Canton swimmers compete in sectional meet
By Jeffrey Pickette~ LeDonne moves on to state tournament ~
Five Canton High swimmers — Misty King, Andrea Konopka, Alison McHugh and Abbey Willis for the girls and Chris LeDonne for the boys — competed in last weekend’s Central/South Sectional Swimming and Diving Championships at M.I.T.
LeDonne had already qualified for Friday’s State Championship meet during the regular season, so last Sunday’s boys’ sectional meet was effectively a warmup. However, last Saturday’s girls’ sectional meet was their last chance to qualify for the state championships.
While neither Konopka, competing individually in the 100-yard freestyle event, nor the 200-yard freestyle relay team of King, Konopka, McHugh and Willis were able to advance, coach Lori Mooney was impressed with their respective efforts.
“Being a qualifier and taking part in this event was thrilling alone,” Mooney wrote in an e-mail to the Citizen. “It gave all the underclassmen a renewed sense of determination for next year.”
Konopka, Canton’s lone senior representative at sectionals, was seeded second-to-last heading into the 100-yard freestyle event, but shed her qualifying time of 1:01.75 by an additional quarter of a second, finishing 37th out of 43 swimmers with a time of 1:01.50.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team had a last minute shakeup with Willis filling in for Brianna Duserick, who was too ill to compete, according to Mooney. Mooney said Willis “stepped up to the plate and filled [Duserick’s] shoes perfectly,” helping the Canton quartet finish 28th out of 32 teams with a time of 1:54.71, which was almost a full second better than their qualifying time.
On the boys’ side, LeDonne had qualified in five events and chose to compete in the 200-yard freestyle and in the 100-yard fly.
Dealing with what Mooney called a “nagging injury that had left him unable to train as usual this past season,” LeDonne “didn’t fare quite as well,” finishing 20th out of 33 swimmers in the 200-yard freestyle and 20th out of 29 swimmers in the 100-yard fly. LeDonne was seeded 12th and 16th, respectively, going into both events.
He looks to rebound this Friday at the State Championship meet, held at Harvard.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=1503
Posted by Jeffrey Pickette
on Feb 18 2010. Filed under High School, Sports.
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