After an unbeaten regular season, the Cranston East boys’ swimming team couldn’t sneak up on anybody this year at the Division II Championship meet.
As it turns out, the ’Bolts are just as comfortable swimming with a target on their back as they are coming from behind.
East swam its best meet of the season on Saturday, as it racked up 435 points to out-distance second-place South Kingstown’s 390 points, giving the ’Bolts’ their second consecutive D-II title.
It was a stark contrast to last season, when the team won the title by emerging from out of nowhere in the D-II meet after a 3-3-1 regular season.
Running the table during this regular season had established East as the favorites for Saturday, and the ’Bolts proved that their impressive record was far from an illusion.
“I would say, on the boys’ side, we might have had 95 percent best times,” East head coach Bob Bouchard said. “And I mean best times by a lot.”
The ’Bolts knew that South Kingstown would be the biggest obstacle to overcame in the pursuit of a second straight title. During the regular season, East had beaten the Rebels just 48-46 in a meet that came down to the final event.
And the ’Bolts were right, but South Kingstown didn’t turn out to be nearly as a big a hurdle as they had expected.
“With high school kids I think a lot of it had to do with the momentum,” Bouchard said. “They saw one kid do it, the next kid had a good time and it sort of just kept on flowing from there.”
The ’Bolts only won one of the 11 events on the day, but it was a big one and it set the pace for the rest of meet.
It came in the 200 yard medley relay, the first event of the day. East’s team of John Lovelace, Jake Gorelikov, Max Cavas and Hector Maya knew that Lincoln would be tough, but still beat the Lions by .47 of a second.
In the process, the team shattered its best mark in that event by over two seconds, Cavas broke his own record by over a full second and East jumped out to an early lead.
“That really set the tone for the meet, and we talked about setting the tone for the meet with that event,” Bouchard said. “It was an exciting event, and that has us up there with some of the top relays in the state.”
After that, East went to work with its depth.
It stayed out in front by getting four swimmers in the top nine in the 200 freestyle. Gorelikov came in third, Calvin Kanno finished sixth, Sam Cavas took seventh and Austin Harris finished ninth. All four of them swam their best times of the season.
“That really set us ahead,” Lovelace said of his teammates’ performances in the 200 free. “We had all of our top guys in the last heat, so that really pulled us.”
From there, it was a similar story. East didn’t win any events, but it continually stayed out in front by getting consistent, sometimes unexpected performances.
Mike Vannini chopped five seconds off his personal best in the 200 individual medley to finish fourth, John D’Alfonso finished sixth despite not swimming in the event during the regular season, Justice Brown-Duso shaved three seconds off his personal best to finish ninth and Ethan Almedia cut his best by four seconds to finish 10th.
Maya led the way in the 50 free with a third place, while John Rainone grabbed ninth, Brandon Lynch took 11th and Evan Gillissie added a point to the team’s total with a 16th-place finish.
It was those types of performances – the ninth, 10th and 11th-place-type swims – that really began to add up for East.
“Everyone contributed,” Bouchard said. “All those sixes and five pointers, that’s what made up the difference of that 30 or 40-point win at the end.”
Lovelace broke the one-minute threshold – 59.6 seconds – for the first time this season with a second-place swim in the 100 butterfly.
Max Cavas came in just behind Lovelace in third place, and Rainone finished seventh with Harris behind him in eighth. All three of them swam personal bests.
But it was in the 100 freestyle where East really knew it was clicking on all cylinders.
The 100 free is South Kingstown’s strongest event, and Asher Kiely, its standout freshman, took first place easily. Yet, East made up those points with a fourth place from Maya and a fifth place from Kanno.
That type of performance was expected from Maya. From Kanno, however, it was a big jump up the standings.
“I knew after the 100 free, where I projected South Kingstown to have a 15, 20-point advantage in that event, and they only had a two-point advantage,” Bouchard said. “After that I said, ‘If we can just maintain.’”
And maintain they did.
East’s team of Kanno, Harris, Sam Cavas and Rainone took fifth in the 200 free relay, and Lovelace grabbed third in the 100 back, while Cavas took seventh and Brandon Lynch finished 10th.
In the 100 breaststroke, Gorelikov finished third, Vannini was seventh, Melvin Morales was 10th and Brown-Duso was 13th.
To finish it off, Max Cavas, Lovelace, Gorelikov and Maya came in second in the 400 free relay.
The ’Bolts also got a third place finish from Max Cavas in the 500 free – which took place last Wednesday in order to save time at the division meet – a fourth place from D’Alfonso, an eighth from Almedia and an 11th from Jake Rojek.
Just like that, East was champion again.
