Swimming: St. John’s boys claim Sectional title; Marblehead girls second

Five-time defending State Champion St. John’s Prep continued to rule the pool Saturday by winning its sixth consecutive North Sectional championship on Saturday at MIT’s Zesiger Fitness Center. The Prep (268 points) easily outdistanced second-place Lincoln-Sudbury (198 points).On Sunday, Marblehead’s seven-member girls squad captured second place behind Wayland in the North Sectional at MIT, setting four meet and eight Northeastern Conference records in the process.BOYSSt. John’s set the tone in the day’s first event as the 200 medley relay team of Aaron Athanas, Ryan Fortin, John Bateman and Brendan Sweeney prevailed in a time of 1:36.82.Robert Breen won both the 200 freestyle (1:44.23) and 500 freestyle (4:43.75); Fortin doubled in the 200 IM (1:55.09) and 100 breaststroke (58.12); and Athanas won the 100 freestyle (48.24) and finished second in the 100 backstroke (52.80).The Eagles completed a relay sweep as Fortin, Bateman, Jennings Soccorso-McCoy and Breen claimed the 200 freestyle in 1:27.96; and the quartet of Breen, Athanas, Peter Fallon and Alex Swaim took the 400 freestyle in 3:13.49.Bateman (3rd, 200 IM; 4th, 100 butterfly) and Swaim (6th, 200 free; 7th, 100 butterfly) also swam well in individual events for St. John’s.Danvers’ junior standout Graham Beck nailed down fourth-place finishes in the 200 IM (2:00.45) and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.93). The Falcons finished 15th with 22 points.Lynnfield finished tied for 17th with 13 points behind junior Jeff Cook, who finished fourth in the 100 freestyle (49.46), placed 11th in the 200 freestyle (1:50.81) and anchored the 400 freestyle relay (15th, 3:37.10).Marblehead’s Harrison Rodts recorded personal bests in the 200 IM (16th, 2:09.73) and 500 freestyle (11th, 5:06.04) and joined Austin Harshbarger, Zach Beal and Ryan Hoey on the 200 freestyle relay team that qualified for the State Meet with a time of 1:39.50. Zach Romanovsky placed 19th in diving.GIRLSMarblehead claimed five first-place finishes in a remarkable performance. Megan Alexander set a 200 IM Meet and Northeastern Conference record of 2:05.68, which will merit All-American consideration. She also set a meet and NEC record of 4:59.65 in winning the 500 freestyle.Ryan Alexander set an NEC record of 1:53.59 while winning the 200 freestyle and established a new Meet standard of 58.07 with her win in the 100 backstroke.Marblehead secured second place in the meet’s final event when the 400 freestyle relay team of Ryan Alexander, Hannah Verrette, Toireasa Rafferty-Millett and Megan Alexander shaved 10 seconds off their previous best time, setting Meet and NEC marks with their 3:34.53 finish.Additional NEC records were set by the 200 medley relay team of Ryan Alexander, Hannah Verrette, Katherine Foley and Megan Alexander, which finished third in a time of 1:49.63; Foley with a third-place finish of 58.07 in the 100 butterfly; Verrette with a fourth-place finish of 54.19 in the 100 freestyle; and the 200 freestyle relay unit of Foley, Tyler Phillips, Sara Daher and Rafferty-Millett, which finished fifth in 1:43.18.Rafferty-Millett finished second in the 200 freestyle with a personal best time of 1:55.88 while Verrette checked in second in the 100 breaststroke in a personal best of 1:10.45. Foley added a fourth-place finish in the 200 IM with a personal best of 2:10.66.Daher added personal bests in the 500 freestyle (6th, 5:20.57) and 100 butterfly (9th, 1:00.51); Rafferty-Millett recorded a personal best in the 100 butterfly (8th, 1:00.44); and Phillips amassed 322.45 points to finish ninth in 1-meter diving.The Peabody girls finished 13th overall. Julie Shea finished 10th in the 200 IM (2:22.24) and seventh in the 100 breaststroke (1:12.57). She has already qualified for the states in both events. Michelle Manfra, a first-year diver, placed 10th; she is also going to the states.