The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) boys and girls swim teams splashed into the pool for their first in-person meet since before the start of the pandemic, welcoming Nauset to the YMCA on Dec.15. The Vineyarders started off the season with some fast swims but both the boys and the girls were outnumbered and, ultimately, lost. The boys lost a close one, 77-67, while the vastly outnumbered girls lost, 131-28.
The girls started well, with the 200-yard medley relay team of eighth-grader Nora Motahari, captain Delilah Hammarlund, Lily Haynes, and captain Olympia Hall placing third in 2:26.95. Hammarlund added a second in the 50 freestyle and a fourth in the 100 breaststroke (1:28.47); Haynes placed third in the 100 butterfly (1:17.70); Hall was third in the 100 breaststroke (1:20.40); and Motahari swam fourth in the 50 free and fifth in the 100 free (1:22.19). Sylvia Carroll captured a pair of thirds in the 100 (1:06.47) and 200 freestyles and Bailey Moore earned a brace of sixes in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke (1:55.69). The 200 free relay team (Carroll, Moore, Motahari and Haynes) placed third (2:26.48) and the quartet of Carroll, Haynes, Hammarlund and Hall closed out the meet by swimming to second place in the 400 free relay.
The boys won three events and set five personal bests. Captain Ruairi Mullin won the 200 free in 2:04.22. Fellow captain Christian Flanders won the 50 free in a PB time of 25.03 and placed second in the 100 backstroke (1:12.49). Ruairi and younger brother, eighth-grader Ronan Mullin, finished second (1:05.14) and third in the 100 butterfly (1:11.90). Ronan then swam to second place in the 200 individual medley (2:41.06), followed by Andy Carr and Simon Hammarlund, each of whom set a personal best with times of (2:46.11) and (2:49.06). Hammarlund set a new PB by more than four seconds (1:25.76) with a third in the 100 breaststroke, Nathan Cuthbert took second in the 100 free (57.92) and Emmett Silva recorded his best-ever time (1:00.27) with a third in the 100 free. First time swimmers Yossi Monahan (fourth,100 free, 1:13.25; fourth, 100 breaststroke, 1:31.85), Kaua DeAssis (fourth, 50 free, 29.47) and Ashton Upole (fifth, 50 free, 30.37) all performed well.
The Vineyarder boys placed in three relay events. Sprinters Christian Flanders, Nathan Cuthbert, Emmett Silva and Ruairi Mullin won the 200 free by a wide margin, clocking in at 1:45.84. Flanders, Hammarlund, Carr and Cuthbert were second in the 200 medley relay and the 400 free relay team (Cuthbert, Carr, Hammarlund and Ruairi Mullin) capped off the day with a second place finish (4:04.24).