“It was probably the best meet I’ve ever been at, and I’ve been coaching for 25 years here,” Bouchard said.
Now, the ’Bolts will turn their attention to this weekend’s state meet, which takes place for the boys on Sunday at 12 p.m. at the University of Rhode Island’s Tootell Aquatic Center.
Last season, East came in 14th as team, while Lovelace was its top performer with a ninth in the 100 butterfly and a seventh in the 100 backstroke. The 400 relay team also came in eighth place.
This year, goals are even higher.
“Our goal is to get in the top eight in the state, and get our relays up there,” Bouchard said.
East girls take third
The East girls’ team also swam well at the D-II meet on Saturday, taking third place with a score of 261.5. Westerly won the meet with 403.5 points, while South Kingstown finished second with 390.
The ’Bolts’ best individual performance came from Beatrix Kanno, who took third place in the 100 breaststroke. Julia Lawson was also impressive in the same event, grabbing fifth.
The team had one other individual fifth-place finisher, as well – Annie Clarkin in the 100 free.
Clarkin also took seventh place in the 200 free, while Lawson came in 12th in the same event. Kanno was 11th in the 200 IM.
In the 100 back, Kaileen Field finished in sixth, and Field also was seventh in the 200 IM. Kristen Bachand took sixth place in the 100 butterfly and 10th in the 50 free, while Erica Bachand was sixth in the 100 free and ninth in the 50 free.
Other swimmers who scored for East were Heidi Liebrich, who was 10th in the 500 free and 16th in the 200 free, Salma Flores, who came in 10th in the 100 breast and 13th in the 100 free, Danielle Perotta, who grabbed 13th in the 50 free and 14th in the 100 butterfly, Amy Penta was 14th and Jillian Proulx was 16th in the 200 IM, Lauren Granata was 12th in the 100 breast and Adriana Pagano was 13th in the 100 butterfly.
The 200 medley relay team of Field, Lawson and both Bachands came in third, the 400 free relay team of the Bachands, Perrotta and Clarkin came in fourth and the 200 free relay team of Kanno, Lawson, Perrotta and Clarkin took fifth.
West boys, girls both finish third in D-III
The Cranston West boys’ and girls’ swimming teams both swam their way to third-place finishes on Sunday at the Division III Championship meet.
The boys, who finished in fifth place during the regular season, scored 260 points, which put them behind first-place Smithfield and second-place North Providence.
The girls had 269 points, which was also behind Smithfield and North Providence. The Lady Falcons narrowly missed out on second, as North Providence finished only five points ahead of them with 274.
On the boys’ side, Colin Coderre was the team’s top finisher with a second place in the 50 free. Coderre also swam to fourth in the 200 IM. Xavier Ferland-Haroun also had an impressive day, taking third in both the 100 free and the 100 breast. Jake Dinerman captured fourth in the 100 butterfly and fourth in the 100 breast.
Dan Sepe came in seventh in the 200 free and eighth in the 100 free, while Seamus Winters took eighth in the 100 back and 11th in the 500 free. Nick Castagliuolo was ninth in the 100 free and 11th in the 50 free, and Chris Swanson was 10th in the 100 breast and 14th in the 200 free. Ramez Khattan came in 10th in the 200 IM and 11th in the 100 back.
In the relays, the team of Winters, Ferland-Haroun, Dinerman and Coderre was fourth in the 200 medley, the group of Coderre, Dinerman, Castagliuolo and Ferland-Haroun was fourth in the 400 free and Winters, Sepe, Khattan and Castagliuolo finished fifth in the 200 free relay.
The girls’ team was led by third-place finishes from Alison Murphy in the 50 free and Kayla Khanjari in the 500 free. Murphy also added a fourth-place finish in the 100 butterfly.
Jennifer Swanson had a strong day, taking fifth in the 100 free and sixth in the 200 free and Hunter Colford was fifth in the 100 back and ninth in the 200 IM.
Leah Smith finished seventh in the 100 butterfly and 14th in the 200 IM, Stephanie Parrillo was sixth in the 100 breast and 10th in the 100 free, Alyssa Bergantino was eighth in the 100 breast and 14th in the 200 free, Brittany Colasanto finished 10th in the 50 free and 16th in the 100 free, Alyssa Bailey was 10th in the 200 free and the 100 back, Alicia Accetta finished 12th in the 100 butterfly and Alison Knasin grabbed 13th in the 50 free.
The relay team of Murphy, Parrillo, Swanson and Khanjari was third in the 200 free, while the team of Murphy, Swanson, Colford and Khanjari was third in the 400 free.
In the 200 medley relay, Colford, Parrillo, Smith and Khanjari came in fifth place.
