L-S Swim Teams Come Up Short Against Westford Academy

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The following was submitted to Sudbury Patch.)

On December 18th Lincoln-Sudbury traveled to Westford for one of their toughest meets of the year. Not only is Westford a talented team, the L-S squad is facing lots of illness and injuries on the team right now.

The team of Caroline Goswami, Catherine MacKeen, Alicia Perry and Leah McCabe started off the meet by taking second in the 200 medley relay. Perry was able to place second in the 200 freestyle and MacKeen also took second in the next event, the 200 individual medley.

Ansley Baker and Katherine O’Shea swam to first and second in the 50 freestyle, both swimming it in under 26 seconds. Emma Jarczyk, Kim Yang and Clara Shealy swept diving.

L-S then added two more second place finishes from MacKeen and O’Shea, in the 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle respectively. In the 500 freestyle Perry had a great race, pulling away to win in the final 50.

The team of McCabe, Jenny Genovese, Baker and O’Shea were out touched and took second in the 200 freestyle relay. In the 100 backstroke, Caroline Goswami and Ann-Marie Billig placed third and fourth.

To close out the individual events, Baker won the 100 breaststroke. In the 400 freestyle relay, the girls top relay came in second. The girls team ultimately lost 99-85.

The boys meet started off with the team of Dylan Brown, Taylor Brown, Ricky Billig and Andrei Rakitin placing second in the medley relay. Then Dylan Brown and Billig took second and third in the 200 freestyle.

Taylor Brown and Jake Hogan swam to third and fourth in the 200 IM. Tom Edwards and Rakitin took second and fourth in the 50 freestyle. Kevin Henderson took second in diving. Billig powered through the 100 butterfly and came in second. Edwards and Rakitin then took second and third in the 100 freestyle.

Chris Wilkins and Hogan dominated the 500 freestyle, taking first and second. L-S won the 200 freestyle relay. Then Dylan Brown placed second in the 100 backstroke.

Taylor Brown came in second in the 100 breaststroke. To end the meet the boy’s relay for L-S came in second. The boys ended up losing the meet 101-80.

Both the L-S boys and girls look forward to challenging Westford again at the DCL championship later in the season.

On December 21st Lincoln-Sudbury had a tri meet with Tyngsboro and Lexington. The boys’ team swam against both teams while the girls only swam against Tyngsboro.

The girls started off by taking first and second in the 200 medley relay. Then Baker and Lexi Barrera came in the second and third spots in the 200 freestyle.
MacKeen and Genovese swam to first and third in the 200 IM. O’Shea won the 50 freestyle with Caroline Thomas coming in fourth. Yang and Jarczyk dominated diving once again.

MacKeen and O’Shea grabbed first and second in the 100 butterfly. In the 100 freestyle, Baker, Genovese and Emily Huang took the first three places.
Barrera was the first girl to finish for L-S in the long 500 freestyle, placing third. L-S missed first in the 200 freestyle relay by 0.48 seconds. Bella Borg then won the 100 backstroke, qualifying for sectionals.

Caroline Hultin and Perry placed second and third in the 100 breaststroke. In the final event, the girls won the 400 freestyle relay. The girls’ team easily won the meet, with a final score of 113-72.

While the boys’ also beat Tyngsboro, they had a much closer meet against Lexington, with it coming down to the final events. L-S finished first and third in the 200 medley relay. Hogan and Rakitin came in second and third in the 200 free. Wilkins and Billig then took the first two spots in the 200 IM.

Edwards just barely lost the 50 freestyle, touching the wall only 0.05 seconds behind the winner. Kevin Henderson continues to improve his diving; scoring 20 more points than his total at Westford.

Taylor Brown and Dylan Brown both barely missed first as well in the 100 butterfly and the 100 freestyle respectively, both getting out touched by 0.2 seconds. Billig then won the exhausting 500 freestyle.

The boys relay team of Matt Shelley, Hogan, Chris Knightly and Wilkins placed second in the 200 freestyle relay. Edwards and Knightly came in first and third in the 100 back, Edwards finishing with a state qualifying time.

Hogan touched the wall second in the 100 breaststroke. In the last event, the boys came through with a win in the 400 freestyle relay. The boys ended up winning the meet against Tyngsboro 116.5-58.5 and against Lexington 87-81.

This week the Lincoln-Sudbury swim and dive team has a break from meets, but after vacation the boys look forward to competing against Boston Latin.