SPORTS

East, West swim teams back at it

Posted 12/15/21

By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston East and West swim teams got their winter seasons underway last week during the Injury Fund competition at Park View Middle School. Competing with the Bolts and Falcons was also East Providence and Smithfield. West enjoyed

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SPORTS

East, West swim teams back at it

Posted

By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston East and West swim teams got their winter seasons underway last week during the Injury Fund competition at Park View Middle School. Competing with the Bolts and Falcons was also East Providence and Smithfield.

West enjoyed a successful year for both the boys and girls teams, with the girls making the playoffs and the boys reaching the division finals.

Although the boys lost key guys such as David Marcello, they return a handful of swimmers and also saw an influx of freshmen join the roster.

“We lost our best boys swimmer so that’s a big loss, but so far our team has been recovering very well. We have some strong freshman and a few returners that have been stepping up. The girls should have another strong season as well, we didn’t really lose many swimmers. About half the team is pretty solidified, but after that we will be mixing and matching throughout the year but by the end of January we should be pretty set,” said West coach Jared Ambrifi.

Ambrifi feels that self belief will be the key to success for the club this season, especially on the boys' side.

“They’re ready for it. Our freshmen that came in have experience and some of the other guys returning have been swimming at this level for a few years now. They’ll be able to pick up the slack and keep it going. Just being confident and giving their best effort, as long as they’re confident and ready for the challenge, we’ll be good,” Ambrifi said.

The good times continued to roll for both the Cranston East boys and girls last winter, with both clubs reaching the postseason. Things will be tough this winter with many departures, but coach Bob Bouchard is confident in his group considering the unknowns heading into the year.

“The boys team lost a lot over the past two seasons, we have a relatively small team this year. We’ve got 10 guys, so we’re just going to do what we have to do. It’s a nice bunch of kids that are working. Kenny Diaz, Spencer Hill, Orion Alexieff, those are key seniors. Timmy Dietrich, a junior, is probably our best overall swimmer. We just need to keep everything together and see what happens,” said Bouchard of the boys.

Bouchard added: “We have a nice group of girls, we have Lily Maguire back and Arianna Cunha. Picked up a couple of freshmen, Elaine Wu and Maddison Dutra have some experience. Wu will be a sprinter for us, along with a couple other juniors. Our division for the girls is really, really strong, but we have some pieces in place.”

Dutra, Cunha, Wu, Maguire, Mariana Brito, Lily Papa, Samaira Sierra and Ruby Houle won the half mile relay event. Brito, Sierra, Papa and Ella Johnsen won the back relay.

Brito, Maguire, Dutra, Wu and Houle won the free relay and the medley.

Hill, Diaz, Max Schleifer and Dietrich won the backstroke relay for the boys as well as the free relay.

swim, sports

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