They’ve faced limited pool time, canceled meets and postponements, but area high school swim teams will finally dive into the start of their competitive schedules with Monday’s meet at the Concord YMCA.
The swim meet – originally scheduled for Friday night – was postponed due to a snowstorm, adding to the growing list of meets not happening according to plan. Concord’s first meet on Dec. 10 at the Nashua Boys and Girls Club was canceled. Bow and Bishop Brady were about to start warming up at Goffstown’s YMCA Allard Center for their season openers when a fire at the venue forced the athletes to evacuate the building.
But that’s all behind them. Swimmers from Concord, Bow, Bishop Brady, Belmont, Merrimack Valley and Belmont will hit the pool on Monday night, ready to make a splash in their respective divisions.
Previews on those teams, plus other area programs:
Bill Quinn is back for his eighth year as the head coach, as the Crimson Tide girls are coming off a 12th-place finish and the boys a 14th-place finish in Division I last year.
The Concord girls will be led by junior Lily Peterson, who finished eighth in the 100-yard breastroke and ninth in the 500 freestyle at last year’s D-I championship.
Peterson has qualified and scored points in her first two seasons with the Tide and “will be relied upon to provide leadership both in and out of the pool,” Quinn said.
Senior Molly Nyhan also qualified for the state meet last year and will look to place high enough to break into point scoring. Seniors Grace Qui and Jenna Moore provide experience and depth, while sophomore Malia Moffett and junior Griffen Hoaglund also provide depth and scoring opportunities.
Depth (12 swimmers this year) is key for the Tide girls, who had two relays finish in the top 10 of last year’s state championship.
The boys’ team lost James LeMahieu (third 100 butterfly, fourth 200 individual medley) to graduation but has a new leader in junior David Wicks, who is strong in the sprint freestyle events and the backstroke. Sophomore Oliver Quinn has experience in the breaststroke and sprint freestyle events.
Senior Ryder Fisk and freshmen Ben Belanger, Calen Peace and Shaun Wicks provide depth and allow the Tide boys to put together relays, something Concord hasn’t been able to do for a couple of seasons.
The Falcons – coached by Julie Guerrette (third year) – are led by a strong sophomore class that had a phenomenal freshman season. Ryan Powers finished second in Division II in the 100 freestyle and third in the 50 freestyle, while Ian Klements (sixth 200 free, 12th 100 free) also had a breakout rookie campaign. The Bow boys graduated a pair of seniors from last year’s team, so the Falcons do not have enough swimmers to field any relays, which were crucial to helping Bow finish sixth in the boys’ standings at last year’s D-II championship.
The girls’ team, on the other hand, has 10 swimmers strong and is coming off an eighth-place finish in D-II. The Falcons graduated Sarah Guerrette (fourth in the 100 freestyle and 100 backstroke), who is now competing for the University of New Hampshire, but return sophomores Lena Thompson (sixth 200 IM, seventh 100 backstroke) and Lorraine Schaeffner (sixth 500 freestyle, 11th 50 freestyle), who qualified and scored points at the D-II championships last year.
The Giants are coached by Katrina Wiesner (fifth year) and are a small and inexperienced group. Out of the six swimmers on the roster, four of them are new to the team. Brady didn’t have any swimmers qualify for the D-II championship last year, but Danielle Lacourse, now a senior, came close to doing so for the girls. Sophomore Jessie Putnam is Brady’s other returner.
Matt Wineriter heads the small Raiders’ swim program (four athletes), plus a couple of Merrimack Valley and Pembroke swimmers that piggyback off of them.
Sophomore Kyle Dumais (eighth 100 breakstroke, ninth 100 freestyle) and junior Ella Wineriter (ninth 100 breastroke) qualified for states last year.
The Belmont boys finished 13th and the girls finished 20th at the D-II state championship last year.
The Bears only have three swimmers but are loaded with talent. Junior Chris Raymond is the defending D-II champion in the 200 and 500 freestyle and looks to be in excellent form early, winning the 100 free and finishing second in the 50 free at the 18-team Oyster River Icebreaker Invitational, the largest meet on the NHIAA calendar so far.
Senior Eric Boheen finished fifth in the 100 butterfly and eighth in the 100 backstroke last year, as he and Raymond – Coe-Brown’s only two swimmers for the boys’ team – led Coe-Brown to eighth place in the team standings.
Senior Lucy Ewing is the Bears’ lone girls’ swimmer.
The Generals share coach Jess Croteau and their schedule with the Goffstown Grizzlies. Senior Seth Boden, sophomore Luke Boden and freshman Richard Deforges are the three swimmers for the Stark boys’ team, while the Generals have six on the girls’ side, led by senior Abigail Guillemette.
John Stark didn’t have any qualifiers for the state meet last season but look to change that in 2022-23.
Emily Chaput is in her fourth year as the Cougars’ head coach and has an experienced group of eight girls to work with. Junior Maggie Ellison (12th 100 butterfly) and sophomore Margaret Rivard (11th 200 IM, 12th 500 freestyle) both competed at states individually last season, while senior Vera Rivard qualified in 2021. Kearsarge also qualified a relay team and finished 17th overall in D-II last year.
Senior Mason Russell is the only boy on the roster, but he finished 12th in the 100 breastroke last season to lead Kearsarge to 17th place as a team.
Traveling with Kearsarge is Hopkinton’s lone swimmer, Claire Buelte. Hopkinton swimmers previously traveled with Bow.