Record Day For Norton High Swim

It was a record-setting day for the boys’ and girls’ swim teams during the Tri-Valley League Championship Meet on Sunday afternoon at the Balfour Natatorium on the campus of .

The Lancers had the first league-meet champion in the program’s history and also set several school records during the competition.

As a team, the Norton boys and girls combined to finish in fifth place out of a field of six squads. TVL power Hopkinton captured the team crown with a total of 1,088 points. Medfield was second with 888.5 points, while Dover-Sherborn was third with 662.

Holliston finished in fourth place with 601.5 points. Norton was fifth with 432 points, just edging out Ashland, who finished with 431.

“I’m thrilled with how the kids swam,” said Norton head coach Kim Bray. “Almost all the kids got personal bests. It was a long day, but they did a great job supporting each other throughout the whole meet. I thought all the kids did great. It was a great way to end the season for both teams.”

The top eight competitors in each event received an award with the top 16 swimmers scoring points for their respective teams.

Freshman Madie Thomson became the first swimmer in the history of the Norton program to capture a league-meet championship. She won the 200-yard freestyle event with a time of 2:09.25. That performance also earned Thomson a selection to the TVL All-Star Team as the top three swimmers in each event received an all-league nod.

Thomson had a terrific meet overall, also earning a league all-star selection by placing second in the 500 freestyle (5:50.43). She joined sophomore Olivia Karcis, junior Brianna Rogers and sophomore Kayla Lantos to finish in sixth place in the 200 medley relay (2:13.09). That quartet also placed fifth in the 200 freestyle relay (1:59.85).

“Madie swam great during the meet,” Bray said. “She is a tremendous asset to our team.”

Karcis earned an All-TVL selection after placing second in the 100 backstroke with a school-record time of 1:05.75. She was also fourth in the 200 individual medley in 2:28.51.

Rogers finished in eighth place in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:25.93. The team of juniors Amanda Murphy, Lindsay Garrone and Mikhala Andrade and freshman Cassidy McDonald placed seventh in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 5:00.21.

For the Norton boys, the quartet of senior Colin Ahern, junior Max Cantin and sophomores Matt McPherson and Spencer Shute finished in seventh place in the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:06.23. The Lancers also had a team finish eighth in that relay as sophomores Connor McLaughlin, Anthony Kennedy and Matt Litchfield and senior Drew Burke combined to swim 2:20.38.

McPherson also placed seventh in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:11.44. The team of junior Peter Le, Burke, Shute and Ahern was seventh in the 200 freestyle relay with a school-record time of 1:47.81. McLaughlin finished eighth in the 100 backstroke with a school-record time of 1:16.80, while Cantin was eighth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:20.04.

Norton also had two teams place in the top eight in the 400 freestyle relay. Sophomore Colby Sears, McPherson, Le and Ahern were seventh with a time of 4:18.19, while McLaughlin, Burke, Cantin and Shute were eighth in 4:30.72.