’Hawks girls take second in 200 free relay

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Merrimack High School foursome of Chloe Davis, Kara Jolly, Rebecca Jolly and Jordan Tierney swam to a second-place finish in Sunday afternoon’s Meet of Champions girls 200 free relay race.

The Tomahawks clocked in at 1 minute, 47.13 seconds, earning the runner-up spot behind Souhegan High School (1:46.32) and ahead of Nashua High School North (1:47.30).

Souhegan’s first-place swim set a new record at the MOCs, snapping Merrimack’s swim of 1:46.48 set at last year’s event.

Also beating a Tomahawks record from last year was Nashua North’s girls 400 free relay team. The Titans swam to first in 3:48.77 to knock the 2009 Merrimack mark of 3:51.61 from the MOC books.

Two individuals and three relay teams from the area set records in the University of New Hampshire pool at Sunday’s Meet of Champions.

Souhegan High School’s Andy Disco grabbed first in the 100-yard backstroke, setting a new MOC record in 53.50 seconds. Nashua High School North’s Alex Hennessy also set an individual mark with a 22.63 swim for first in the boys 50-yard freestyle. That knocked Mont Vernon native Ian Will from the books after he set the mark (22.95) last year for Derryfield School.

The girls also set some MOC records on Sunday.

Two local relay teams besides Merrimack came up big.

The Hollis/Brookline girls 200 medley relay foursome of Emily Davis, Stephanie Shoults, Chiara Secules and Sara Heard set a new MOC record with a first-place swim of 1:57.53.

Also setting a new meet record was the Nashua High School North girls 400 free relay team of Tessa Brouillard, Abigail DeWitt, Halley Lizotte and Jennifer French. The Titans foursome swam to first in 3:48.77, besting Merrimack’s mark of 3:51.61 set last year.

The five record-setters aside, there were three more championship swims by area athletes.

Disco picked up his second first of the meet with a 1:01.53 swim in the 100-yard breaststroke for the Sabers; Secules swam a 59.59 to win the 100-yard butterfly for the Cavaliers; and the Bishop Guertin boys foursome of Cody Gilchrist, Ryan Conceicao, Aron Reynolds and Victor Puksta won the 200 medley relay in 1:44.06.

There were plenty of locals finishing in the top three on Sunday.

BG’s Haley Hullihen was second in the girls 1-meter diving (135.40 score), while Reynolds was second in the 200-yard IM (2:06.18) and third in the 100-yard back (56.73), and Gilchrist earned silver in the boys 100-yard fly (55.45).

The Cardinals foursome of Reynolds, Sam Burnett, Puksta and Gilchrist also grabbed a top three spot, teaming up for second in the 400 free relay (3:26.46).

The Sabers’ girls 200 medley relay team finished third (1:58.53), with their boys team – Disco, Eric Howard, Bobby Graham and Jamie Lutze – finishing second (1:47.33) just ahead of Derryfield’s unit which includes Will and Amherst’s Hunter Holbrook in third (1:50.14). Also standing out for Souhegan was Hinrichs with a silver (25.54) in the 50-yard free and Mallory Sullivan with a silver (1:11.73) in 100-yard breast.

French did North proud with a runner-up swim of 1:59.28 in the girls 200-yard free, while Skavicus was third (23.27) in the 50-yard free, Hennessy was third in the boys 100-yard free (49.70), Nathan Garner earned bronze (5:10.35) in the boys 500-yard free and Taylor Martell took second (1:03.36) in the boys 100-yard breast.

Alvirne’s Rebecca Dionne stood out in the girls 100-yard back with a second-place swim of 1:02.76, while Campbell’s Haley Bowen earned third in the girls 100-yard breast with a swim of 1:12.19, and Hollis/Brookline’s Ken Regan was third in the boys 100-yard breast (1:05.54).