Sports Roundup: Boys, Girls Swim Win Cape Cod Classic, Girls Hockey Honors Three Seniors
David Creed •
The weather finally cooperated this weekend and several Whaler sports teams were able to return to action following the winter break. The boys & girls swim teams won the Cape Cod Classic in Sandwich, the girls hockey team honored their three seniors, the boys basketball team lost a close game to the top seed in Division 5, and the boys & girls indoor track teams had several personal records in an off-island meet.
Boys & Girls Swim Win 2025 Cape Cod Classic
The boys & girls swim teams got off to a strong start in 2025 this weekend – traveling to Sandwich High School and winning their respective Cape Cod Classics against four other Cape & Island Schools.
The final scores were as followed:
Girls:
Nantucket – 229
Sandwich High School – 148
Nauset Regional High School – 125
Barnstable High School – 97
Martha’s Vineyard High School – 60
Boys:
Nantucket – 143
Sandwich High School – 139
Martha’s Vineyard High School – 139
Nauset Regional High School – 90
Barnstable High School – 82
Whaler head coach Dylan Jones said he had to make a few last second changes to his relay teams on the women’s side of things because a few swimmers were feeling under the weather. He credited his swimmers with being able to adapt on the fly.
“I had to reassemble all of our B relays and it was sort of like let's see how this goes," Jones said. "But clearly it went really well. It's nice to see how the girls react when on the ferry I'm like, 'Hey I have to change three of the relays completely,' and they just reacted really well to that. That was one thing I thought that everyone handled well.”
As for the boys, Jones said he has had young swimmers step up and perform well when called upon. The addition of several new swimmers has filled out their lineup and helped the Whalers earn more points for second and third place finishes in meets, which can make the difference between a win and a loss as a team.
“A lot of these young swimmers are just swimming really well right now and that is exciting,” Jones said. “I thought we might have a chance with the boys, but that side of it is much closer. Martha’s Vineyard and Sandwich are strong, and so you never know how the pieces are going to fall and what events they’ll put their kids in and how it matches up with what we did. Being able to have some of those B relays is huge and just makes such a big difference going into a scored team meet like this.”
Jones said two swimmers that have stood out are senior captain Jake Johnson and junior Myah Johnson, who possess four of the five state times earned so far by Whaler swimmers this winter.
“It would be hard not to highlight Jake and Myah,” Jones said. “They have had some very big swims. The girls 200 medley relay is the other one who got us a state time (Sara Dussault, Evie Phelps, Martina Savova, and Myah Johnson). They swam really well on Saturday. As for improvements, Hayden Roberts dropped over 16 seconds in his 100 backstroke. Coming into the season he didn’t have tons of competitive swimming experience or background, but things are starting to click for him too and exemplifies how many swimmers are swimming well and improving.”
Jones said his swimmers also showed lots of commitment over the winter break – regularly showing up for practices. It helped them stay sharp, and that was proven through their results on Saturday.
“I had practices over most of the break and people came when they were available and they were here,” Jones said. “We had a decent core. I think every day we had at least eight or nine swimmers there. It wasn't always the exact same swimmers, but there's definitely a commitment to coming as much as you can. I think that definitely shows in how we're swimming coming back from break.”
The Whaler’s next scheduled meet is currently Tuesday, January 21st at home against Nauset at 5 p.m., however Jones said there could be a makeup meet on Tuesday, January 14th against Sandwich on the road.
Girls Hockey Honors Three Seniors In First Game Of Winter Season
There was doubt just six to eight weeks ago whether the Nantucket girls hockey team would get to play a game this season and have a team at all, but thanks to their captain’s leadership, their coaches, and youth hockey players rising to the occasion, the Whalers have been practicing as a team two to three times per week and played their first game of the season on Saturday.
Nantucket welcomed the Duxbury Dragon’s junior varsity team to the island and lost 9-0, but the game gave the program an opportunity to celebrate and honor their three seniors in front of their friends and family: Mayson Lower, Sam Zadroga, and Seren Cristler.
“This is definitely a season I have never seen before or ever saw happening for us, however the four captains (Sam), Mayson, Sadie (Paterson), and Alex (Wisentaner) have all done a great job building a positive atmosphere in the locker room and at practice,” head coach Andrew McNeilly said. “We are having a lot of buy-in to the program. I’ve had a lot of people around Nantucket tell me that they think this is a waste or a joke of a season and there is zero point to us having a team. But in reality, this is the most important season for girls hockey. We are continuing to build a girls hockey program at Nantucket High School and without these four captains and their leadership we wouldn’t have a team this year and the program probably would have never survived.”
McNeilly said he was concerned practices may be slow or have a small turnout with his team not having any games to look forward to, but what he has experienced with this group so far is the complete opposite. His players have even asked for more ice time to practice.
