The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys varsity swim team defeated the Nantucket Whalers 100-61 at their home opener on Tuesday, while the Vineyard’s girls team fell to the Island rivals 132-38.
But the Vineyard swim team girls had a quick turn around, following up with another meet two days later on Thursday last week where both the girls and the boys took wins in Fall River over B.M.C Durfee High School in a non-league meet.
For the first time since 2020, the Vineyard swim team had enough female swimmers to fill its girls team roster, and the team’s overall size is almost double what it was last season.
Head Coach Jennifer Passafiume said she was proud of the team’s performance in its first home meet.
“I think they performed really awesome,” said Passafiume. “From where we started a couple weeks ago to now, it’s a huge improvement … I’m super-impressed with the skills we currently have in the water.”
Passafiume said the team has a lot of new promising swimmers, including some MVRHS seniors competing for the first time.
“On Saturday’s meet, we had 18 kids who were competing in the first high school meet ever in their lives,” said Passafiume. “We have some really, really strong swimmers on both sides, and we finally have a big enough team to fill up a lineup.”
At the rivalry showdown at the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard’s pool, the boys’ 200-yard A-team medley relay, made up of Grady Stalgren, Michael Calheta, William Simmons, and Moses Thomson, took first place by default at 1:55.23 after Nantucket’s relay team was disqualified. The boys’ medley B-team, consisting of Hudson Wike, Pablo Begle, Max O’Brien, and Syius Rivera Rigali came in second with a time of 2:23.53, taking all eight points for the 200-yard medley relay.
In the girls’ 200-yard freestyle, Zoe Treitman dropped over five seconds off her time for a new personal best and second-place finish at 2:35.06, and Ondine Hitchen set a new personal best at 2:48.47 for a fourth-place finish. For the boys, Dylan Hitchen improved by 23 seconds for a new personal best at 2:30.80. Seventh graders on the MVRHS swim team Wike and Byron Laird also had strong swims in the 200-yard freestyle. Wike finished third at 2:45.86, and Laird in fifth at 3:19.16.
In the 200-yard intermedley for boys, eighth grader O’Brien dropped five seconds for a personal best at 2:50.55 and a second-place finish, and Philip Pruciano swam the event for the first time, to finish fourth at 3:04.39.
In the girls’ 50-yard freestyle, Leah Thomson placed third at 30.06 seconds, followed by senior captain Nora Motahari in fourth at 33.09 seconds. For the boys’ team, Claus Smith placed second, almost catching the first-place Nantucket swimmer. Smith swam a personal best at 24.95 seconds, Thomson was right behind him in third with a new personal best time of 25.13 seconds, and senior swimmer Caleb Miller, who competed for the first time, placed fourth at 29.45 seconds.
In the 100-yard butterfly for the boys, Stalgren placed first at 1:01.52, and O’Brien placed fourth and set a new personal best at 1:28.46.
In the 100-yard freestyle, Smith took first with a time of 56.17 seconds, Thomson placed third and set a new personal best at 57.79 seconds, and Caleb Miller placed fifth at 1:10.42.
In the 500-yard freestyle, Maybelline Brown placed third with a time of 7:09.82, and Treitman cruised to fourth, dropping 22 seconds since last season to achieve a personal best of 7:38.28. For the boys, Simmons finished second at 6:46.75, Nicholas Merriam placed third, and Hitchen collected fourth. Merriam dropped almost 20 seconds for a new personal best.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the boys’ A-team placed first; Smith, Pruciano, Hitchen, and Simmons clocked in at 1:49.43, while the girls’ A-team finished third and the B-team in fourth.
Stalgren also earned first place in the 100-yard backstroke, setting a personal best at 1:02.51, milliseconds from a sectional-qualifying time, while Calheta took second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a new personal best of 1:17.02.
The last event of the meet was the 400-yard freestyle relay. For the girls, Kyla Webster, Nora Motahari, Treitman, and Nora Duncheva took third place at 4:59.69.
The boys’ relay A-team made up of Thomson, Calheta, Stalgren, and Smith placed first at 4:12.93; the B-team with Hitchen, Pruciano, Merriam, and Simmons placed second at 4:49.71; and the C-team with Begle, Smith, Finn McDonald, and O’Brien placed third at 5:13.82.
At Durfee High School’s Jarabek Memorial Pool, the Vineyard girls beat Durfee 82-67 and the boys 99-61.
Leading the Vineyard boys on the scoresheet was Stalgren, who took first in the meet against Durfee in the 100 yard backstroke at 1:01.64, setting a new personal best and qualifying for the South Sectional Championships. Stalgren also took first place in the 100-yard butterfly at 1:00.01.
Smith also put on a dominant performance for the boys, placing first for the boys in the 100-yard freestyle at 56.29.
The Thomson siblings also put on a clinic in the 200-yard intermedley. On the girls side, Leah Thomson placed first at 2:54.79 and her brother Moses placed first at 2:24.94. And Webster, a seventh grader on the girls team, placed first in the 100 yard butterfly with a strong time of 1:35.19.
The MVRHS swim’s next meet is scheduled after the new year, where the Vineyarders will take on Barnstable High School at a time that has yet to be determined, on Jan. 8 in Barnstable.