Swimmers splash away competition; Team develops as season continues

     The NH swim team has two meets before Christmas break. On Dec. 14, they won against Rising Sun and Elkton, but lost against Fallston on Dec. 21.

     The first event, the boys 200 medley relay, was won by less than a second with a time of 2:00.04. The relay consisted of sophomore James Cassidy, junior Kyle Difilippo, junior Michael O’Leary, and senior Ben Iampieri.

     The girls 200 medley relay placed second, less than a second behind first place finishing with a 2:24.89. Freshman Sophia Bonincontri, sophomore Madison Spangler, senior Jenna Reed, and freshman Isabella Duda were on the relay.

     Michael won the boys 200 freestyle, with a time of 1:56.18.

     Junior Anna O’Leary came in first for the girls 200 freestyle, with a 2:25.55.   Juniors Jordyn Bell and Val Angulo got first and second in the girls 50 free with times 30.10 and 30.37, respectively.   Michael placed first in the boys 100 fly, finishing with a 57.98.  Angulo won the girls 100 freestyle with a time of 1:06.40.

     The girls 200 freestyle relay placed first with a time of 2:00.93. This relay had Angulo, Bell, Bonincontri, and Anna.

     Bell won the girls 100 backstroke with a 1:16.28.

     The last event of the meet, the girls 400 freestyle relay, was won by NH with a time of 4:30.83, beating second place by almost 40 seconds. This relay was the same as the girls 200 freestyle relay.

     “I think I swam okay at the meet,” Bell says. 

     The Fallston meet started with the boys 200 medley relay, with the same people as the previous meet. They got a PR (personal record) with the time 1:57.84, barely behind Fallston. However, the Cougars were disqualified with an early dive and NH was named the winner of the event.

     All events until the 50 freestyle contained nobody but Fallston swimmers. The boys 50 freestyle was dominated by NH, the top four swimmers in the event being Iampieri, Cassidy, Difilippo, and sophomore Michael DeJesus, with times 25.93, 26.87, 27.27, and 28.46 respectively.

     The boys 200 freestyle relay placed second, 0.04 seconds behind first with a PR of 1:43.25. The girls 200 freestyle relay also placed second and had a time of 2:03.93. Both relays had the same swimmers as the previous meet.

     The boys 100 breaststroke was led by Michael with a time of 1:06.81, over six seconds ahead of second place.

     NH won the boys 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:59.75.

     “I think swimming is fun since the meets are nice,” Cassidy says. “I’m getting better each meet which is good but I’ve still yet to have a big time drop.” Cassidy prepares for races by not thinking about anything other than swimming,
“So [he] can be focused to do good.”

     Bell tries to look at who she is racing against and think about how she will pace herself against them. “I am looking forward to team dinners and getting new best times!”

     “Overall I enjoy swimming, it’s something I’ve loved for years,” Difilippo says. “My performance these past meets could have been better, but I’m still dropping time which I’m proud of. I prepare for meets by listening to music, stretching, drinking energy drinks, and talking to my teammates.”