“I was completely wrong,” he said. “Initially we scheduled two practices per week and after the first week the captains approached me requesting to add an additional practice. As a coach, I couldn’t have been happier to see my team wanting more ice time. Every practice the girls come to the rink with a positive attitude and a desire to improve.”
While the result may not have been a win, McNeilly said he enjoyed seeing his young team – made up mostly of seventh and eighth graders – compete against a JV program from one of the top hockey schools in the state.
“It was great to finally see the girls play in a game capacity,” McNeilly said. “Although the score was not what we wanted to see, I thought we had many great takeaways. I thought the girls started out strong and played a good first period. Letting up four goals in the first period was obviously difficult but to come back out in the second period and only allow one goal was awesome. We had a couple scoring opportunities that just didn’t go our way, but it was great to see our seniors get a day to be recognized for all their hard work they have done over the years. Our next game is scheduled for the 22nd of January, so we have a few weeks to work on the things we saw against Duxbury and get ready for Bishop Feehan.”
Boys Hoops Drop Two Games Over Weekend
The boys basketball team is currently the #15 seed in the Div. 4 state tournament bracket and on track to host a round one playoff game if they can maintain that standing. They lost 62-49 to the Nauset Warriors on the road Friday evening and then hosted English High School – the #1 team in the Div. 5 bracket – and lost a close 72-65 game.
Nantucket is now just 1-4 this season but have played a difficult schedule that head coach Willis Ferreira said was intentional so once tournament time arrives, his team is battle tested and ready to go against any opponent.
"We were terrible last night (against Nauset on Friday) and then to come in here and fight like we did (against English) you know, it's the same thing to when we played Barnstable that first game and then came in that next game, played the Vineyard and beat them," Ferreira said. "When we fight, we're pretty good but when we're not engaged for some reason, or we start hanging our heads early, there's no fighting. So I was really happy with the way we responded (on Saturday). Obviously the loss stinks, but that's a good club. They made some shots and I didn't think they'd shoot it like that all game and they did. So you got to give them credit. We gave up 70 whatever (points), and that's too many. We finally got in the 60s and can't give up 70. We got to get back to work defensively.”
The Whalers were led by freshman Burke Lombardi, who has emerged as Nantucket’s clear number one option offensively. He finished the game with 24 points on Saturday – including 14 in the second half. After a scoreless season opener against Barnstable on the road, Lombardi has averaged 16 points per game in his last four games.
The Whalers will try to earn a win when they host the Dennis-Yarmouth Dolphins on Thursday, January 16th at 5 p.m. You can view more photos from this game, as well as the girls hockey game, by clicking here.
Several Personal Bests For Indoor Track Over Weekend
The boys & girls indoor track team competed in the Northeast Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. Head coach Chris Miemiec said it was a really good day for his team and that there were a lot of personal records. Below are some of the notable scores.
1 MILE:
Dorian Manov: 5:16 (PR)
Numa Solano: 5:43 (PR)
Jack Harris: 6:12
Boris Boychev: 6:17
Anna Cronin: 6:28 (PR)
1000M:
Rory Murray: 2:58 (PR)
Dorian Manov: 3:07 (PR)
Jack Harris: 3:41 (PR)
Boris Boychev: 3:41 (PR)
600M:
Numa Solano: 1:44 (PR)
Bill Martin: 1:54 (PR)
Anna Cronin: 1:59 (PR)
300M:
Jaiden McInnis: 37.63 (PR)
Alex Horton: 41.43 (PR)
David Guillén Taveras: 42.04 (PR)
Morry Cardona: 43.88 (PR)
Garvia Lee: 48.88 (PR)
Sophia Sullivan: 53.19
Keegan Farrell: 53.22
Viktoria Bozhkova: 53.60
The indoor track team's next meet is currently scheduled for Tuesday, January 14th on the road against the Nauset Warriors.
Boys Hockey Shutout On The Road
The Nantucket boys hockey team is still searching for their first win of the season after losing to Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School Saturday afternoon 7-0.
The Whalers are now 0-5 this season. They will try to earn their first win of the season on Wednesday, January 15th when they go on the road to face the St. John Paul II Lions at 4 p.m. in Hyannis.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, January 13th:
There are no varsity sports games scheduled for this date.
Tuesday, January 14th:
The girls basketball team will travel to face Sturgis East at 5:30 p.m.
The boys & girls indoor track teams will travel to face the Nauset Warriors at 3 p.m.
For more coverage of all the Nantucket High School winter sports teams, follow our sports Instagram page here.
For more photos taken by Chris Tran, follow his Instagram page here.
To view the MIAA Power Rankings, click here.