VIDEO: Seekonk Swim Team Competes at Southern Conference Championship Meet

The Southern Conference Championship swimming and diving meet was supposed to be a two-day event that would take place at Seekonk and Milford High Schools. Weather conspired against the original plans and the conference decided to combine the swimming and diving portions for a one-day event at Seekonk.

As a result of the schedule change, the Warriors hosted the Southern Conference, including the Bishop Feehan Shamrocks (the only team who beat them all season) for the conference championships. Feehan were the favorites going in, but Seekonk was one of the teams that had gained ground on the Shamrocks.

"We lost a lot of practice time to snow storms, so we didn't know how this was going to turn out, we were nervous," said Feehan head coach Chris Payson. "Those [Bishop Stang and Seekonk] are two great teams."

Ultimately, Feehan was able to hold off Seekonk and a strong Bishop Stang team, both of which were close throughout the evening. But as the meet went on, Feehan began to find a comfortable position at the top of the table. By the time the final relay began, Feehan needed only an eighth place finish to ensure victory.

Feehan finished with 280 points in the meet. Their next competitor was Stang with 259, followed by Seekonk with 227. Apponequet edged out Milford 155-150.5 for fourth place. Durfee was the last school into the triple digits with 120.5, and the bottom of the table was rounded out by New Bedford, Brockton and Westwood respectively.

Seekonk was hurt in part by having at least twelve points poached from them by an excellent young swimmer named Kevin Bradley. Milford, Bradley's school, was not within shouting distance of Seekonk, let alone the leaders. But Bradley placed first in the 500 freestyle, ahead of Seekonk's Eddy Olean, and in the 200 individual medley, ahead of Seekonk's John Grant. "I did a lot better than I thought I'd do," said the Milford sophomore of his performance.

Seekonk head coach Kate Farrington called the third place finish, "not a disappointment at all." She cited the final race, a 400 yard relay that her team finished with their best time of the year. Christian Moran chased down Jonathan Mariner of Bishop Stang in the final leg of the relay, to earsplitting applause from the Seekonk faithful.

"I knew he could do it, but I wish he'd done it a little sooner. What's all that training for?" Eddy Olean asked of his teammate with a laugh.

It appears Moran did not know he was so close. "I had no idea really how close it was until I finished. It was intense," Moran admitted.

The Warrior coached urged that there is no disappointment from the Seekonk team, and not only because she is proud of her team. "For our top kids, this is not their championship meet. They weren't rested and they still swam some of their best times all year," Farrington said of her swimmers. "For our top six or eight kids, states have always been the championship meet."

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