Published January 23, 2020
By HENRY PELMAS
READING — The North Reading-Wilmington Wild Hornets swim teams had a strong last home meet on Friday, Jan. 17, as both the boys’ and girls’ teams won.
Since it was the last home meet of the season, the team also celebrated senior night, as the team made posters and bought gifts for the leaving seniors. The two teams had eight seniors: Abby Callahan, Sophia D’Amico and Nikki Ekstrom from Wilmington and Sara Curran, Hae-Jung Kim, Hannah Lord, Griffin May and team captain Mary Regan from North Reading.
JUNIOR Oli Grabar took first in the 100-yard butterfly against Ipswich on Friday night. Grabar also got third in the 200-yard freestyle and helped the 400-freestyle relay and the 200-medley relay take first. (John Friberg Photo)
The night was bittersweet all around, as the seniors were sad to have their final meet at the Burbank Y, but there was also some exciting news, as the girls’ 200 yard medley relay team broke the Wilmington high school record as Abby Callahan, Julia Kane, Maddie McCarron and Nikki Ekstrom swam a 2:41.75. On top of that, both the girls’ and boys’ teams won, with the girls winning 85-78, making their record 4-2-1. The boys’ team had a strong victory as they won 63-17 due to the small Ipswich boys team. This makes the boys’ record 3-4.
Speaking of the 200-yard medley relay, the girls took first and fourth, as Maddie Koenig, Kelly Crossan, Oli Grabar and Nicole Steinmeyer swam a 2:06.59, and Shae Fitzgerald, Kiera Lord, Hannah Lord and Hae-Jung Kim swam a 2:40.86.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the girls took first, second and third, with Kristina Valenti swimming a 2:11, Koenig swimming a 2:19.88 and Grabar swimming a 2:20.71.
In the 200-yard individual medley, Steinmeyer took second, swimming a 2:34.37 and Crossan took third, swimming a 2:41.44.
SENIOR Griffin May celebrated senior night with his teammates by getting first in the 50-yard freestyle, second in the 400-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard freestyle. (John Friberg Photo)
In the 50-yard freestyle, the girls took second, third and fourth, with Melanie Feffer swimming a 28.01, Lindsay Kane swimming a 29.7 and Brianna Saunders-Correa swimming a 29.78.
For the 100-yard butterfly, Grabar took first, swimming a 1:05.39.
The girls took first, second and third in the 100-yard freestyle, as Valenti swam a 1:00.79, Feffer swam a 1:02.71 and Steinmeyer swam a 1:03.76.
In the 500=yard freestyle, Saunders-Correa took second, swimming a 6:59.39, Sara Curran swam a 7:15.32 and Fitzgerald swam a 7:47.71.
For the 200-yard freestyle relay, the girls took first and third, with Koenig, Steinmeyer, Feffer and Valenti swimming a 1:51.76 and Kane, Crossan, Joleen Weiss and Saunders-Correa swimming a 2:05.46.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Koenig took first with a 1:07.98 and Kane took fourth with a 1:21.25.
For the 100-yard breaststroke, Crossan took second, swimming a 1:23.13.
Finally, the girls took first and third in the 400-yard freestyle relay, as Saunders-Correa, Feffer, Grabar and Valenti swam a 4:12.7 and Weiss, captain Mary Regan, Kane and Hannah Lord swam a 4:58.96.
On the boys’ side, the Wild Hornets took first, second and third in the 200-yard freestyle, with Christopher Mangano swimming a 2:14.95, Tyler Sheehan swimming a 2:37.3 and Aryan Patil swimming a 3:24.95.
In the 50-yard freestyle, Griffin May took first with a 28.2, junior captain Jared Benoit came in second, swimming 28.87 and Jonathon Mangano swam a 34.26.
In the 100-yard freestyle, the boys again took first, second and third, as Henry Pelmas swam a 1:02.46, Sheehan swam a 1:06.66 and May swam a 1:08.03.
Christopher Mangano was the only boy in the 500-yard freestyle and took first with a time of 6:24.76.
The boys’ relay teams took first and second in the 200-yard freestyle relay as Christopher Mangano, May, captain Benoit, and Pelmas swam a 1:56.1 and Sheehan, Jonathon Mangano, Dylan Tran and Patil swam a 2:19.05.
In the 100-yard backstroke, Pelmas took second with a time of 1:18.47 and Patil took third with a time of 1:56.07.
Captain Benoit was the lone boy swimmer for the 100-yard breaststroke and swam a 1:19.95, claiming first place.
The boys took first and second in the 400-yard freestyle, as Christopher Managano, May and captain Benoit swam a 4:23.15 and Sheehan, Jonathon Mangano, Tran and Patil swam a 5:34.57.
Head coach Sue Hunter was happy about the victory for both teams, saying, “Ipswich has an unfortunately small team, but they make up for it by having incredible team spirit. We were glad to win and look forward to seeing the Ipswich boys again at CAL’s.”
As the season draws to an end, the team only has two meets left before CAL’s, which are the Cape Ann League finals and mark the end of the season for all swimmers not going to the North Sections/State meet.
On Sunday, Jan. 26, the team will face off against the Lynnfield-Wakefield co-op team and on Monday, Jan. 27, the team will race Ipswich again, this team in the Ipswich pool. The team is disappointed their season is coming to an end, but look forward to their last few meets.
