Skippers Boys' Swimming Fall to Crusaders, Girls Tie

MIDDLETOWN — The Prout School boys swim team defeated North Kingstown High School 51-42 Friday at St. George’s School, while on the girls side the two teams tied 47-47.

“I’m glad for the boys because they’ve been struggling for a win, so I’m very happy for them,” Prout head coach Kristin Need said. “For the girls I’m very happy with a tie against NK, they’re very strong this year.”

For both the boys and girls teams, the outcome of the meet came down to the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

The Crusaders led by two points on the girls’ side heading into the last event, but as the end of the race drew near it appeared that the Skippers would take the meet.

The relay team of Sam Pelletier, Jess Rudman, Lily Huber and Emily David was able to take the 400 with a time of 3:58.69, securing at least a tie for the Skippers.

After Prout took second place in the event, the only possible way for the Crusaders to get a tie would be to take third place as well.

“Some of the kids think that third place isn’t great, but a point makes a difference like we just saw,” Need said.

That is where Liz Fiske stepped up for Prout.

“She is improving tremendously this year, a great competitor, and now she’s starting to feel comfortable as a leader and competitor,” Need said. 

When Fiske entered the pool on the final leg of the relay she faced nearly an entire pool length to make up for.  Despite the decided disadvantage, Fiske got stronger as the race went on, swimming hard to the wall on the final lap to just edge out North Kingstown for third place in the event.

“She swam phenomenally, a lot of guts from her,” Need said.  “That’s what a lot of my practice is and race strategy is based on, it’s not necessarily about doing your best, it’s about racing to the end.”

Caitlin Gever finished with first place finishes in the 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle relay, while Liz Rosbottom secured a trio of second place finishes.

Jess Rudman and Emily David led North Kingstown with four first place finishes each, while Kate Perreault won the 100 freestyle with a time of 59.60.

For the boys’ meet, the Skippers needed to take first and second in the 400 freestyle relay in order to win the meet.  The Crusaders shut the door, however, as Pat Majika, Ethan Kaley, Ian Mace and Hunter Lemoi teamed to take first in the event with a time of 3:45.45.

“We certainly have depth, but I also had some great swims from some kids,” Need said.  “I had hunter come into the mix, and he really gave us a shot in the arm and some confidence.”

Depth did prove to be the difference in this meet though, as North Kingstown was missing two swimmers from its already thin 12-man roster. 

“Two of our guys were gone, one of them was Danny Beisel and the other was James Wilkinson, and they’re very strong contenders,” Becki said.  “We’re a very strong team, but we need all 12 guys to be there and that’s what it takes.”

The Skippers had four events in which they entered just one team or competitor, including the 200 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 500 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay.

“We have an entire team of 12, so if we’re missing one guy we lose an entire relay,” Becki said.  “You can’t win a meet with one guy in an event, you can’t win a me without having two double relays.”

Lemoi paced the Crusaders with four first place finishes, and David Buckley chipped in with a pair of first place finishes.  Boris Paraliticci and Garret Graham led the Skippers with three first place finishes each, while A.J. Zarrella chipped in with two first and two second place finishes. 

Aside from the depth, both Skippers squads were affected by a number of distractions. In addition to it being senior night for North Kingstown, the home team was late getting to the pool.

“I’m actually very impressed with what we were able to come away with tonight,” Becki said. “We thought that this meet started at seven-o-clock, we didn’t have a warmup, it was senior night, so there were a lot of other things going on tonight other than it being just a meet.”

The Skippers will try to get back in the groove Tuesday when they take on LaSalle Academy at 6:30 p.m. at Rhode Island College’s Surdut Swimming Pool.

“You’ll see bigger things from us, which is nice because a lot people don’t know what’s out there with us,” Becki said.  “There’s been a couple of times when we haven’t had the whole team, and all of our losses are showing that right now.

The Crusaders will have their next meet Friday at 7:30 p.m when they take on Barrington High at the Westerly YMCA

“We’ve shown a lot of heart and a lot of personality in this team this year, which I wasn’t expecting out of them and I’m proud of them,” Need said.  “We’re just going to keep moving on from here, because we have a lot of big meets coming up right in a row.”

