulski were the day's only double-winners.

 

Stone won the 100 butterfly (1:00.50) and 100 backstroke (1:02.25). Cybulski took the 200 free (1:59.71) and 100 back (1:01.02).

 

Monument also got individual titles from Zoe Holmes in the 200 individual medley (2:20.68), Thorpe in the IM (2:18.83) and Dean in the 50 free (23.70).

 

But just as important as those first-place finishes to Monument Mountain coach Jill Svirida were the performances by athletes who didn't make it to the top of the podium but did cap their season in style.

 

"I'm talking about things like a girl who did the 500 for the first time at the second meet of the year," Svirida said, referencing Rebecca Robertson. "She said, 'I kind of liked that.' Then swam it again. Swam it again and got an 8:01.

 

"We worked this week on her pacing to get her to break eight minutes, and she got a 7:36. It's about all the levels, and to see those kids who have really been persevering through the training get their goals, it's really special."

 

Another goal, of course, is to use the last chance meet to qualify for next week's Western Massachusetts Championships.

 

And the Spartans saw two more swimmers qualify on Saturday as Dean made his cut in the 100, where he placed second in 53:78, and Albert qualified in the 200, finishing second in 2:00.57. Holmes, who already was in the sectional in the IM, qualified for the state meet with her winning time.

 

"And we got our state cut for the 200 free relay for the girls, which we were after," Svirida said. "And it's just about dropping time. We want to be in the best place we can be for Western Mass. We want to get the best seeds we can, get in the best lanes we can."

 

The Wahconah boys are sending two competitors to Western Mass next week: Fred Sears and Jacob Kunzmann.

 

They nearly were joined by another teammate on Saturday.

 

In the final individual event of the meet, Wahconah's Amelia Bergquist won with a time of 1:20.33, taking 2-1/2 seconds off her seed time and missing the sectional qualifying time by half a second.

 

"That was her best time ever," Wahconah coach Steve Kollis said.

 

"I was hoping it'd be there [for her]. She's been right there with the same time all the time. I was wondering when she was going to break out of it. She tried today and did really well."

 

In addition to Bergquist's win, Wahconah picked up individual titles from Kunzmann in the 100 fly (1:01.93) and Sears in the 100 free (52.67).

 

GIRLS RESULTS

200 medley relay: 1. Pittsfield (2:01.84); 2. Pittsfield (2:12.28); 3. Mount Anthony (2:18.30).

200 free: 1. Jordan Bradford, PHS, 2:05.21; 2. Kiera Devine, PHS, 2:07.06; 3. Mia Bencivenga, Taconic, 2:11.73.

200 IM: 1. Zoe Holmes, MM, 2:20.68; 2. Mary Mendez, MAU, 2:45.30; 3. Jessica Kopiec, MM, 2:54.44.

50 free: 1. Alex Sotek, NLB, 25.96; 2. Caitlyn Hall, PHS, 26.89; 3. Jackie Roccabrunna, PHS, 26.91.

100 butterfly: 1. Asa Stone, MM, 1:00.50; 2. Alex Sotek, NLB, 1:02.66; 3.Maddie Fife, MM, 1:08.74.

100 free: 1. Caitlyn Hall, PHS, 58.01; 2. Jackie Roccabrunna, PHS, 58.75; 3. Mia Bencivenga, Taconic, 1:01.12.

500 free: 1. Kiera Devine, PHS, 5:35.48; 2. Emily Bradford, PHS, 5:48.61; 3. Emma Avenia, Taconic Hills, 5:57.04.

200 free relay: 1. Pittsfield (1:47.81); 2. Monument Mountain (1:48.01); 3. Taconic Hills (2:01.08).

100 backstroke: 1. Asa Stone, MM, 1:02.25; 2. Zoe Holmes, MM, 1:04.16; 3. Jordan Bradford, PHS, 1:06.65.

100 breaststroke: 1. Amelia Bergquist, Wah, 1:20.33; 2. Emily Bradford, PHS, 1:20.47; 3. Emily Molino, MM, 1:26.97.

400 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain (3:58.20); 2. Pittsfield (4:16.33); 3. New Lebanon/Berlin (4:32.67).

 

BOYS RESULTS

200 medley relay: 1. Monument Mountain (1:54.75); 2. Pittsield (2:00.13); 3. Mount Anthony (2:03.23).

200 free: 1. Sam Cybulski, MM, 1:59.71; 2. Harry Albert, MM, 2:00.57; 3. Ben Bradway, Tac, 2:15.32.

200 IM: 1. Colin Thorp, MM, 2:18.83; 2. Anthony Mazzola, MAU, 2:26.85; 3. Colby Sweet, MM, 2:31.49.

50 free: 1. Ethan Dean, MM, 23.70; 2. Fred Sears, Wah, 23.76; 3. Stevie Zuccalo, Tac, 24.47.

100 butterfly: 1. Jacob Kunzmann, Wah, 1:01.93; 2. Colin Thorp, MM, 1:05.54; 3. Jacob Gray, MM, 1:07.76.

100 free: 1. Fred Sears, Wah, 52.67; 2. Ethan Dean, MM, 53.78; 3. Stevie Zuccalo, Tac, 53.93.

500 free: 1. James Swanton, PHS, 6:01.64; 2. Liam Buckenroth, NLB, 6:15.04; 3. Asa Chard, PHS, 6:31.55.

200 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain (1:43.49), 2. Taconic Hills (1:48.60); 3. Mount Anthony Union (1:49.24).

100 backstroke: 1. Sam Cybulski, MM, 1:01.02; 2. Harry Albert, MM, 1:04.22; 3. Connor Hayford, PHS, 1:04.51.

100 breaststroke: 1. Anthony Mazzola, MAU, 1:10.73; 2. Ben Bradway, Tac, 1:17.23; 3. Zachariah Annand, MM, 1:19.13.

400 free relay: 1. Monument Mountain (3:42.73); 2. Pittsfield (3:59.15); 3. Taconic Hills (4:19.97).