Westfield’s Rachel Charette, foreground, competes in the girls’ 200 yard IM Tuesday against visiting Belchertown. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The Westfield and Belchertown high school swimming and diving programs are evenly matched. This made made for an exciting meet in the Whip City Tuesday.
Westfield head coach Tom Lewis crafted the Bombers’ best possible lineup against Belchertown.
On paper, the Westfield girls should have won by only few points, if every swimmer on both teams swam their recent best times. Happily for the Bombers, they brought their “A” game and won by a comfortable margin, 98-87.
Senior captain Lauren Longley was a double winner for Westfield, taking top honors in the 200 freestyle (2:04.51) and the 100 butterfly (1:03.50). Kelsey Johnstone excelled as well, winning the 200 individual medley (2:17.64) and the 100 breaststroke (1:11.03).
Other notable swims included Rachel Charette’s 200 individual medley (2:30.01) and the 100 breaststroke (1:17.55), Sara Russell’s 50 freestyle (27.66) and 100 freestyle (1:02.02), Kate McCabe’s state championship meet qualifying time of 1:06.54, and yet another personal best by Anoushka Sharma in the 500 freestyle (6:19.14).
The Westfield boys’ swim team fielded a thin team but still held their own and actually led for most of the meet. The deeper Belchertown squad prevailed in the end, 82-71.
Nick Rosso was a double winner, taking first in the 100 butterfly (56.24) and winning the 100 breaststroke (1:09.21) in a thrilling upset. Senior captain James Wagner took an uncontested first in diving with an impressive score of 187.90. Sam Cloutier swam well in the 200 freestyle (2:10.36) and the 500 freestyle (5:58.49). Notably, freshman Dallas Noble set a new personal best in the 50 freestyle (32.2).