BOYS’ SWIMMING

Prout vs. North Kingstown

200 Medley Relay: 1, Boris Paraliticci, Garrett Graham, Matt Weber, A.J. Zarrella (NK) 1:55.59; 2, Luke Occhardo, Joe Cappuccio, Pat Gill, David Bucklery (P); 3, Brad Brown, Dominic Tribelli, Ben Rudman, Bryan Flanagan (NK).  200 Freestyle: 1, David Buckley (P) 2:12.58; 2, Ian Mace (P); 3, Ben Rudman (NK). 200 Individual Medley: 1, Garrett Graham (NK) 2:14.60; 2, Pat Gill (P); 3, Joe Catalano (P).  50 Freestyle: 1, Hunter Lemoi (P) 23.10; 2, A.J. Zarrella (NK); 3, Pat Majeka (P).  100 Butterfly: 1, A.J. Zarrella (NK) 1:03.42; 2, Ian Mace (P); 3, Weber (NK).  100 Freestyle: 1, Hunter Lemoi (P) 51.34; 2, Pat Majeka (P); 3, Bryan Flanagan (NK).  500 freestyle: Boris Paraliticci (NK) 5:32.95; 2, Bavid Buckley (P); 3, Ethan Kaley (P). 200 Freestyle Relay: 1, Ian Mace, Pat Majika, Ethan Kaley, Hunter Lemoi (P) 1:39.62; 2, Brad Brown, Bryan Flanagan, Colin Fagan, Matt Weber (NK); 3, Duncan Quinn, Sean Marran, Julian Delgiudice, David Buckley (P). 100 Backstroke: 1, Boris Paraliticci (NK) 1:02.79; 2, Pat Gill (P); 3, Ben Rudman (NK). 100 Breaststroke: 1, Garrett Graham (NK) 1:07.56; 2, Ethan Kaley (P); 3, Ben Rudman (NK).  400 Freestyle Relay: 1, Ian Mace, Pat Majika, Ethan Kaley, Hunter Lemoi (P) 3:45.45; 2, Brad Brown, Bryan Flanagan, Garrett Graham, A.J. Zarrella (NK); 3, Matt Weber, Ben Rudman, Colin Fagan, Boris Paraliticci.

GIRLS’ SWIMMING

Prout vs. North Kingstown

200 Medley Relay: 1, Emily David, Lilly Huber, Jess Rudman, Sam Pelletier (NK) 2:04.10; 2, Katelyn Chadwick, Liz Fiske, Casey Koffler, Grace Flaherty (P); 3, Kate Perreault, Sydney Carson, Pia Haas, Kelsey Spitalnic (NK).  200 Freestyle: 1, Caitlyn Gever (P) 2:04.06; 2, Lilly Huber (NK); 3, Samantha Pelletier (NK).  200 Individual Medley: 1, Jess Rudman (NK) 2:26.31; 2, Pia Haas (NK); 3, Erica Theroux (P).  50 Freestyle: 1, Emily David (NK) 26.43; 2, Molly Giuduice (P); 3, Maggie Sheerin (P).  100 Butterfly: 1, Caitlyn Gever (P) 1:05.62; 2, Pia Haas (NK); 3, Lilly Huber (NK).  100 Freestyle: 1, Kate Perreault (NK) 59.60; 2, Maggie Sheerin (P); 3, Molly Giudice (P).  500 freestyle: 1, Kaitlyn Chadwick (P) 6:07.66; 2, Liz Rosbottom (P); 3, Kate Perreault (NK).  200 Freestyle Relay: 1, Liz Rosbottom, Maggie Sheerin, Molly Giudice, Caitlyn Gever (P) 1:53.61; 2, Callie Carchedi, Casey Kotler, Liz Fiske, Grace Flaherty (P); 3, Pia Haas, Lindsay Streich, Kate Perrault, Kelsey Spitalnic (NK).  100 Backstroke: 1, Emily David (NK) 1:06.84; 2, Liz Rosbottom (P); 3, Kate Perreault (NK). 100 Breaststroke: 1, Jess Rudman (NK) 1:16.89; 2, Liz Fiske (P); 3, Erica Theroux (P). 400 Freestyle Relay: 1, Sam Pelletier, Jess Rudman, Lilly Huber, Emily David (NK) 3:58.69; 2, Liz Rosbottom, Molly Giudice, Maggie Sheerin, Cailtyn Gever (P); 3, Callie Carchedi, Katelyn Chadwick, Erica Theroux, Liz Fiske.