Berwick Academy Varsity Swimming Places 2nd Overall at NEPSAC’S

Berwick Academy Varsity Swimming Places 2nd Overall at NEPSAC’S

Saturday, March 1, 2014

The Canterbury School, New Milford, CT

The girls and boys Berwick Academy Swim Team had an excellent meet on Saturday at the Canterbury School in New Milford, CT at the Division III New England Prep School Championships. Fourteen Division III teams competed at this meet. The girls team finished 3rd overall while the boys were able to bring home a trophy with a 2nd place standing. The team dropped 60 seconds from their top times in total with Abby Donaghue, Kieran Friel and Teddy Vatcher having the largest time drops. There were 9 first place finishes, 4 second place finishes and 1 third place finish. Seven meet records were broken and Isabel Reis earned the illustrious Robertson Award for Division III.

Girls team

Highlights from prelim session-

Abby Donaghue, Junior of Kittery, ME started off the girls meet with a 6 second drop in the 200 free and finished 19th overall. Next in the 200 IM, Kieran Friel, Freshman of Rye, NH dropped 9 seconds off her best time and placed 19th. Tess McNamara, 8th grader of Eliot, ME also swam the 200 IM and finished 9th place in the preliminary session. Sarah Ewart, Freshman of Stratham, NH, shaved a half second in her 50 Freestyle while Olivia Hutchins, Freshman, of York, ME, had a surge in the second 25 to win her heat and drop 3 seconds. Olivia Richter, Senior of Hampton, NH, swam a personal best time in the same event and was able to make it back to the evening session with a 15th place finish. Jenna Hayden, Senior of South Berwick, ME got off to a great start with the 50 Freestyle and was able to secure the first place seed swimming at the final session. Isabel Reis, Junior, of Hampton Falls, NH showed off her speed in the 100 Butterfly breaking her New England Prep School record by almost a full second. (Olivia Hutchins 100 free) Kieran Friel had another second drop in the 100 Freestyle for a 14th place finish and a second chance to swim the event. Emma Whall, 8th Grader, of Dover, NH powered through her individual event for the day and secured a first place finish for the finals session. Abby Donaghue had another big drop in the 500 free and dropped 10 seconds. Sarah Ewart dropped another second in her 100 back and won her heat. Tess McNamara pushed her competitor in the 100 back, dropping 5 seconds and securing a 4th place seed for the finals session. Jenna Hayden got out right from the start in the 100 back and was able to swim into the finals session with a first place seed. Isabel Reis had another record breaking swim in the 100 breaststroke and broke the NEPSAC Division III meet record.

Highlights from final session-

The girls team got started with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay with a team of Tess McNamara, Emma Whall, Isabel Reis, and Olivia Richter. Next up was the 200 IM where Tess McNamara finished 12th. Olivia Richter had a great swim in the consultation heat of the 50 free and finished 15th. Jenna Hayden started her conquest of all first places at the New England meet with a first place finish overall in the 50 free. Isabel Reis bettered her New England record by a tenth of a second in the 100
Butterfly. Kieran Friel dropped 3 more seconds in her 100 freestyle and placed 12th. Emma Whall had an exciting race in the finals 100 Free heat and finished first. The 200 Free Relay was a very exciting race. Jenna Hayden was able to come from behind and out-sprint her competitors to give her relay team of Emma Whall, Tess McNamara and Olivia Richter a first place finish. Jenna was next up in the 100 Backstroke where she broke the meet record and secured her third first place finish of the meet. Tess McNamara also had an outstanding backstroke race and placed 4th overall. The final individual event was Isabel Reis where she bettered her 100 Breaststroke record by 3 tenths of a second. The final event of the evening was another exciting relay swam by Olivia Richter, Emma Whall, Jenna Hayden, and Isabel Reis. They were able to fight their way through the race and come through with an incredible victory. This relay sealed the girls team a 3rd place standing in the team scores.

