There are still some COVID-19 restrictions in place, but that won’t stop Capital Area high school swimmers from bringing their best efforts – and possibly winning some awards – at this weekend’s NHIAA state swimming championship.
Like last year, the Division I and Division II championships will be held in multiple sessions over two days at the Salem (N.H.) Workout Club, with final results compiled after all sessions are complete.
Division II competition will be on Saturday, with Coe-Brown competing in the morning session starting at 9:15 a.m., while the remaining area D-II programs with qualified athletes – Belmont, Bow, Hopkinton, Kearsarge and Pembroke – will swim in the afternoon session starting at 2:15.
Concord will compete in the second session of the D-I championships on Sunday afternoon at 2:15.
There won’t be any spectators, awards will be delivered to schools rather than presented at the meet and athletes and coaches not actively competing will be in a separate staging area to limit the number of people on the pool deck, but one key restriction from the 2021 championships has been lifted: This year, relays will be contested at the championships, which could significantly improve how some of the deeper local teams fare in the standings.
The Bow boys have the No. 1 seeds in both the 200-yard medley and 200-yard freestyle relays, while the Bow girls (No. 6 seeds in both the 200 medley and 200 free), Kearsarge girls (200 medley and 200 free) and Concord girls (200 free and 400 free) all have two relays entered.
With the return of relays, Bow’s girls have the ability to top their seventh-place finish of 2021, and the boys can improve upon ninth place, with the potential for their best team finish in several years.
Individually, Hopkinton senior Cailey Stockwell is the top seed in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 free after finishing third in both events last year.
Stockwell – who will swim for Division I Fairfield (Conn.) University next year – single-handedly gave the Hawks an 11th-place finish in 2021.
Another NCAA Division I-bound athlete, Bow senior Sarah Guerrette (UNH), leads the Falcon girls with No. 6 seeds in both the 100 free and 100 backstroke. She finished second in the 100 free and third in the 50 free last year.
The Falcons also have a large group of freshmen who could immediately make an impact on both the boys’ and girls’ championships, with Ryan Powers (No. 3 in the 50 free and 100 free), Ian Klements (No. 5 200 free, 100 free), Lena Thompson (No. 8 in the 200 individual medley and 100 back) and Lorraine Schaeffner (No. 5 500 free, 50 free) seeded to score in events.
The top 12 in each event score points.
On the boys’ side, top D-II area individuals to watch are Coe-Brown sophomore Chris Raymond (top seed in 200 free and 500 free) and senior Eric Boheen (No. 5, 100 butterfly,; No. 8, 100 back), Bow senior Ryan Thompson (No. 3, 100 fly; No. 6 100 free) and Belmont freshman Kyle Dumais (No. 6, 100 breast; No. 9, 100 free).
For D-I Concord, senior James LeMahieu (No. 4, 100 fly; No. 6, 200 IM) is looking improve on the top-five finishes he had in the same events last year. Senior Rayya Burns (100 free, 50 free), junior Molly Nyhan (100 breast) and sophomore Lily Peterson (500 free, 100 breast) also qualified individually.
Other area girls’ qualifiers are Belmont’s Chloe Wineriter (100 back, 50 free) and Ella Wineriter (100 breast); Kearsarge’s Vera Rivard (100 free, 200 free), Margaret Rivard (200 IM, 500 free) and Maggie Ellison (100 fly); and Pembroke’s Joslynn Hurley (100 fly).
Bow’s Andrew Conley (100 breast, 100 back), Belmont’s Jacob Dumais (100 breast) and Kearsarge’s Mason Russell (50 free, 100 back) round out the area qualifiers for the boys.
The NHIAA plans to stream both swim championships on the NFHS Network at https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/.