After Strong Contest, Weston GLOWS Fall to Wayland Warriors

Editor's note: submitted by the Weston Athletic Department.

Last Friday, the center of attention in the Massachusetts Girls’ High School swimming world was the Foley Natatorium at Weston Middle School as Weston’s GLOWS hosted Wayland in a DCL showdown. The Warriors have won seven of the last eight state championships (Marblehead took the title last season) and Weston gave everything they had in hopes of an upset. In all, twelve different records were set in the fastest meet in pool history. And despite what Head Coach Claude Valle referred to as “the finest team performance in GLOWS’ history,” the hosts came up on the short end of a 97-89 final, in a hotly contested matchup that was much closer than the final score indicated.

Leading the way for Weston was senior Bianca Tocci. The co-captain had the best meet of her career with three school records in four swims. In the meet’s opening event, the medley relay, the co-captain combined with classmate Maddie Pierce, junior Katie Kim, and sophomore Victoria Bryson, to post a 1:50.06 school and pool mark in the event. The time eclipsed the previous mark set by Pierce, Eve Jakubowski, Shelby Friel, and Tanner “Scooter” Skenderian of 1:50.85 in 2009. Tocci took two other victories; in the 100 fly (57.07) Tocci lowered her own school and pool records from two seasons ago, and in the 100 back (57.37) the BU-bound senior shattered Eliza Butts’ mark of 58.85 from 2005.

Not to be outdone, rookie Julimar Avila pulled a first-ever Weston trifecta by setting a freshman, pool and varsity records in one swim – the 500 free – with a winning time of 5:02.78. (It erased marks of 5:17, 5:07, and 5:03, respectively, previously held by Butts.) Avila also joined forces with Kim, Bryson, and co- captain Laura Beaudry to take the 200 free relay in 1:40.98 (4th best on the all-time Weston list.)

“Pete (Foley) and I looked back after the meet,” said Valle of his former coach and mentor, “and we think four school records is the best we’ve ever done at a STATE meet, never mind a December dual meet. Our girls did one heck of a job.” With 45 seasonal or lifetime best swims in 48 attempts, there was certainly much evidence to support the coach’s contention.

Other strong performers for Weston included Kate Bui (lifetime bests in freestyle), Nicole Davenport (several strong relay performances), Julia Meehan (four fantastic swims), Libby Menders (lifetime bests in the sprints), Lydia Moore (two PRs in individual races), Anna Neufeld (super relay swims), Stephanie Palocz (four clutch races), Michaela Thompson (state-qualifying in diving), Sarah Varghese (shocking sprint freestyle times), and Rachel Yan (a best in breaststroke). Beaudry (an astonishing come-from-behind third-place, lifetime best swim, in the 200 free) also stood out.

At the same time, Weston’s boys cruised past their Wayland counterparts on their way to another team win, remaining undefeated on the season. Senior Tyler Lewtan (50 free, 100 fly), and juniors Tommy Peacher (200 free, 500 free), Ryan Burrow (200 IM, 100 breast), Ian Delaney (100 free), and Jamie Packs (diving), led the way. Like the GLOWS, the boys posted a strong overall team effort, with 38 PRs in 48 swims.

In addition to the victors, seniors Tommy Fitzgerald (best times in butterfly and backstroke), Jonathan Heinlein (super sprint freestyle races), Kian Nowrouzi (a state-qualifying score in diving), and Greg Sanda (fine relay performances), juniors Drew Alcaide (a significant drop in backstroke), Robert Douglas (excellent relay performances), Alexis Mundo (strong in the sprints), sophomores Jason Bui (a pair of bests in distance freestyle), Sam Cekala (super sprinting), Colin Larocque (best time in backstroke), Jamie Noonan (improvement in butterfly and breaststroke), and Dan Spellman (lifetime best times in IM and 500), and freshmen Spencer Clough (a 10-point improvement in diving) and Nick Revers (continued improvement in breaststroke), also made significant progress.

Earlier in the week, both teams breezed past non-league foe Arlington Catholic. For the GLOWS, Avila (200 IM and 100 back), Kim (50 and 100 free), and Pierce (200 free and 100 fly) each were double winners. For the boys, Burrow (200 IM), Delaney (200 free), Fitzgerald (500 free), Lewtan (100 fly), Packs (diving), Peacher (100 free), and Revers (100 breast) each took gold for The Tide. With a split on the week, the GLOWS moved to 4-1 on the season (2-1 in the DCL). The boys upped their record to 4-0 overall, 3-0 in the DCL.

Weston made its annual journey north to Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine, earlier this week. On Tuesday, the Tide took on Messalonskee, and raced Bishop Cheverus on Wednesday. One week from today, Weston returns to Massachusetts competition with a pair of dual meets. The GLOWS will travel to neighboring non-league foe Dana Hall on Thursday, Jan. 5, while the boys will play host to DCL-rival Acton-Boxborough on the same day. Both meets will begin at 4 p.m.