Boys team

Highlights from prelim session-

The meet was started off with the 200 Freestyle with Drew MacDonald, Sophomore of Durham, NH, Gage Anderson, Sophomore of York, ME, and Teddy Vatcher, Freshman of Kennebunk, ME. Drew and Gage placed 3rd and 7th earning a place in the consultation final while Teddy just missed swimming in the finals session in the evening by placing 17th. The next event was the 200 IM where all three boys swimming earned a place to swim at the finals session at night. Aaron Fleischer, Freshman of Kensington, NH placed 9th, Thomas Anderson, Sophomore of Dover, NH placed 7th, and Sam Haines, Senior of Dover, NH placed 2nd. The 50 Freestyle was started off with a 3 second drop from Brady Altschiller, 7th Grader of Stratham, NH. Next up was Jack McCraven, Freshman of Newbury, MA. He had over a half of a second drop in his 50. Hans Morris, Freshman of West Newbury, MA placed 20th and dropped a half second. Finally, Jake Horne, Senior of Portsmouth, NH finished first and broke the meet record in the 50 Freestyle. In the next event, the 100 butterfly, again, all 3 boys were able to secure a place to race again in the evening session. Connell Altschiller, Senior of Stratham, NH placed 15th, Alex Bouvier, 7th grader of Exeter, NH, placed 7th and Sam Haines placed 2nd. In the 100 freestyle, Brady Altschiller dropped two seconds. Hans Morris dropped a second and broke the 1 minute mark. Jake Horne and Drew MacDonald raced next to each and were able to earn spots to swim at night with a 1st place and 5th place respectively. Alex Bouvier dropped a second in the 100 backstroke and placed 18th overall. Thomas Anderson also swam the 100 Backstroke earning a third place finish in the finals heat. The last event in the morning was the 100 breaststroke. Both Aaron Fleischer and Connell Altschilller earned places in the consultation finals heat at night with 9th place and 15th place finishes, respectively.

Highlights from final session-

The boys team also got started at the meet with a second place finish in the 200 Medley Relay. The relay team consisted of Thomas Anderson, Aaron Fleischer, Sam Haines and Gage Anderson. The next event was the 200 Freestyle. Drew MacDonald and Gage Anderson both had great swims and placed 4th and 8th, respectively. In the consolation heat of the 200 IM, Aaron Fleischer started out in the lead and never let up. He placed 9th overall. Sam Haines and Thomas Anderson were in the finals heat of that event. Sam had a tough race with two other competitors. He edged out the competition at the finish, finished first and broke the meet record. Thomas Anderson earned a 4th place finish in that event. Jake Horne had a tough race in the 50 Freestyle. He was just touched out and placed 2nd overall. Connell Altschiller dropped a second from his morning swim in the 100 Butterfly during the consolation final heat and placed 14th. Alex Bouvier and Sam Haines both swam in the final heat where they placed 7th and 2nd, respectively. The next race, the 100 Freestyle, had Jake Horne coming away victorious with a record breaking swim and Drew MacDonald placing 5th overall. Teddy Vatcher had a great swim in his 500 Freestyle, dropping 6 seconds and placing 10th overall. Gage Anderson also had a great race in the 500 Freestyle finishing 5th overall. The 200 Free Relay had a tough race and ended up 4th overall. The relay team was made up of Drew MacDonald, Aaron Fleischer, Gage Anderson and Jake Horne. The next race was the 100 Backstroke and Thomas Anderson had a great personal record while placing 3rd in the event. The final individual event was the 100 Breaststroke where Aaron Fleischer finished 9th and Connell Altschiller finished 13th. The last race of the meet was very exciting for the boys as well. It was a close race in the first leg made up of Drew MacDonald. Thomas Anderson dove in and took over the lead which was made larger with Sam Haines and Jake Horne. The boys relay broke the meet record by nearly 10 seconds! The boys team finished the meet with a second place standing overall and were able to bring home a trophy for the case.