Sports Roundup: Swim Teams, Indoor Track Compete In League Championships
David Creed •
This Whaler sports roundup includes an update on the girls and boys swim teams after a strong showing in the Cape & Island's league championship meet, the girls basketball team following a strong home performance that resulted in a double digit victory, the indoor track team following their league championship meet, and the boys basketball team following a crushing road defeat to a league rival.
Girls Swim Places First, Boys Swim Places Second In C&I League Championships
The girls swim team earned themselves a Cape & Island's league championship following a first place performance at Saturday’s league championship meet at Sandwich High School while the boys earned a second place finish.
Both teams, as well as their coaches and parents, took the 6:30 a.m. slow ferry and returned on the 8 p.m. slow ferry in order to make it to the meet due to the Hy-Line having no choice but to cancel fast ferry trips due to the frozen harbor despite doing whatever they could to run. The swimmers on both teams shrugged the long travel day aside and pieced together strong performances to cap off the regular season - with all eyes now on the sectional and state meets later this month.
Below are some of the final standings.
Girls:
Nantucket: 442
Sandwich: 330
Martha’s Vineyard: 214
Barnstable: 169
Nauset: 121
Boys:
Martha’s Vineyard: 375
Nantucket: 288
Sandwich: 211
Nauset: 151
Barnstable: 118
Below are some of the notable scores from the meet.
Girls State Times:
Sara Dussault, Zoli Day, Evie Phelps, and Myah Johnson placed first in the 200-yard medley relay with a state qualifying time of 1:58.50.
Sara Dussault placed second in the 200-yard individual medley but earned a state qualifying time of 2:23.99 – just .12 seconds off the first place finished.
Zoli Day placed third in the 200-yard individual medley but earned a state qualifying time of 2:27.44.
Myah Johnson placed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a state qualifying time of 25.77. Johnson also placed first in the 100-yard freestyle with a state qualifying time of 58.48.
Zoli Day, Sara Dussault, Evie Phelps, and Myah Johnson placed first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a state qualifying time of 1:48.52.
Sara Dussault placed second in the 100-yard backstroke with a state qualifying time of 1:06.92.
Evie Phelps placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a state qualifying time of 1:11.31.
Zoli Day placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a state qualifying time of 1:11.68.
Other Notable Girls Times:
Leila Noddin placed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:10.89 and Sammi Nielsen placed second with a time of 6:18.43.
Finley Herlihy, Leila Noddin, Inna Nikolova, and Charlotte Brooks placed first in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 4:18.45.
Boys State Times:
Eli MacIver placed first in the 200-yard individual medley with a state qualifying time of 2:06.21.
Eli MacIver placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke with a state qualifying time of 1:04.83.
Boys Sectional Times:
Pavlin Aleksiev, Markus Vitanov, Eli MacIver, and Andrick Mooney placed third in the 200-yard medley relay but earned a sectional qualifying time of 1:52.99.
Andrick Mooney placed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a sectional qualifying time of 23.88.
Girls Hoops Beats Sturgis East
The girls basketball team picked up the win Friday evening against the Sturgis East Storm 52-27. Captain Marin Mooney, who was honored before the game along with Natalie O’Brien as the team’s two seniors, finished with 14 points and continues to play a crucial role for this Whaler team on both ends of the court.
“Marin has been key defensively and offensively,” Whaler head coach Angela Paterson said. “She plays 99 percent of the game, and she is key to our success. Natalie was injured in the beginning of the season, so she hasn’t been able to play much. But when she was on the floor today, she played great. We were trying to get her a basket, but it didn’t happen.”
Freshman point guard Ruby Steadman continued her strong play and finished with 12 points. Nantucket’s defense continues to be stellar night in and night out keeping them in all of their games while they continue to develop their offensive game with several younger players in the midst of their first or second seasons as varsity basketball players getting acclimated to the speed of the game.
Nantucket is now 5-9 this season and they will be back in action on Monday, February 2nd on the road against the Barnstable Red Hawks at 4 p.m. You can view more photos from this game here.
Indoor Track Competes In League Championship
The boys and girls indoor track teams competed in the League Championship meet on Saturday – navigating the same travel schedule on Saturday as the swim teams had to deal with.
Below are some notable times and results according to head coach Matthew Phipps.
JJ Chennis ran a school record 6.75 in the 55m for 2nd place. He's now qualified for the state meet according to Phipps. Chennis also placed 5th in the 300m.
Alex Horton and Morry Cardona placed 5th and 6th in the 600m.
Brian Kimball placed 4th in the 1000m with a personal record of 2:55.
Michael Sullivan placed 5th in the one mile with a time of 5:00 and 1st in the 2 mile with a time of 10:57.
Travon James placed 5th in the long jump.
Tahirah Suragdeen placed 2nd in the 55m improving her own school record (7.66). Suragdeen also placed 4th in the 300m and improved her own school record (45.25).
Grace Hanlon placed 2nd in the 1000m improving her own school record (3:19.57) and qualified for the state meet.
Anna Cronin placed 3rd in the one mile (5:47) and 2nd in the two mile (12:39).
Both teams tied Falmouth for 5th place in the meet.
Boys Hoops Lose Low Scoring Game On The Road
Defense has been the issue for the Whaler boys basketball team this winter, but on Friday their defense held the Monomoy Sharks to 50 points. The strong defensive effort was not enough however, as the Whalers mustered just 46 points to lose a close 50-46 game to their league rival.
Burke Lombardi and Gaven Smith each finished with 14 points for Nantucket.
The Whalers are now 6-5 this season and will try to get back in the win column on Monday, February 2nd when they travel to play Cape Cod Regional Technical High School at 3:30 p.m.
Current MIAA Power Ranking Positions (Top 32 make the state tournament + any teams with a record of .500 or better):
Boys hockey is at #22 in the Division 4 bracket and has a 3-6 record.
Boys basketball is at #28 in the Division 3 bracket and has a 6-5 record.
Girls hockey is at #34 in the Division 2 bracket and has an 0-7 record.
Girls basketball is at #54 in the Division 4 bracket and has a 5-9 record.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, February 2nd:
The boys basketball team will be on the road playing Cape Cod Regional Technical High School at 3:30 p.m.
The girls basketball team will be on the road playing the Barnstable Red Hawks at 4 p.m.
Tuesday, February 3rd:
There are no games currently scheduled for this date.