Marblehead swimmers shine at D2 meet

Even though they had less than half of the swimmers that some of the top teams in the state had, the Marblehead girls swim team put on a performance to remember on Sunday in the Division 2 state championships.With only six girls entered in individual events, the Magicians still managed to compile an astounding 269 points, good enough to finish third behind Dual County League powers Weston and Wayland, who had 14 and 23 girls competing respectively.”The girls swam out of their minds,” Marblehead coach Sue Guertin said. “This season was an amazing success.”The Magicians were led by senior captain Megan Alexander, who won state titles in the 200 IM (2:04.96) and the 500 free (4:59.00). Her time in the IM was a new school record and led a 1-2 with Sarah Daher finishing second (2:08.35).Hannah Verrette broke the school record in the 100 free, coming in second at 52.77. She also finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke. Ryan Alexander was second in the 100 backstroke (57.95) with Daher coming in third (58.70).Ryan Alexander also broke the MHS record in the 200 free at 1:52.47 to finish fourth while Toireasa Rafferty-Millett was fifth in the 100 butterfly (58.55).The Magicians also piled up the points in the relays.Verrette, Daher and the Alexander sisters finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:49.44). Tyler Phillips, Sophie Zmetrovich, Daher and Rafferty-Millett were fifth in the 200 free relay (1:43.26) and Ryan Alexander, Rafferty-Millett, Verrette and Megan Alexander were second in the 400 free relay, breaking the school record in 3:32.10The Marblehead boys finished ninth as a team despite having only four swimmers competiting.Harrison Rodts was third in the 500 free, breaking the MHS record in 4:44.81 and was eighth in the 200 free (1:48.72). Charlie Seltzer was fifth in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.67) and sixth in the 200 IM (2:01.11).The 200 medley relay of Ryan Hoey, Seltzer, Rodts and Austin Harshbarger finished seventh in 1:45.84 to break the school record.DIVISION 1The St. John’s Prep boys won the Division 1 state title on Friday, easily outswimming the competition with 385 points.Peter Fallon led the Eagles with wins in the 200 (1:44.07) and 500 free (4:41.94). Aaron Athanas won the 100 backstroke (51.51) with teammate Alex Swaim in second (53.16).Cole Malatesta finished second in diving (413.85,) but the Eagles cleaned house in the relaysAthanas, Swaim, Ryan Fortin and John Bateman set a state record in winning the 200 medley relay in 1:34.46.Bateman, Swaim, Fallon and Brendan Sweeney swam 1:27.87 to win the 200 free relay with Athanas, Bateman, Fallon, Fortin winnng the 400 free relay in 3:12.05.