Sports

Girls' Swimming: Belmont Takes Three Races in Best Ever North Sectional Result

Team places fourth against top-ranked opponents, next will be state Division 2 championships.

The Belmont High School Girls' Swimming team entered the MIT pool with some of the top teams in Massachusetts on Saturday, Nov. 9 and came out with a lot of medals and respect after finishing fourth in the North Sectional Finals.

In its most impressive result in more than three decades, Belmont's Jessica Blake-WestEmily Quinn and the4x100 medley relay (all distances in yards) won their respected events as the Marauders stamped themselves as one of the favorites along with defending champions Attleboro's Bishop Feehan in this week's state Division 2 championships. 

Belmont's 252 points trailed only Andover High School (345.5) and Chelmsford High School (336) while behind Acton-Boxborough High School by 6.5 points. The Marauders outpaced Middlesex League rivals Lexington High School which scored 178 points.

The three victories matched Division 1 powerhouse Chelmsford with the greatest number of first place finishes in the meet. 

In the biggest splash for the Marauders, top-seed Quinn simply swam away from the field to win in 1:08.16, as the sophomore was more than two-and-a-half seconds ahead of Tiffany Shaoof Acton-Boxborough. But Belmont wasn't through in the race as juniors Klaudia Nagrabska and Sarah Osborn finished fourth and seventh in 1:10.90 and 1:12.19 as the Marauders dominated the race. 

Sophomore Blake-West came into the finals of the 100 butterfly ranked just behind senior Mackenzie Niness of Notre Dame-Worcester (who would go on to win the 100 backstroke later in the meet) but the 10th grader led the senior by .16 seconds at 50 yards and held on for first in 56.87, out touching Niness in 56.98.

Belmont started the meet with its third-seed medley relay team – senior Jiaqi Li, Quinn, Blake-West and senior Anastasia Pulak – taking four seconds from its best time to beat top-seed Acton-Boxborough High School 1 minute, 52.44 seconds to 1:52.68 as anchor Pulak erased a half-a-second lead by Acton-Boxborough to power by for the victory.

Blake-West finished second behind surprise winner long-distance freestyle specialist Kelly Lennon of Methuen High School, 2:09.13 to 2:10.58, in the 200 medley while senior Taylor Coutinho qualified for the state meet finishing 16th in 2:24.45 as did Maya Nagashima in 2:25.12.

Sophomore Cynthia Kelsey was consistent in her dives keeping her third place semi placement to take third in the finals. 

Pulak followed up her medley heroics finishing fourth in the 50 freestyle in 25.45, lowering her best season time by more than a second and qualifying for the 100 freestyle at states by coming in 15th in 57.65, two seconds faster then her ranking time.

Junior Maya Nagashima finished fifth in 1:03.08 in the 100 backstroke. She will be joined in the state finals with senior Li (1:05.54) and Elizabeth Levy (1:06.57).

Long distance specialist senior Haruka Uchida also made the state finals by finishing in 7th in the 200 freestyle by dipping under two minutes (1:59.97) and 6th in the 500 free (5:22.44). 

Also qualifying for states in the 200 were Eunice Lee (2:08.63) and sophomore Solvay Metelmann in (2:09.01) while senior Coutinho (5:39.78) and sophomore Sara Noorouzi (5:46.49) will join Uchida in the 500.

In the final relays, Belmont swimmers (Metelmann, Reina Nagashima, Pulak and Uchida) finished sixth in the 200 yard relay in 1:45.67 and fifth in the 400 yard relay as  Eunice Lee, Metelmann, Uchida and Blake-West finished in 3:48.59, five and a half seconds faster then their ranked time. 

Next for Belmont is the state Division 2 finals at MIT on Saturday morning. 


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