Swimmers and wrestlers wrap up state championship meets

SPRINGFIELD – Two different sectional state girls’ swimming meets were held with an implosion of swimmers at Springfield College

With the MIAA ruling that swimmers who had qualified with state sectionals times were now being allowed to race in the girls and boys state final meets at both Harvard and Springfield College, numbers at the events tripled.

The influx of swimmers exceeded almost 50-60 racers per heat, with as many as 10 heats for some events.

One of the local success stories was Monument Mountain’s Maeve Wilber, who finished sixth in the 220-yard individual medley and was 10th in the 100-yard backstroke.

Before the race, Monument Head Coach Jill Svirida was excited for the opportunity for Wilber to shine.

“I am excited, last year [Wilber] had freshman jitters heading into the post-season – this year she is on track for a good performance,” Svirida said.

Other notables include Emma Whitney from Hoosac, who finished 15th in the 50-free and 12th in the backstroke.

Wrestling State Meet

While the Western Mass wrestling championships wrapped up last Saturday in Great Barrington, five local wrestlers have been able to continue their season as they wrestled for the state championships this past Tuesday and Wednesday in Wakefield.

Mt. Everett’s Brad Lupiani is among the favorites as he outshined Hampden’s Charter Ibo Usmanov to win the Western Mass Sectionals at 113 pounds.

Lupiani (32-1) will face Danver’s Chris Davis after winning two matches on Tuesday over Cohasset’s Harry Helbrock and Wayland’s Cole Elias.

Other local wrestlers include Monument Mountain’s Jonah Christianson at 220 pounds. Christianson placed third at Western Mass and defeated Pembroke’s Eddie Haen and Melrose’s Joe Squizzero on Tuesday to advance to Wednesday.

Fellow Berkshire County wrestlers Travis Kuni (160) and Tajaye Davis (285) from Taconic and Ross Jackson (182) from Mt. Greylock all advanced to compete on Wednesday.

The Western Mass. champions from Berkshire County also included the Mounties’ Jude Rorke (100) as well as Lupiani and Kuni respectively.

Kuni’s sectional win in Great Barington, was over Monument Mountain Mark Leon-Duque, for Kuni’s 100th career win.

Other notables from this past weekend’s sectional meet was Monument’s Alex Dupont, who reached the championship match on Saturday before being pinned, while Christenson, still alive in Wakefield, came in at third on Saturday but qualified for the state meet with a top-four finish.

Overall, Monument Mountain finished fourth in sectionals, a great finish for Spartan coaches David Colli and Gordon Soule.

Posted by Tim Davis on February 21, 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