Lady Spartan swimmers dive into Western Mass. Meet

SPRINGFIELD – Monument Mountain will make its pilgrimage to Springfield College this Saturday for the Western Mass. Meet, as four of the 10 members of the Spartans’ team (12-1) qualified.

Head Coach Jill Svirida’s swim team, which is a co-op with Lenox, Lee and Mount Everett, is one of the smallest teams in the county and one of the smallest Svirida has ever had.

“Smallest girl’s team I have ever had, I thought 13 was the smallest last year, but its not an issue,” Svirida said. “Every team we faced was much bigger and almost doubled us in size,”

The only blemish on the team’s record was a loss to Hoosac, where the Spartans were missing a reliable scorer that may have effected the outcome.

“I think we would have beat Hoosac with a full roster,” Svirida said. “Every girl on our team was extremely important in every meet.”

Spartan sophomore Maeve Wilber qualified for every event she swam this season, but in following meet rules, she will only to be able to race in two events according to MIAA regulations.

“[Wilber] is a great kid to coach because she wants to do well and she works hard – she has set high goals for herself – I am excited, last year she had freshman jitters heading into the post-season, [but this year] she is on track for a good performance,” Svirida said.

Sophomore Rowan Rice also qualified for each event but will participate in the 100 free and 100 breaststroke.

“[Rice] put in a lot of work this year, that’s the big difference, where last year she qualified in one event,” Svirida said. “She had a standout year and she is close to a state time in both the events she is in in Western Mass.”

Senior captain Anna Zdziarski qualified for the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.

“[Zdziarski] qualified for Western Mass. and States in the individual relay every year, so this is the first year she qualified for two individuals so that is exciting,” Svirida said.

Freshman Kayla Dillon is the final participant on the squad scheduled to be at Western Mass., as she will be participating in both the state meet and in Springfield on a relay team.

“[Dillon] really had a good year and dropped a lot of time, she will also be going to State – I think going is going to give her the experience over the next year, she was a key part of those relays,” the coach said.

Svirida also coaches the South County youth program, known as the Snappers, at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington. Her program currently has over 100 young swimmers, ages 5-18, coming up the ranks, giving the high school program plenty of optimism.

Overall, Svirida is pleased with her team’s results as the year despite being outnumbered by bigger teams.

“That is pretty amazing,” said Svirida of her near perfect record. “It was a good year for everybody.”

Posted by Tim Davis on February 6, 2013. Filed under High School Sports,Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry