Southern New Hampshire University hosted the swim teams of four Manchester-area schools on Friday, Dec. 21. Manchester Central took first-place overall in both the boys and girls team rankings with 270 points each.

Manchester Memorial came in second, Bow finished third and Manchester West ended in fourth after the meet’s 24 events.

Despite injuries and illness affecting multiple swimmers, the Bow boys team finished just 13 points shy of Memorial’s 216. In the 400-meter freestyle relay, Bow got strong performances from Ross Cook, Louis Miyara, Nate Olson and Nick Wechstein to close out the meet with a win.

“The boys 400 meter relay did a nice job at the end by coming from behind to win the race,” head coach John DeCaprio said.
Bow missed senior Chris Barrington, who was sick,
and Jackson Potis, who was traveling with family. The Bow boys team still managed four first-place finishes at the meet.

“It’s a shame because they would’ve done really well,” DeCaprio said. “Unfortunately, the boys are decimated by injuries or sickness, so we didn’t have half of our varsity squad there. We had about nine guys missing, which is almost half our team.”

The Bow girls won four events of their own. DeCaprio said the girls have several new additions to the team who are already showing promise, and as they get more practice time in the pool, they will progress quickly as the season moves along.

“We had some good stuff from some of our newcomers, particularly Audrey Reed. She won the breaststroke for us, and Jillian DeLand did a good job as well,” said DeCaprio. “We have probably 10 newcomers, and they’re all blending in well and they’re coming together nicely with practice. I expect to see good things by states, especially from the newcomers. They’ve really turned out to be a good group.”

Girls individual winners for the evening were Central’s Danielle Morin in the 200-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle, Central’s Elizabeth Aldrich in the 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter butterfly, Bow’s Katrina Wiesner in the 50-meter freestyle, Bow’s Anne Kuenning in the 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke and Reed in the 100-meter breaststroke.

Boys individual winners included Central’s Marko Novic in the 200-meter freestyle, Central’s Zack Bonte in the 200-meter individual medley and 100-meter backstroke, Cook in the 50-meter freestyle, Miyara in the 100-meter butterfly, Weckstein in the 100-meter freestyle and 100-meter breaststroke and Central’s William Craig in the 400-meter freestyle.

The Central girls swept the three relays with wins in the 200-meter medley from Mary Darby, Mandy Tran, Kayla Poulin and Megan Madden, the 200-meter freestyle from Aldrich, Darby, Tran and Morin, and the 400-meter freestyle from Morin, Poulin, Madden and Aldrich.

Central took the first two boys relays as well, with Aaron Kivikoski, Ciaron Mahon, Jacob Somerset and Joseph Somerset taking the 200-meter medley and Bonte, Kivikoski, Joseph Somerset and Novic winning the 200-meter freestyle.