Westfield’s Jordan Jacobson competes in the 200 freestyle. Jacobson and several other Bombers’ swimmers are expected to compete in the western sectionals Monday evening. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – Despite several school closings throughout Western Massachusetts due to anticipated hazardous road and weather conditions, the girls’ sectional swim championship will be held today at Westfield High School, the school’s athletic director Karen Gomez said late yesterday.
Gomez said the fact that weather conditions are expected to begin to improve by noontime should allow for safe travel for the region’s swim teams. The championship swim meet, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., is not open to the public. Only swimmers and coaches will be allowed to attend due to the smaller venue.
“We’re cleared out, plowed out, and ready to host,” Gomez said.
As of Sunday night, the indoor track and field championships, set for Smith College in Northampton on Monday night at 6, were also still scheduled to go on as planned.
All other Westfield and Westfield Voc-Tech high school sporting events have been postponed due to the “no-school, no-play” policy. Agawam, West Springfield, and Springfield schools also postponed all classes for Monday.
All high school sporting events fall under the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and are subject to the “no-school, no-play” policy unless a game, meet, or match receives special approval from the teams’ respective superintendents and the MIAA.
One such situation occurred during the freak Halloween snowstorm in 2011. Despite the fact that several schools remained closed during the week, The Westfield Voc-Tech boys’ basketball team was allowed to travel to play in the state’s Athletic Directors’ tournament.
The swimming championships were postponed on Saturday due to the Winter Storm Nemo, which blasted the area with two feet of snow. The MIAA cancelled the event, but swimmers and their families, and coaches organized a grassroots effort to bring back the championship swim meet, even allegedly drawing interest from Olympic swimmers on social media platforms.
Athletic directors listened, including Westfield High’s Karen Gomez (whose boys’ and girls’ swim teams finished with identical 10-0 records as league unbeatens), and came up with their own venue at WHS and Chicopee High. The boys’ swim meet will be held Tuesday at 4.
Although any records or state-qualifying times will not be recognized by the MIAA – and fans may not attend – gold-medal winners in each event and a Western Mass. champion for the boys’ and girls’ teams will be crowned.
“What an amazing set of circumstances to bring about our (championship) meet,” Westfield swim coach Tom Lewis said. “This meet was going to come down to us against Northampton. It’s almost more fun that now there’s this sense of celebration.”
“This venue is important to a lot of people for a lot of reasons,” Lewis added. “These kids have been on a roller coaster. …There’s a sense of anticipation. We need to embrace this.”
