Pittsfield Girls, Taconic Boys Earn Victories

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Taryn Griffin and Maggie Vittum each won a pair of events Tuesday to lead the Pittsfield girls swim team to a 66-25 win over Taconic at the Boys and Girls Club.

 

The Taconic boys, meanwhile, got individual wins from Logan Soule, Jax Delaney and Alec Ginsberg to take a 38-28 win over their crosstown rivals.

 

In the girls meet, Pittsfield took two out of the three relays and got seven individual wins.

 

Griffin swam on the victorious medley relay and 4-by-100 quartets and touched first in the 200-yard individual medley and 100 butterfly.

 

“She’s been solid for the last couple of years, but she’s really showing her maturity as a swimmer,” Pittsfield coach Jim Harrington said of Griffin. “She is taking a leadership role and doing events that nobody else on the team can really do – the 200 IM, the 100 fly, last week, she did the 500 [freestyle].

 

“So, she’s absolutely one of our key components to what we’ll have for success this year.”

 

Vittum was a big part of the success on Tuesday, too, taking first in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke.

 

The Generals also got individual wins from Leah Maloy (100 free), Ari Berard (500 free) and Leah Wallace (100 breaststroke) on a day when Harrington was pleased with the progress he saw across the board.

 

“Maggie Vittum is right on the cusp of a couple of Western Mass cuts in the 50 free and 100 back,” he said. “And, as a whole, I saw kids dropping five and six seconds in their 100s. So, huge drops compared to just one meet last week. Only a couple of practices, and they’re already improving.”

 

A little extra motivation did not hurt.

 

“Being a home meet against Taconic, it was definitely a bit of spirited competition, and that’s always helpful,” Harrington said.

 

For the Taconic girls, Kaitlyn Millette won the 200 free and swam on a victorious 200 free relay squad.

 

Taconic’s boys won the only relay they entered, starting the meet with a victory in the medley relay as Soule, Ginsberg, Hunter Gangel and Dravin McGinnis teamed up to give the Thunder an early lead.

 

Delaney and McGinnis later finished 1-2 in the 100 free to put Taconic up, 21-11.

 

Neither boys team had the numbers to fill all the events, but the Thunder did well enough to keep Pittsfield at arm’s length the rest of the way.

 

“We have some new swimmers, but also some returning swimmers who have worked over the pre-season to get in the pool a little bit more this year than they have in the past,” Taconic coach Marisa Plant said. “So they have a little bit more stamina than they did coming in last year. We’re just working on increasing that stamina and trying to branch out into new events – those IMs and flys, where you can get some points against people who don’t swim those as well.”

 

Plant said that she is hoping to add a couple more swimmers this season to give the Thunder a little more depth, but the student-athletes who are awaiting clearance to compete are also new to the sport, she said.

 

Pittsfield Tuesday had the only double-winner in the boys meet. Joey Kearns took first in the 500 free and the 100 backstroke for the Generals.

 

Photos from this meet to come.

 

Boys

Taconic 38, Pittsfield 28

Medley relay: 1. Taconic (Soule, Ginsberg, Gangel, McGinnis) 2:20.83; 2. Pittsfield, 2:23.75.

200 free: 1. David Bernal, PHS, 2:31.94; 2. Hunter Gangel, Tac, 2:40.90.

50 free: 1. Logan Soule, Tac, 27.22; 2. Alex Smith, PHS, 35.65; 3. Dravin McGinnis, Tac, 37.45.

100 free: 1. Jax Delaney, Tac, 1:14.94; 2. Dravin McGinnis, Tac, 1:27.51; 3. Ariel Weiner, PHS, 1:34.13.

500 free: 1. Joey Kearns, PHS, 5:51.01; 2. Hunter Gangel, Tac, 7:29.88.

200 free relay: 1. Pittsfield (Soule, Ginsberg, Delaney, Gangel) 1:59.59.

100 backstroke: 1. Joey Kearns, PHS, 1:06.37; 2. Logan Soule, Tac, 1:30.95.

100 breaststroke: 1. Alec Ginsberg, Tac, 1:22.21; 2. Alex Smith, PHS, 1:46.75; 3. Jax Delaney, Tac, 1:48.38.

400 free relay: 1. Pittsfield (Bernal, Weiner, Smith, Kearns) 5:13.57.

 

Girls

Pittsfield 66, Taconic 25

Medley relay: 1. Pittsfield (Vittum, Wallace, Griffin, Maloy) 2:21.01; 2. Taconic, 2:40.02; 3. Pittsfield, 8:06.89.

200 free: 1. Kaitlyn Millette, Tac, 2:32.25; 2. Ari Berard, PHS, 2:58.52; 3. Brenna Bellefontaine, PHS, 3:05.72.

200 IM: 1. Taryn Griffin, PHS, 2:58.01; 2. Leah Maloy, 3:09.16.

50 free: 1. Maggie Vittum, PHS, 28.32; 2. Leah Wallace, 34.78; 3. Ashleigh Timony, 35.37.

100 fly: 1. Taryn Griffin, PHS, 1:20.14; 2. Abby Hennot, 1:32.07; 3. Olivia Holcomb, PHS, 1:40.89.

100 free: 1. Leah Maloy, PHS, 1:13.46; 2. Kaitlyn Timony, Tac, 1:22.84; 3. Jillian Croce, Tac, 1:24.21.

500 free: 1. Ari Berard, PHS, 8:17.65; 2. Bella Cortes, PHS, 9:07.

200 free relay: 1. Taconic (Croce, Millette, Hennott, K. Timony) 2:14.65; 2. Pittsfield, 2:22.00; 3. Pittsfield, 2:22.00.

100 backstroke: 1. Maggie Vittum, PHS, 1:11.15; 2. Kaitlyn Millette, Taconic, 1:12.85; 3. Bella Cortes, Tac, 1:41.26.

100 breaststroke: 1. Leah Wallace, PHS, 1:32.69; 2. Joyce Makdisi, PHS, 1:48.85; 3. Abby Hennott, Tac, 1:50.57.

400 free relay: 1. Pittsfield (Vittum, Maloy, Holcomb, Griffin) 4:57.76; 2. Taconic, 6:08.43.