Coe-Brown junior Tucker Raymond glided past his competition in the 100-yard fly to win the Division II state championship by 1.97 seconds.
On Saturday morning, seven local schools qualified swimmers for the state meet, each vying to place among the top of their events.
Tucker Raymond and his two siblings, junior Shea and freshman Summer Raymond, accounted for a majority of the individual points for the Bears with strong placements across the board.
Tucker and Shea swam in the 200-yard medley relay alongside junior Braydan Behr and freshman Mateo Ferguson to win it, but fell short at the end of the day in the 200 free relay, placing second.
Tucker Raymond also placed second in the boys’ 200-yard individual medley but was 1.5 seconds off of Souhegan sophomore Riley Wilson. Shea Raymond placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke for his best finish of the day.
Keeping up with her brothers, Summer Raymond placed second in the girls’ 200 IM. That race was significantly lopsided, with Souhegan’s Izzie Gilbert winning by a 20-second margin.
The Bears’ boys’ team fell short of placing in the top three as a team with a total of 112 points, up against powerhouses with extensive depth like Souhegan (233 points), Hanover (204 points) and Oyster River (164).
Here’s a recap of the D-II action and how every local school fared.
Tucker Raymond’s Bears cap barely broke the surface as he flew to first place in the boys 100-fly. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Coe-Brown freshman Summer Raymond took second place in the girls 100-yard breaststroke with near perfect technique. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Coe-Brown’s Shea Raymond took second place in the 100-yard breast to finish off his last season of swimming. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Coe-Brown junior Braydan Behr fly’s in the boys 100-yard fly for 12th place at the Division II state meet. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Coe-Brown freshman Mateo Ferguson comes up for air in the 200-yard free relay to place second with his team. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Coe-Brown junior Tucker Raymond smiles with his first place medal in the boys 100-yard fly. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor
Belmont-Pembroke-Hopkinton
Belmont senior Maddie Wineriter placed 12th in the girls’ 200-yard free, but bounced back later with a sixth-place finish in the girls’ 100-yard breaststroke, dropping 4.05 seconds from her entry time.
Pembroke sophomore Riley Pope finished fifth in the girls’ 200-yard IM with a blistering 35.62-second finishing split to drop 6.42 seconds off her entry time down to 2:32.16 seconds. Pope also finished faster than usual in the 100-yard free to crack the top six and cap off her day.
Her fellow Spartan, freshman Delana Girouard, showed up on the biggest stage and dropped time in both of her races, the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
Hopkinton freshman August Swineheart finished the day strong with a third-place finish in his first appearance at states. He dropped over five seconds from his 100-yard breast entry time to medal. He also placed fourth in the 200 IM.
Belmont senior Maddie Wineriter finished sixth in the 100-yard breaststroke for her bast placement at the D-II state meet. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Hopkinton’s August Swinheart finished in a podium spot with a third-place race in the 100-yard breaststroke. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Pembroke’s Delana Girouard had her best placement in the breaststroke at 10th in the D-II state championship. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor 
Pembroke sophomore Riley Pope finished top six in both of her races, with a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Credit: ALEXANDER RAPP / Monitor
Bow
Freshman Ben Delude excelled in the 50-yard free and 100-yard fly to place fifth and fourth, respectively, and was the highest scoring member of the Falcons on Saturday.
The girls’ side struggled against tough competition, falling outside of the top three in both the 200-yard and 400-yard free relays. Despite swimming one of their fastest total times of the season in the 400, the team fell short of catching Oyster River in third place,
Sophomore Ava Popielarz swam a very consistent split in the 200-yard free to finish sixth.
Senior Emily Hou finished seventh in the 100 breaststroke but couldn’t drop enough time to medal after a strong first 50 yards. Fellow Falcon senior Sabine Karanouh had the second-fastest relay time in the 400-yard relay to finish strong.
John Stark
The Generals qualified four girls into the state meet: seniors Ava Newell, Elsa Westfahl, and juniors Lilly Jusczak and Hailey Leung.
In the relays, the team finished ninth in the 200-yard medley and 10th in the 200-yard free. Leung had the best individual finish with a 11th place 100-yard breaststroke, where she dropped 2.13 seconds.
Kearsarge
Sophomore Kylie Cole had a big break onto the state stage with a 2:07s second-place swim in the 200-yard free. Cole also medaled in the 100-yard backstroke in fourth place.
As a team, Cole, senior Kinsley Monnat, juniors Chelsea Snow and Jersey Vedova, the Cougars finished sixth in the 200-yard medley relay with a slight time improvement in a strong showing for a small team.
